Are you cheering for ND or MSU?

Submitted by Dan Man on

Assuming that the laws of reality apply and that one of these two teams has to win, I'm curious who people are cheering for this weekend - ND or MSU. I have very mixed feelings. Part of me wants ND to win because it will increase the odds of Weis sticking around for another year, which I think would be a good thing for us. But my dislike for Notre Dame is actually greater than my dislike for MSU, partially because I've disliked Notre Dame for as long as I can remember, while I was ambivalent about MSU until I came to Michigan for grad school.

I think at the end of day, I'd like to see MSU win because: (1) they're in conference, (2) I think ND gives us a little more competition recruiting-wise, and (3) I think the ND program is in greater turmoil, and it'd be fun to watch the program fall to shit, even though we might not have Weis to kick around any longer.

What do you think?

Jinxed

September 17th, 2009 at 1:25 AM ^

The fewer games ND drops this season.. the better that win looks for us.. MSU is already tainted by a loss to Central, so ND winning clearly benefits us much more than MSU winning..

And I only root for B10 teams post-season.. During the season..... meh.. I'm pretty indifferent..

ommeethatsees

September 17th, 2009 at 8:41 AM ^

Since I have to listen to my Spartan friends brag about how great they are more often than my ND friends (btw I don't have any ND friends - how could you) I want ND to win. Makes us look better and I don't really care how bad MSU looks. Too bad we don't have to make these kind of choices during BB season. Maybe soon.

KinesiologyNerd

September 17th, 2009 at 1:28 AM ^

This is like the old ethics question: do I save the train full of people or the little girl?

Part of me wants ND because that makes our win look better if ND is "for realz". OTOH, I hate ND... but I hate MSU. More specifically, I can't stand Charlie Weis or Mark Dantonio.

BUT I'll cheer for ND mostly because I don't want Urban Meyer or Brian Kelly replacing him.

ZooWolverine

September 17th, 2009 at 9:25 AM ^

Loose pack of wild, hungry wolverines > tornado.

I definitely pick ND over MSU, however. I hate Charlie Weis but I want him to stick around because I think he is a disaster of a coach and the longer he's there, the better inherent advantage we have against ND. I don't want enough success that he can actually keep recruiting amazing talent since that's the one thing he does well and good players are obviously helpful to the next coach if/when he gets replaced. But the longer Charlie is in South Bend, the better it is for us.

I similarly hate Mark Dantonio but want him to stay at MSU. That gets less credit than keeping Weis, however, since a) he's not on the brink of getting fired and b) MSU is much (much!) less likely to replace him someone good when he leaves.

tomhagan

September 17th, 2009 at 1:41 AM ^

Normally Id root for ND in this game.... but after this week, and how Charlie cried like a baby...and how the majority of their fan base cried like a baby...and all the finger pointing, excuse making, blaming the officials and accusing Michigan of playing dirty... the overwhelming sense of 'entitlement' that those jackasses from ND have.... makes me very uneasy about ever rooting for them again.

Ill just take a neutral stance on this game now...

tricks574

September 17th, 2009 at 1:43 AM ^

My opinion is tainted by a wager I made with an MSU fan that UofM would be ranked higher at the end of the year. On a related note, the only contact we've had this past week was him texting me "Fuck You, I'm gonna go drink until I forget its football season."

To be fair, I would have done the same thing in his position.

cargo

September 17th, 2009 at 1:44 AM ^

Notre Dame

1. It makes us look better
2. If msu wins at south bend and its an easy win they wont shutup and we look worse
3. msu needs put in their place as little brother, so the worse the season the more people realize last year was a fluke.
4. Screw big ten preception believe I used to be all for big ten teams winning but once we were bottom of the big ten last year and every b10 team telling us how much we suck and will never be good again, especially msu or osu they can shove it, every other b10 member can win their games and i want them to do good but I hope osu and msu lose every game from now on.

psychomatt

September 17th, 2009 at 1:46 AM ^

This one is tough because I really don't care much one way or the other. Normally I would pull for Sparty over ND, but ND has been so bad lately and Sparty's head has gotten way bigger than normal because of last year, so I think I would like to see Sparty go 1-2 to begin the season. Their next game is at Wisconsin and then they play us, so conceivably they could start the season 1-4. Yeah, I'm definitely pulling for ND.

flysociety3

September 17th, 2009 at 1:48 AM ^

ND for sure... not only does it make us look better if they start winning, but I HATE STATE... all my annoying ass friends go there.. they think because they had one good season that they are the shit now

QVIST

September 17th, 2009 at 2:04 AM ^

I'm torn.

The more ND wins, the better we look (assuming/hoping we continue to win); however, there's no reason to give MSU any more to be pissed about come time our game with them.

genericmichiganfan

September 17th, 2009 at 1:58 AM ^

But since that's unlikely I will be "rooting" for ND. All of the crap since the game has made it harder to pull for ND, but I remember that it's MSU on the other side and suddenly I have no problem doing it.

Basically, an ND win makes our win look better, helps Weis' job security, and better yet gives MSU its second straight loss. If they're not squirming already after losing to CMU, a beatdown at the hands of ND would certainly accomplish that.

Seth9

September 17th, 2009 at 2:18 AM ^

Should State win, after losing to CMU, wins over both teams become relatively weak in the eyes of the nation. Should State lose, the ND win continues to look good, and hopefully the nation will internalize last week as a good win before ND gets pounded by USC.

VictorsValiant09

September 17th, 2009 at 3:49 AM ^

Notre Dame, save for the fact that I have a ton of family and friends who went to MSU, and I can't stand Sparty and their fans. Pretty much hate everything about them.

They have to come crashing back down to reality and recognize that the collapse is inevitable.

STAUDACHERBLUE

September 17th, 2009 at 6:31 AM ^

I will take ND in this one due to the fact that it helps UM since we beat them. Also I would like to see sparty implode which started this past week and another loss would open the flood gates IMO.

Don

September 17th, 2009 at 6:33 AM ^

Normally I'd root for ND for one of the same reasons others mention here, that of maintaining ND's standing for our SOS by year's end. Since that's more important when we've got a legit chance to contend for the NC, I'm more concerned about our game up at MSU in a few weeks. If Sparty puts a 35-10 licking on ND (however unlikely that is), they'll be right back to their overrated opinion of themselves, and they'll be thinking that playing us will be easy. We can use every advantage we can get playing them in EL.

Sean@MATW

September 17th, 2009 at 6:36 AM ^

I want Charlie Weis coaching there as long as possible. I don't want them firing him and then getting someone like Brian Kelly, cause then they might actually be good.

Matt EM

September 17th, 2009 at 6:56 AM ^

There is simply no benefit to an MSU win, it simply establishes the fact that ND was questionable from the start, since MSU has lost to a MAC team and ND would hypothetically lose to MSU, which makes M suspect by default. On the other hand if ND wins, it makes ND somewhat credible by beating a team picked 3rd in the B10 by most analysts, which makes M's victory over ND all the more impressive.

MSU Win = M just beat 2 teams that are mediocre at best

ND Win = better national perception for M

AMazinBlue

September 17th, 2009 at 7:26 AM ^

then again I want our win to be validated. This is so tough. I really enjoy dr. lou sitting there with nothing to say last Saturday night knowing he could tout ND as playing for the MNC. I think I hate ND more and we will have the chznce to ruin little brother's season in a couple of weeks. So........

FUCK Notre Dame!

I am silently praying for a giant flux capacitor to put both programs back to 1955 and we never see either one again.

Tully Mars

September 17th, 2009 at 8:14 AM ^

I'm pulling for MSU in this game and then hoping the ND can look good through the rest of their schedule, particularly when they play USC. If they can pull off that game (yeah it's a long shot...) then the SOS arguements are moot I think. Also, to be honest, I'm not so concerned about how our SOS looks. Just winning some games this year is enough to keep me happy. Next year I'll go back to caring about SOS and our ranking more.

I'm so sick of hearing people rag on the Big Ten, I'd like to see the whole conference do well in OOC games. I think it takes a lot more to improve the Big Ten's image than any one team's image.

MH20

September 17th, 2009 at 8:19 AM ^

I want Dantonio to be embarrassed on Saturday. Everything about that man rubs me the wrong way.

But wait, the same is 100% true for Weis. Charlie's existence is the bane of mine.

For the sheer fact that a win over an ND team that ends up with 9-10 wins will look very good on our resume and all the crap I took from MSU fans here at work, I will be "rooting" for ND.

This is the case of choosing the slightly less of two complete evils.

Brother Mouzone

September 17th, 2009 at 8:31 AM ^

Need Charlie to keep his job!

Better ND finish...better for us

With the huge love and expectations at the beginning of the year Sparty can be Sparty with losses against Central, ND, Wisc, Michigan and Illinois.