MSU snatches a loss out of the mouth of victory... AGAIN!
Little brother just can't get a break. After having 14 players suspended, causing them to start their backup QB as their 3rd receiver on the day, Dantonio almost found a way to coach this team to a win, by throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Texas Tech. Some of the play calls in this game were just phenomenal on the part of Dantonio, but in the end his secondary sucks, and you have to expect that at the worst time Cousins is going to play like the long line of MSU QB's that have come before him and self-distruct.
Great Game, Dantonio is a great coach, and after seeing the Under Armor game, great recruiting (Gholston is a freak), but in the end it is great to see that some things never change. MSU 31 - TT 41.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:47 AM ^
Watching that was like playing NCAA 2010
Going for it on fourth like that! Love it.
Sorry, Lil' Brother.
But Dantonio did call a very nice game for them. I still don't think he's a great coach, but he's shown he can tape a bunch of crap together and make it not smell so bad.
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:26 AM ^
Personally, watching the stark contrast between Dantonio's jaw clench and Ruffin McNeill's happy Gatorade shower was just too schadenfreudelicious for me.
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:36 AM ^
Texas Tech dominated this game. They had a huge edge in all the stats. It was more that MSU threatened to escape with an undeserved win than them blowing it.
As for Dantonio being a great coach, well, his career record through six years is like five games over .500. Yippie. And even with Gholston, their recruiting class this year sucks (#36 in the country, according to Rivals).
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:56 AM ^
Yeah, I think it is extremely premature to say Dantonio is a "Great" Coach. At this point, I would put him in the "Decent" category.
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:29 AM ^
MSU only has 16 commits so they have a lot of room to go up, down or stay the same with their 36th ranked recruiting class.
Against D1A schools, Dantonio does have an average record and I think that the media love fest with Dantonio allows him to recruit better with the image constructed for him.
Versus D1A teams:
2004: 7-5
2005: 3-7
2006: 6-5
2007: 7-6
2008: 9-4
2009: 5-7
Total: 37-34
However, it would have been nice to get a BigTen win.
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:59 AM ^
They're not going to move up much. I think they're only taking a few more guys. It'll be a pretty small class.
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:49 AM ^
MSU does have three Rivals top 250 guys to our two (although ours are both top 100). I wouldn't say their class is better than ours by any means, but Dantonio is certainly building a solid team in EL. He is also heading for problems with institutional control of his program.
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:37 AM ^
I would almost feel sorry for Sparty if it weren't for all of the times their fans write "scUM" in comment fields, or the constant "Dirty Fab Five" references, or the rewriting of history saying that MSU has always dominated UM in basketball, or the constant bragging because they had a good year last year and a mediocre one this year.
My litany would not be complete without mentioning how the state media have sainted Dantonio, or how they try to prop MSU up every chance they get while shitting on UM, or Dantonio's inflammatory statements concerning UM.
Since, however, their "fans" and "coach" have done all this and more, I do not feel the least bit sorry for anyone associated with MSU. AAMOF, I will be hoarse tomorrow from all of the screaming I did at my TV set, especially when Tech finally got their heads out of their asses long enough to put the game away. I enjoyed Tech's victory almost as much as Forcier's performance against ND this year.
Best of all, this has given me plenty of "ammo" to use against our "friends" in EL when they spew their tiresome epithets, insults, and distortions in the comment fields of local news outlets.
The correct team won tonight. Thank goodness.
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:42 AM ^
I would almost feel sorry for Sparty if it weren't for all of the times their fans write "scUM" in comment fields, or the constant "Dirty Fab Five" references, or the rewriting of history saying that MSU has always dominated UM in basketball, or the constant bragging because they had a good year last year and a mediocre one this year.Add "general ignorance" and "tiresome inferiority complex" and you've essentially summed it up right there.
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:51 AM ^
You do realize that several of those words are too big for your average MSU fan to come up with?
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:57 AM ^
In regards to the state media, you are absolutely correct. The truly remarkable thing, though, is that after moving out of Michigan, I haven't heard a thing about them. I'm still in the Midwest, still in Big Ten country (though in a more pro sports town) and you will not hear a word about sparty.
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^
Really, that (scUM) is all you need to know about the Sparties. They've had who-knows-how-many years to displace that lame put-down and think of something more clever, but... FAIL.
scUM! Huh, huh! Get it? sc and UM! DUH...
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:02 AM ^
Detroit News Headline: "MSU puts up fight, but suffers fourth straight bowl loss"
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:35 AM ^
Sparties are the kings of the moral victory. I've tried telling my Sparty friend that a team is allowed only one moral victory per season at most, and that is when they play a much better team much closer than was expected. With Sparty the moral victories started at CMU, and included Iowa and Notre Dame.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:24 AM ^
Sparty status: Why the fuck does MSU always have to play just like MSU? Can't we for once play like, oh I dunno, a winning team?
Friend comment: Texas Tech was quite possibly the worst machup state couldve got for a bowl game, everyone thought it was going to be a blow out but it was a good game. Chill.
Sparty reply: I will not chill. You can make yourself feel better about whatever it is you're talking about. I just want us to win.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:27 AM ^
What I can't understand is the manner in which they latch onto the historicity of the Inferiority Complex. Yes, we tried to prevent them from becoming a university and joining the Big Ten (as we should), but how they tried to justify the rivalry with UM with that instance is comical.
For all their insistence on that being their sole reason for UM hatred, I wonder why they perpetuate it at all. They could try to carve out their own history, but no, they keep on bringing it up.
This is what makes them eternally Little Brother.
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:25 PM ^
I would like to second your post, and add to it:
Allow me to break down the all time statistics regarding the UofM/msu "rivalry." msu's record against UofM in the football game is 30-67-5. That means msu would have to beat michigan 38 years in a row to take the edge in that department. So get at me in 2047 if that happens. Additionally, let's take a look at national titles and big ten titles for each respective school
National Titles for Michigan: 11
National Titles for Michigan State: 6
Conference Titles for Michigan: 42
Conference Titles for Michigan State: 6
What about hockey? Compare michigan's nine national championships to michigan state's three. for those spartans who aren't mathematicians out there, that's triple the amount of national championships.
For any futbol fanatics out there, please note that the spartans hold a whopping 26-3-5 record against the wolverines. Have a flipping cookie.
Can't forget to talk about the holy grail at michigan state that is the basketball program. I will not deny that recently msu has the superior basketball team, but the all time record against michigan cannot go unnoticed at a respectable 71-91 which means that state would have to beat michigan twice every year for a decade in order to take the edge in that.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:43 AM ^
Sparty's school newspaper The State News (which is actually a pretty well-run college newspaper) posted this breaking story:
http://statenews.com/index.php/article/2010/01/texas_tech_heartache
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:41 AM ^
Those shots of Dantonio with the GAS FACE were fucking priceless.
January 3rd, 2010 at 4:45 AM ^
Just saw that stuff you wrote about Dant-almamo being a good coach. Really? Do you believe that through and through? If you do, man, I have to say, today was Exhibit A for Sparty pissing away whatever minor sprig of football mojo that goes their way.
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:19 AM ^
Little brother? You're a history major, right? When the heck did you last beat those guys? And you're mocking them 'cause they lost a BOWL GAME? You guys are illegally practicing somewhere and destroying the records, and you're making fun of a team that went to a BOWL GAME? Chutzpah!
January 3rd, 2010 at 8:24 AM ^
Banhammer.
January 3rd, 2010 at 8:34 AM ^
MSU has beaten us a whole 2 times straight, barely against 2 of the worst teams fielded by UM in the last 70 years.
When is the last time MSU had won 2 straight? We almost beat you guys this year with mostly underclassmen on offense and a true freshman QB. Enjoy your wins because it'll be a long time before you win again.
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:52 AM ^
Really dude? You're beating your chest because you went 6-6 vs our 5-7? You have two victories over the two Michigan teams who weren't even bowl eligible? Man you guys are king of the mountain aren't you...
Yes you are little brother and you always will be.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:54 AM ^
he's a buckeye. his username is 'five in a row'
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:18 AM ^
Typical Dantonio at the post game handshake too....it looked and sounded like Ruffin wanted to stand there for more than 2 seconds talking to Dantonio, but instead "the greatest coach north of the Ohio turnpike" had about a seconds worth of time to give a wet, flailing handshake and then off to the lockerroom for more media praise. God he is such a douchebag!!
January 3rd, 2010 at 10:35 AM ^
How many people know that, to date, Dantonio has beaten only one team ranked in the AP Top 25 at the time of the game?
That one team? Michigan (!) early last year.
Great coach my a$$...
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:04 AM ^
I hate Sparty and i think I need to see a shrink for my problem. I can't root for Sparty no matter what. Everyone says you should root for the Big Ten and I just can't root for Sparty because we recruit against them year round and my general hate for them. At the shop, I make Sparty followers clean up after company picnics, give them the shittiest jobs, and generally all around abuse them. Do I have a problem?
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:26 AM ^
Dantonio did call a good game for MSU, but also remember that he did it against a Tech team that had just had their HC fired and the associated media frenzy.
Aside from that, when did MSU have a victory to "snatch"? TT answered every time, controlled the tempo and stopped Sparty when they really needed to. MSU was just plain beaten by a team without a coach.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:18 AM ^
They were driving down running the ball left right and straight ahead. Texas Tech had moral victories when they held them to a 5 yard gain. Then on a first down, instead of continuing what had not been stopped the entire drive, Dantonio calls that trick play that didn't work, had a holding penalty and injured a good offensive lineman. They never recovered from that. I understand you need to mix things up a bit, but when your RB can't be stopped, you pound them until they stop him.
January 3rd, 2010 at 11:27 AM ^
My Sunday sports page greeted me this morning with the headline, "MSU blows it" in wonderful big bold text.... hah, as if we needed to be reminded of that.
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
I suspect the Freep's headline was something about moral victory.
Which, of course, is like interpreting the key lesson of 300 as "Spartans defeat Persians."
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:35 PM ^
A Sparty just said that they did very well considering that they were supposed to be blown out in the game? Is that true? I had the impression that the game was supposed to be close.