Pretty sure I saw Jay Johnson in the scuffle. No choice but to suspend him for the season.

Too soon?

Thought we could use getting back to normal.

PRETENDING TO BE MSU people...

Should all of the reactions to video tapes be REMOVED.

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Admits he was mad over Tucker leaving Colorado, but that the process has to play out so we can move on. Most even take I've seen.

I know they play good defense and have a really good running back. How else do we match up?

Here is Tucker's weekly press conference.

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Really hard to believe we have an offensive line with a combine 120+ career starts and a QB with 20+ starts and we do not have any assemblance of an offense. Our top plays all season have been 50/50 balls to Reed and Coleman.

I'm kinda starting to question Kap's performance. I know these are not his guys, but he has had 2+ years to work with them and from what I can tell, Brown is the only one who has improved. We can't pull guys around the edge to block or run an effective screen pass to slow down the rush because our OL cannot get out in front quick enough. They get little movement off the ball and very rarely get to the next level. Next year we are going to have a very young offensive line with mostly Kap's guys having 2-3 years in the program-I guess time will tell.

With Thorne being a coaches' son, I was expecting him to be a good game manager and have a strong pocket presence as his arm strength is very average. Really disappointed with his play - although to be fair, we don't have a running game (see the point about Kap above).

While K-9 did break a bunch of tackles last year, his other strength was bouncing outside or to the weak side when there was no hole available. He hid some of our weak oline play last year.

Finally, the next time we are in shotgun formation on 4th and 1, I may need a new TV as I will likely throw something through the screen before the play starts.

Would any of you think K9 would have been a better pick than Hutchinson because smart for the lions is injury prone. He was right in the lions back yard and they still went with the hyped guy. typical lions they never learn

I had two two-hour drives, one on Sunday and one today. I did a lot of thinking about all of the comments here about the game (not the post game). Let's see.....UM was favored by what??? 25 points. Every sane person was expecting a blow out and UM was planning on embarrassing MSU by running up the score.

So the final score way 29-7. That is a smaller margin than the odds AND you have to say 7 of UM's points were a gift from our 2nd team long snapper. Without that snap it probably would have been 22-7. Add in a dumb PF penalty by Horst on the first drive (that looked like it might end in a score) killed the drive.

I'm not smart enough to know if Thorne is a MAC QB or not, but he led the team to only 2 losses last year. I don't know if JJ's offensive plan is good or bad (I know I would have called some different plays, but so would every fan), I don't know is Scotty's D scheme is any good or not, but the past two games have looked pretty good.

All in all, we didn't show too badly Saturday other than losing.

Let's forget UM until next year (then kick their ass) and go beat Illinois. Go Green.

Needs to be fired. This dude takes off running in the other direction when things start to get out of control. CMON MAN!!!

When the football players showed up in the dorm (I think it was Brody Complex) didn’t Dantonio clean house? Same thing with White and Winston with the hockey players and Winston was our best back at the time. While this is different, the only real difference is where it took place.

Granted Harbaugh is an atomic douche for the late game play calling and there was a lot of hooting with PB at the end, it is a pretty significant escalation to go into helmet swinging.

Now we will see what direction CMT will take. Will he take a hard line like CMD? He might not be given the choice.

Dear Spartan Nation,

We all knew that this day would come someday, but that does not make the reality of the situation any easier. We all know how this works. The winner of the annual Michigan/Michigan State game gets to take me back to their town for a full year. Like all of you, I was hoping that the Michigan State Spartans would be able to pull yet another upset on the Michigan Wolverines. Sadly, it was not meant to be.

I tried to put on a strong face for the camera on Saturday night, but I am sure that some of you could probably tell that I was close to tears. They put that stupid winged helmet on me and made me wear yellow pants. I mean, seriously. Who wears yellow, or “maize” pants? Have they no fashion sense? Gross. They even put one of those hats with the block “M” on it for a while. It was embarrassing. For me, the "M" stands for "moron."

So, I guess this is goodbye for now. I have really enjoyed the last two years in East Lansing. Things have really been great over the last 15 years or so. Well, except for a few years in there. I am sure that you know which ones. Anyway, I am off to Ann Arbor for the next 12 months. I promise to do my best to stay strong and put on a happy face, but it won’t be easy.

When you see him, tell Coach Tucker that I miss him and that I will be counting the days until Oct. 21, 2023. If I know Mel, he will do everything in his power to mount a rescue mission as soon as possible.

Yours truly and always a Spartan at heart,

Paul Bunyan.

Week Nine Results​

Figure 1 below shows the results of all 47 games involving two FBS teams in Week Nine.


Figure 1: Results of Week Nine showing the actual point differentials relative to the opening spread.

The teams that overachieved enough to beat the spread by more than a standard deviation (14 points) include Kansas State, Tennessee, South Alabama, Minnesota and North Carolina. San Jose State holds the distinction of being the only team to underachieve by more than 14 points, yet still win.

A total of 14 teams took an upset loss this week. Those 14 games are listed in Table 1 in comparison to the Week Nine picks from the computers.

Table 1: Upsets in Week Nine based on the opening Vegas line compared to the upset projections from last week.


The biggest upsets on the board, based on the opening spread, were all in the Group of Five this week. Charlotte’s upset of Rice (-17) was the biggest. Most of the other upsets will likely not impact conference races with the exception of Central Florida’s upset of Cincinnati.

The computers had a solid week with upset picks. My algorithm went 5-4 (56 percent) to bring the year-to-date performance up to 20-37 (35 percent). ESPN’s FPI did not do quite as well at 3-4 (43 percent) for the week. That said, the FPI has a better year-to-date record of 15-23 (40 percent).

The results of the picks against the spread for in Week Nine are summarized below in Table 2.

Table 2: Results of the highlighted picks versus the spread in Week Nine.


Unfortunately, the computers’ picks against the spread this week were as strong as Michigan State’s special teams play against Michigan (too soon?). My algorithm went just 2-4 (33 percent) while the FPI went 1-4 (20 percent). Both computers are still sitting well below .500 for the year.

Beyond just the highlighted picks for the week, the computers also struggled overall. My algorithm went just 17-30 (36 percent) while the FPI went 20-27 (43 percent). Year-to-date my computer’s record against the spread is 221-253 overall (47 percent) while the FPI’s record is 228-246 (48 percent).

Table 3 below summarizes the results on the highlighted total points bets for Week Nine.

Table 3: Results of the recommended point total bets ("over / under" bets) in Week Nine.


In total, the performance was not great with a record of just 3-5 (38 percent). That said, the “lock” picks had a solid 3-2 record (60 percent) for the week and are still performing over 60 percent for the season.

Updated Big Ten Odds ​

Table 4 below gives the updated odds for the Big Ten race.

Table 4: Updated Big Ten rankings, expected wins, strengths of schedule and season odds following Week Nine.


There were essentially no surprises at all in Big Ten play and as a result, both division races are status quo. In addition to the game in Ann Arbor, Ohio State got the win over Penn State, and the Buckeyes and Wolverines appear to be on a collision course to decide the Big Ten East title on Nov. 26 in Columbus.

My computer currently projects that Ohio State will be about a 6.5-point favorite in that game versus Michigan, which is essentially the reason that the Buckeyes currently have a 65 percent chance to win the division compared to just a 35 percent chance for Wolverines. Michigan also still needs to host the current West division leader Illinois the week prior to traveling to Columbus. Ohio State’s toughest remaining game is at Maryland on the same weekend.

Speaking of Illinois, the Illini were able to get a road win at Nebraska this week to push their record to 7-1. Illinois still has games remaining against Michigan State and Michigan, but even if the Illini were to drop both of those games, Illinois can still very likely win the Big Ten West with a win over Purdue at home on Nov. 12.

In other Big Ten news, Minnesota shut out Rutgers and Iowa took care of business against Northwestern.

Michigan State’s remaining schedule and expected wins​

Table 5 below shows the updated win distribution matrix for the Big Ten following the action of Week Nine.

Table 5: Updated Big Ten win distribution matrix after Week Nine.


Despite the loss to the Wolverines this week, the Spartans’ expected win total remained steady at 4.67. However, Michigan State’s odds of crawling their way back to .500 dipped down to 12 percent.

Table 5 also shows that five Big Ten teams have already cleared the six-win threshold (Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Maryland and Illinois). Two other teams (Minnesota and Purdue) are just a game away and while Wisconsin and Iowa both have work to do at 4-4, both teams have a 70 to 75 percent chance to also become bowl eligible.

Figure 2 below gives the detailed odds and projected point spreads for Michigan State’s four remaining games. I have also included the values calculated from last week for comparison.


Figure 2: Updated odds and spread projections for Michigan State’s remaining games, following Week Nine and based on a 60,000 cycle Monte Carlo simulation.

It should not be much of a surprise that Michigan State’s situation is essentially unchanged. In order to make a bowl, the Spartans will need to win three of their final four games. While the Spartans will likely be favored against Rutgers and Indiana, they will be double-digit underdogs in the other two contests.

There are two small bits of good news. First, the Rutgers game now looks a little bit easier compared to last week. The projected spreads in the other three games are essentially unchanged. Second, while my computer continues to ride the Illini hype train, the actual spread for next week’s game at Illinois opened with a spread around +16 for Michigan State. So, that game now looks slightly more winnable as well.

At this point, I am going to take any small victories where I can find them.

National Overview​

Let’s close things out for today with a recap of the action around the country in Week Nine.

Much like the action in the Big Ten, there were no real surprises in the SEC other than Missouri beating South Carolina, which was essentially irrelevant. Georgia and Tennessee both beat interstate rivals Florida and Kentucky to set up next week’s winner-take-all showdown in Athens. Georgia opened as an eight-point favorite, which translates to about a 70 percent chance for the Bulldogs to beat Tennessee and to win the SEC East. Georgia does have a tougher remaining schedule with two potentially tricky road games left at Kentucky and Mississippi State, but the race in the East will likely be over next weekend.

In the SEC West, Alabama and LSU had the week off while Ole Miss survived a scare at Texas A&M. The odds for the West therefore are essentially unchanged. Alabama still has the best odds at 64 percent, with LSU and Ole Miss essentially tied with about an 18 percent chance to win the West.

In Big 12 action, TCU pulled away from West Virginia late to stay undefeated, and Kansas State completely destroyed Oklahoma State to stay a single game back in the standings. Based on these wins, the Horned Frogs (74 percent) and Wildcats (68 percent) are starting to pull away and are edging closer to locking up the top spots in the Big 12 Championship game. I still have Texas with the third best odds (37 percent) and Baylor (11 percent) still in the picture, but no other team has odds greater than five percent.

In the ACC, the race for both divisions is basically over. I have Clemson with a 98 percent chance to win the Atlantic Division and North Carolina with a 94 percent chance to win the Coastal Division. The Tar Heels used a dominant fourth quarter to beat Pittsburgh and essentially locked up the division. I currently project Clemson to be about a 12-point favorite over North Carolina in the ACC Championship game.

There were also no upsets in the Pac-12 in Week Nine. UCLA and Oregon both covered the spread, while USC and Utah did not. There was some small movement in the odds for those four teams to finish in the top two of the conference, but I still have USC in the lead with a 64 percent chance to reach the Pac-12 Championship Game. Utah (58 percent) is right behind with Oregon (45 percent) also right there. UCLA (27 percent) still has a shot as well.

With Cincinnati’s loss to Central Florida this week, there are now only two teams in the Group of Five with fewer than two losses: Tulane (7-1) and Coastal Carolina (7-1). Tulane is currently at the top of my Group of Five leaderboard with a 35 percent chance to earn a New Year’s Six Bowl bid, but the Green Wave’s odds of running the table in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) are at less than 30 percent.

Despite Coastal Carolina’s record, the Chanticleers are currently ranked as No. 80 in my power rankings and my calculations project that they only have a 14 percent chance to win the Sun Belt Conference. I only give the Chanticleers about a 3.5 percent chance to make the New Year’s Six, which is only good enough for eighth place.

At this point, it looks like the New Year’s Six representative from the Group of Five will be the weakest one in history exactly a year after Cincinnati broke through into the playoffs. If Tulane fails to win the AAC, the next teams up on my Group of Five leaderboard are Troy (10 percent), Boise State (10 percent), South Alabama (nine percent), Cincinnati (nine percent) and Central Florida (eight percent).

Against all odds, I have reached the end for today. As always, enjoy, Happy Halloween, and Go State, beat the Illini!

Do you all remember Harbaugh complaining about the Purdue facilities in 2017? What do you think the crybaby would be doing right now if it was the other way around and the tunnel was at Spartan Stadium?

Michigan's Jim Harbaugh rips Purdue's facilities

if this is so, and we have been told it is, MSU players will be held accountable and they should be. But will UMICH players face anything scrutiny and potential charges? Last I checked, yelling "FIRE" in a crowded space is illegal - actually a felony. Inciting a riot is also a crime. Inciting is instigating...I am not suggesting the UM players receive the same criminal penalty that may be coming to one or more of the MSU players...but just because the UM players may have been injured, does not absolve them from being charged, if they to committed a crime. I believe the police investigation should look at this. If they do, and no charges are filed - fine.

Gotta tell you, reading this forum after this game has been like watching a dumpster fire. Many of you want an elite program, but you exhibit that you have no spine nor the courage and will it takes to create the program or support it.

All of you know what we are up against. So ask yourself, do I want I be an apologist? Do I want to allow our program to be framed as an illegitimate aggressor against a self proclaimed self-righteous victim? You want to play their game by all their rules Hoping to win their way? Why? Why is that the high road?

that’s not how it works. You win in the long term by redefining the game and redefining the narrative. You win your way, you apologize for nothing as you conduct business in the way that you choose to conduct business.you WILL face adversity doing this. But that’s the way of things.

you lose by playing their game by their rules and by allowing their noise and narrative to back you down. Once you succumb to that, you have lost before the game starts. That’s how losers operate. They limit themselves to the opppsition’s rule book.

you want a winning program? Be willing to support them instead of lining up against them whenever adversity rears it’s head. Stop playing the opposition’s damn game. Stop allowing then to play you. Be willing to walk a bit through the fire.

Michigan stadium's 50 yard line geo. coordinates: 42°15' 58"N 83°44' 53"W


I believe that this would:

1). Create seldom-seen, friendly dialogue between the U.S. and N. Korea and/or Russia by offering such an unexpected "olive branch", thereby allowing valuable experience/practice.
2). Limit all future tunnel disputes.

I'm no historian, but this is an idea that really should have been thought about during the Cuban Missile crisis.

In public spaces (LA and now Jacksonville, something along the lines of “Kanye was right about the Jews”), it is particularly egregious that Michigan shoulder shrugged away Edwards’ tweet. What a message they are sending by ignoring the context of the tweet. In fairness, the Jacksonville incident was after the tweet but LA was before. However, the Jacksonville incident is another indicator of the current climate and Michigan’s dismissal of this incident in context is awful.

Ok you can jump on me if you want. Im in my mid 50's and trying to put myself back into my head when I was in my 18-20's. Not sure how I would've reacted . Seeing a fan swipe at my coach and just losing a game to them. Im hoping I would've reacted like I would in my older days and just flip them off and go on. The helmet thing was BAD!! Im sure the players involved feel sick.

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Honestly probably a good idea. Season is basically over. Nothing more you can do

Let us as Spartans reinvigorate ourselves to focus on the task that always has been and always will be the foundation of Spartan Nation. Each one of us needs to do EVERYTHING in our power to not let the intellectual aristocracy diminish our resolve our spirit and our love for Spartan Nation. Look in your communities for players, contribute to Spartan NIL’s, wear your Spartan Green and White proudly and never, never, never ever let the intellectual aristocracy diminish you!

Whether you have been a Spartan fan for Five months, Five years or Seventy years, like me you understand the never ending attack the intellectual aristocracy brings upon Spartan Nation. We must understand their disdain for us because we threaten them and use it as motivation to build an even greater Sparta. We understand how they orchestrate situations that put us in a bad light. Any negative or questionable behavior is ALWAYS 100 times more heinous if committed by a Spartan as opposed to the intellectual elites. This isn’t just the school down the road in Michigan but others as well that will go unnamed in this post. Tunnel events have not been isolated to AA.

The intellectual aristocracy fueled by the legacy intellectual main street media and main street sports media always attempt to marginalize Spartans and our success, our resolve and our greatness. They like to think that when they get too heaven they will be the only ones there. They believe their degrees are worth more, they think they are smarter than we are, they believe they should tell the rest of us how to live and what to think and bottom line they know we will not be deterred from our mission to defeat them. Diminish us at every turn. They have been doing it for 100 years. We have been fighting it for 100 years. It isn’t over it will never be over! It didn’t just begin but this intentionally orchestrated incident Saturday night is just another diversion along the way. We may lose a battle or two but we will win the war!
GO GREEN

I just remember seeing this a few years ago.

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Someone brought up a good point about U of M basketball players getting into fights last season and not being suspended the rest of the season. Those fights were on national TV and no matter how they frame it nobody really got in as much trouble as we thought they would. That should be taken into account when whatever happens, happens to our boys.