The way I see it, Michigan State is a pretty good, pretty dangerous, Top 15 team right now. It’s nice for the program that MSU got up to No. 2 for the first time since 1966. Now forget it.
Forget about trying to stay No. 2 or No. 4, and trying to hold on.
MSU is actually more like a No. 15 and potentially on the climb.
At interviews today, I didn't get the sense that MSU’s players are tight at all, or worried at all. They’re loose, they’re working, they are eager to get to the point that enough guys are healthy enough to try to put a full 60 minutes together.
Like I wrote in the Dot Comp article on Sunday:
MSU has trailed for only a minute and :08 seconds all year.
MSU played some pretty good football to go up 21-0 on Purdue, 17-0 on Central Michigan, 27-7 on Western Michigan, 35-7 on Air Force.
MSU was up on Oregon 31-21 when Cook missed Shelton on third-and-medium with 6 minutes to go at the 44-yard line. Complete that, and I suspect MSU might be headed toward a close-out 38-21 drive, which would have been 41-21 if Geiger hits a field goal, which might have been 41-14 if MSU covers a punt.
MSU wasn't good enough, at that time, to have a 41-14 lead on that team. But that kind of margin was certainly within MSU's means.
Among other things, MSU needed to have better special teams coverage and place kicking on that night, and better cornerback play after Copeland went down. One of those areas has improved (with Colquhoun). Special teams coverage is still in the proving process. Place kicker remains a problem, for now.
And Oregon had a chance to steal that game late with the deep pass.
And true, MSU gave up a lot of ugly yardage in all of those games to make the final score tighter than things were midway through the third quarter of those games.
I’m not saying MSU is great right now. I’m saying they’re playing like a Top 15 team that, despite the injuries, still has a high ceiling to aspire to. Not as high a ceiling as they could have had in August, but high enough to take care of a lot of business between now and the Ohio State game.
Top 15 and climbing. Lots of work to do, but at times Michigan State has flexed some muscle and played some pretty good football. Need to harness that level for 60 minutes. If and when they do, it’ll take a real good game from a good team to beat them.
Forget about trying to stay No. 2 or No. 4, and trying to hold on.
MSU is actually more like a No. 15 and potentially on the climb.
At interviews today, I didn't get the sense that MSU’s players are tight at all, or worried at all. They’re loose, they’re working, they are eager to get to the point that enough guys are healthy enough to try to put a full 60 minutes together.
Like I wrote in the Dot Comp article on Sunday:
MSU has trailed for only a minute and :08 seconds all year.
MSU played some pretty good football to go up 21-0 on Purdue, 17-0 on Central Michigan, 27-7 on Western Michigan, 35-7 on Air Force.
MSU was up on Oregon 31-21 when Cook missed Shelton on third-and-medium with 6 minutes to go at the 44-yard line. Complete that, and I suspect MSU might be headed toward a close-out 38-21 drive, which would have been 41-21 if Geiger hits a field goal, which might have been 41-14 if MSU covers a punt.
MSU wasn't good enough, at that time, to have a 41-14 lead on that team. But that kind of margin was certainly within MSU's means.
Among other things, MSU needed to have better special teams coverage and place kicking on that night, and better cornerback play after Copeland went down. One of those areas has improved (with Colquhoun). Special teams coverage is still in the proving process. Place kicker remains a problem, for now.
And Oregon had a chance to steal that game late with the deep pass.
And true, MSU gave up a lot of ugly yardage in all of those games to make the final score tighter than things were midway through the third quarter of those games.
I’m not saying MSU is great right now. I’m saying they’re playing like a Top 15 team that, despite the injuries, still has a high ceiling to aspire to. Not as high a ceiling as they could have had in August, but high enough to take care of a lot of business between now and the Ohio State game.
Top 15 and climbing. Lots of work to do, but at times Michigan State has flexed some muscle and played some pretty good football. Need to harness that level for 60 minutes. If and when they do, it’ll take a real good game from a good team to beat them.
