I have run through all of the scenarios, and with IU's win tonight, MSU will be the 2-seed in the BTT if we can beat Rutgers and OSU. Also, if Maryland beats IU, they would get the 3-seed. If Maryland loses to IU, Wisconsin gets the 3-seed. A quirk of the tie-breaker system means that the Purdue-Wisconsin outcome does not affect this seeding. Only the IU-Maryland game does. That is also assuming that Maryland beats Illinois and Wisconsin wins at Minnesota.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but assuming MSU wins out, I think we are almost mathematically guaranteed a Top 4 seed in the BBT. There are 4 games remaining between "the contenders"

Indiana (11-3) at Iowa (11-3)
Purdue (9-5) at Indiana (11-3)
Maryland (10-4) at Purdue (9-5)
Indiana (11-3) at Maryland (10-4)

So, those four teams must absorb 4 losses and there is no way they can all stay ahead of MSU. If nothing else, the loser of Maryland - Purdue is behind us.

But, here is the almost part: They only other scenario I can think of is if Wisconsin somehow runs the table, they could also finish at 13-5, tied with MSU and with a 1-1 mark against the Spartans. If we then assume that:

IU beats Iowa
Indiana beats Purdue
Maryland beats Purdue
Maryland beats IU
Wisconsin beats Iowa

Then we would have:

1. Maryland (14-4)
2. Indiana (14-4)
3. Iowa (14-4)
4. Wisconsin (13-5)
5. MSU (13-5)

Wisconsin would get the tie-breaker as they would be 3-2 vs. the 14-4 teams while MSU would only be 2-2 against those teams.

Still... I like our chances

While it is still too early to talk seriously about bracketology, one question I have is if MSU is better off going out West this year. In the past few years, the committee has essentially abandoned the traditional S-curve in favor of placing teams close to home. This year, the way that the top seeds and regions break down is pretty interesting. With the expansion of leagues to larger and larger geographical areas, the closest Region for Team A in a conference is not necessarily the best Region for Team B. For illustration, here is the location of each region and the notable teams that would prefer to be there:

East (Philadelphia)
Villanova (Big East)
UNC (ACC)
Virginia (ACC)
West Virginia (B12)
Maryland (B10)
Duke (ACC)

Midwest (Chicago)
Iowa (B10)
MSU (B10)
Kansas (B12)
Oklahoma (B12)
Notre Dame (ACC)

South (Louisville)
Xavier (Big East)
Miami (ACC)
Kentucky (SEC)
Kansas (B12)
Oklahoma (B12)
The entire SEC

Note that the South and Midwest regions are a push for best of the Big 12.

West (Anahiem)
The Pac 12

If my memory serves correctly, the committee is supposed to put the top 3 teams from each conference in different regions if at all possible. Based on the geography above, this could really break pretty nicely. This is one reason why I think that MSU will NOT wind up in the East. Maryland is the natural Big Ten team to wind up there. That leads me to believe that whoever seems to have the upper hand of MSU or Iowa after the BTT will wind up in Chicago (assuming MSU finishes strong and stays in the Top 8 or so). But, Kansas or Oklahoma will likely be there as well.

But, as I take a look at the West Region, it is just a big hole. There is simply no good team out west this year, and I don't see the Pac 12 champ (Oregon?) getting any better than a 3-seed. So, what this means is that the worst 1-seed and the worst 2-seed (based on the S-curve) will wind up there. It is hard to guess who those two teams will be, but if MSU is the 1-seed or 2-seed out there, I think that it will be a relatively soft region.

The only down side is that I think that it is quite likely at this point that MSU winds up in St. Louis in the first 2 rounds. There simply aren't that many teams that prefer that pod this year, so as long as MSU stays ahead of Purdue and Iowa St, I think you can book your tickets (along with Xavier fans). But, St. Louis is a Friday / Sunday site and the West Regional is a Thursday / Saturday site, which creates a travel problem like we saw in 2012. Not good, especially if the team plays 3 games at the BTT.

So, I don't know...

Here is QB story I put together from my NSD interview with Brad Salem.

https://michiganstate.n.rivals.com/news/it-s-not-a-a-decision-in-a-day

Some takeaways.

The competition will not likely be settled during spring football.
O'Connor's performance at Ohio State made a strong impression (as it should).
Some sort of two QB system has not been ruled out.
Collective development and communication are priorities at QB during spring ball.
Don't forget about Lewerke. He's had a strong first year.
Terry has a big upside.

Mike Tressel says that Drake Martinez will have a role in the linebacker rotation next season. He's not sure how he's going to utilize him, but he wants to get that athleticism on the field. At this point, I'd expect him to play some type of role as a pass-rush specialist on third down. During the past 12 months, Tressel has brought up the blitzing potential of Martinez about half a dozen times. He'll also be in the mix at 'star' linebacker along with Andrew Dowell. Should be an interesting spring for TJ Harrell, he's got to make a move now and that means playing with more physicality. Lot of competition should be great.

http://michiganstate.n.rivals.com/n...ez-will-have-role-in-lb-rotation-says-tressel

We managed to put together 10 separate content items from our Signing Day coverage, wrapped up by this DotComp.

I ran a little long on this story, but I kind of enjoyed writing it. Sorry if it's too wordy.

https://michiganstate.n.rivals.com/news/dotcomp-signing-day-slide-really-no-big-deal

Between the audio of Dantonio's press conference, and the individual quote threads on The Bunker, recruiting talk on The Bunker, our extra-time V-Cast, and our short snippets on other stuff, we hope you feel like you were there with us at those tables interviewing coaches and breaking down the recruiting process for the wrap-up of the 2016 recruiting cycle.

We still have some more coverage to go, although we probably need to start focusing on MSU vs Michigan basketball at some point.

Thanks for hanging on for a great MSU football ride in 2015, through signing day, with the GPS now pointed toward winter conditioning, spring practice and the spring camps.

You game?

Mark Dantonio began his press conference talking about three seniors that will return for their sixth year.

In actuality, this aspect does relate to recruiting. If those guys weren't coming back, there might be three more bodies in this recruiting class. But MSU will take the known commodities of Ed Davis, Brandon Clemons and Damon Knox over three extras in the 2016 recruiting class.

"Much like last year when I came in here and I said that some of our biggest recruits were Connor Cook and Shilique Calhoun as they made their decisions," Dantonio said. "It paid dividends."

He indicated that the Spartans will look from dividends from Davis, Clemons and Knox as well.

Clemons and Knox play a position of need.

O-line coach Mark Staten was pleased with the progress Clemons made during bowl practice. Clemons graded out well in the Cotton Bowl and played more snaps than in any game all season.

Davis will join Riley Bullough and Jon Reschke in forming what should be the best linebacking corps in the Big Ten, provided that Davis continue to recover well from August knee surgery.

"Ed Davis is certainly coming back, probably one of our premier linebackers from last year," Dantonio said. "Damon Knox, Brandon Clemons, guys that have played a lot of football here and have started for us. So these three guys are going to form a nucleus really for our class as we move forward here in this next year."

Dantonio "He (Corley) had a great first-day workout and looks very, very special out there. But you also bring in Cam Chambers, another guy that as I'm leaving today is sprinting in the indoor facility."

“Matt Coghlin is also a guy that will be on scholarship here as well, but outstanding kicker, did a tremendous job in camp and is a guy that is very cool under pressure, gets great lift on the ball, has the ability to kick off and punt as well if we need him to punt."

“We have two guys that were recruited whether they play defense or offense and that's A. J. Arcuri, from Olentangy, and also Luke Campbell from Olentangy. One's from Olentangy Liberty - A. J. And Luke Campbell is from Olentangy, two high schools very near each other, obviously.

“Both great athletes. Both big, long guys. A. J. is about 6' 6; some would say 6' 7 again, about 265 pounds, plays the defensive end position. So he can go to the defensive side of the ball. He's athletic enough to do that, and he was recruited as a defensive player by a lot of people. We recruited him as an offense player as well.

“Mike Tressel and Mark Staten were involved in that recruiting process. And he worked out in camp as an offensive player, but with that being said, I think he can flip either way. And that was our idea with these guys on the offensive side of the ball that they would be able to play either side of the ball. So both guys fit that mold.

“Very active player, tough, very tough and easily will be 280 probably by the time he walks in the door.

“Luke Campbell, the guy that came here and camped here, he's a nine-and-a-half long jumper, 275 pounds, about 6' 4 1/2, 30-inch vertical inch guy, and he's an offense lineman. He’s got a tremendous upside. Tough, very tough. Could possibly play on the defensive side of the ball, and I think he runs well enough and shows great flexibility to be able to do that and shows the toughness.

“So what positions those guys will play will be dependent on how things are rolling in summer camp, but they'll both have an opportunity, and I think they'll have tremendous futures here as Spartans. Excellent, excellent football players from Ohio.”

“Austin Andrews from Columbus DeSales High School, is an all-around athlete. We'll play him at corner here. He was the deep tailback for them, pretty much did everything, punt return, kick return. Highly recruited guy out of Columbus, Ohio; very quick-body guy, very explosive; extremely tough, great tackler in space and great deep-ball judgment.

“And we'll look forward to Austin coming here and having an opportunity to play and get involved very, very quickly. But a very highly recruited player down there, and we're excited about getting him out of DeSales High School, which is the home of Travis Jackson. Great high school football at DeSales, and as you move forward, he will be an outstanding player.

“Kenney Lyke, we've mentioned before, from Chicago. Will be an outstanding player, big hitter as we've mentioned before.

“Demetric Vance, Cass Tech, will probably be able to play either corner or safety. Big-body guy, about 6' 2 1/2, 6' 3, can really run; could play wide receiver here as well. Has those type of skills. But we probably start him at corner a little bit and transition him to safety, because I think he has the skills to play very, very quickly here, and he's demonstrated that in camp.”

Dantonio: “Matt Allen will go for a state wrestling meet, big championship meet this year. Obviously he's the third Allen - Brian Allen, Jack Allen - coming here. And I can only tell you this: When you have somebody's family coming here over and over and over, it signifies to me that we're doing things the right way, that their young people, their sons are moving forward, not just as a football player but in their life as well.

“I remember Matt when he was 11 or 12 years old sitting in the basement as I went in to recruit Jack. And the wrestling mat is literally in the basement laid out. Okay. And Matt's talking to me about when he gets that age and how he's going to whoop up on his brothers.

“So exciting to have Matt here. Watched him wrestle Josh King the other week and just a tremendous athlete. Again, wrestler, tough guy. Will have a great future in front of him. Understands our offense already terminology-wise, conceptually. Will play center here, but obviously could play some guard as well just like his brothers. So it'll be exciting to watch him grow.”

Dantonio only had one or two sentences of comment on deWeaver, after profiling him during the Jan. 15 mid-year enrollee press conference.

But deWeaver has apparently impressed the coaches a bit further since then.

Dantonio's lone comment on deWeaver from Wednesday:

“Messiah deWeaver is a guy that recruited and really initiated the dream team hashtag for the '16 class. Messiah is enrolled. We spoke a lot about him early on, but another young man that I think you can already see what he's going to do, just by the way you watch him carry himself."

“When you look at our defensive line, I think it's one of the strengths of our recruiting class as well. Certainly Naquan Jones, is a big-body guy, highly recruited guy in the inside from Chicago. Brad Salem, Ron Burton were involved in that recruiting process.

“And you know, there's an absence of big guys, and we've made a living on great big players playing here and playing very, very effectively on defense. So he's a guy that will have an opportunity to play early in his career. Everywhere he's gone, I think he's been successful in that area. He was a basketball player as well early on, and we're looking forward to him coming from Evanston, Illinois. Big-body guy.

“Josh King, a wrestler. I watched him wrestle a week and a half ago. 6' 6 frame. That's a legitimate 6' 6. Some would say would be bigger. 255 pounds, won the state championship in wrestling as a junior at the 220-pound level. Athlete. Very good athlete. Big body, really can run. Very athletic.

“We like wrestlers here. They can get into you and take you down, and they understand hard work, hard work and sacrifice.

“Another four-star guy that was recruited by everybody across the nation. Again, Ron Burton recruited Josh to Michigan State, and just will be an outstanding player and person. So we've got two big-time players in that capacity.

“Mufi Hunt, defensive end who when we recruited him last year, 215 pounds, went on a mission, came off his mission, so he enrolled here in January as you guys know. Now weighs 265. So a little update on Mufi as we move forward. Very, very flexible athlete.

“Mike Panasiuk, another four-star guy, was the strongest man at The Opening. Brad Salem recruited Mike. Very, very active player; dominant defensive lineman, quick-body guy. I'm not sure how much he repped. But (he was) the strongest man at The Opening, which would probably make you the strongest person in high school football.

“Very athletic, has snap, played a little bit of running back as well. They used him at running back or as a blocker in the backfield a little bit throughout the season. Mike will be another guy that will be active immediately, I think.”

“When you go to the linebacker position, two guys that we took, we're addressing need, so we felt like we could take two guys. Both these guys are multi-sport athletes.

“Joe Bachie, the guy that played tailback, punt returner, shortstop, all-conference in basketball, point guard, and he plays middle linebacker and runs. And Jim Bollman recruited the Cleveland area. He's from Berea-Midpark, outstanding player, very intelligent player, and he's in as well as we've talked about before about Joe.

“Brandon Randle is a young man from Battle Creek, and I think he was one of the guys that we really saw throughout the process of recruiting and recognized as being a guy that's an outstanding athlete and can play at an extremely high level. size 17 shoes, basketball player, track athlete, high hurdler, low hurdles, long jumper, those type of things.

“At 225 pounds he's going to be an outstanding player for us.

“A little unique situation. His parents lived in North Carolina, so he spent time back and forth a little bit. The decision was made for him to continue his education at Battle Creek. And he excelled there. Some people helped out. Coaches helped out with his living situation. He lived with his grandfather as well. His grandfather is an outstanding athlete from Ferris State, actually had one of the fastest high hurdle times in the nation at one point. His mother ran track here. So very loving family, does an outstanding job in terms of handling their child and moving him forward in this process.

“But Brandon plays defensive end, linebacker, wide receiver, tailback, punt returner, kick returner, and he's a big athletic guy that can really run and get off blocks. So we are extremely excited about his development and what he'll be able to do as we move forward.

"I'm not even sure how many stars Brandon Randle has, for instance. But I can tell you Brandon Randle probably is a five-star player in my mind. He's an outstanding football player."

"All these guys (including Chambers and Corley) are big guys that play multiple positions, multiple sports.

“I watched Trishton Jackson pour in 30 points the other night playing basketball. Quarterback on their football team. Played wide receiver. I thought Coach Bellamy did an outstanding job with him developing him at West Bloomfield, but (he is a) playmaker, very explosive, ran in the 4.4s, mid 4.4s for us in camp and came here in camp and really electrified everybody.

“So initially we were going to take three wide receivers. After seeing Trishton perform, we decided we would take four. He's that type of player, that level of player. Brad Salem was involved with that recruitment and obviously Terrence Samuel as his position coach.

“Jim Bollman recruited Justin Layne out of Cleveland Benedictine High School. Again, another young man that I watched him play basketball the other day. I'm not sure how many he had; about 20. It was a quiet 20, but he was up around the rim the whole night.

“Very explosive, quick-body guy, punt returner, kick returner, in the secondary, plays wide receiver. Very highly sought-after recruit guy who made his decision in June and has stuck with his decision throughout the process. So extremely impressive as a person, very, very tough-minded people.

“So you've got four wide receivers coming in who I really think are going to play as young freshmen. I really do believe that. Two of those guys, Corley and Justin Layne, could play on the other side of the ball. I don't think there's any question about that as we move forward. And that's been proven here that you can do that when you look at Lippett and some of the other guys that have played here on both sides.”

Good stuff from Rico Cooney on Noah Davis. Michigan State coaches think he's going to be a great fit at tight end, and I agree with them. There aren't many places left where guys are required to block at TE like St. Xavier. He's got a good pedigree, size, hands, runs good routes.

Also, based on what he said at NSD it appears that Mark Staten will not be jumping on the sleepover bandwagon anytime soon.

https://michiganstate.n.rivals.com/...t-to-thrive-at-tight-end-in-pro-style-offense

Here is an article I just finished on Michigan State's recruiting effort in Chicago. At the start of the Ron Burton interview he is talking about his son, a walk-oi who will start out at fullback.

https://michiganstate.n.rivals.com/...nt-in-influx-of-top-chicago-area-talent-in-16

Some things to chew on:

https://michiganstate.n.rivals.com/news/your-signing-day-table-setter