The Sparty Spiral
So as I was leaving the game with some friends and hearing the MSU/Wisconsin score we started debating whether three straight losses would key off what we refer to as "The Sparty Spiral". You know this drill. Sparty rides high for a while then they lose a few in a row and their season just spirals into oblivion. On the one hand, they dropped three in a row. On the other, they're scoring points and have lost by 8 or less every game and could have easily won two of those. Your thoughts?
September 27th, 2009 at 8:44 AM ^
That's only one loss in the big ten so they are not yet in full blown "Sparty Spiral". Plus this next week is the game that they are all looking forward to, so if Michigan wins I think MSU goes .500 this season.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:04 AM ^
If they lose to Michigan, they will be 1-4. I don't think they're going to go 5-2 the rest of the way. If they do, I don't know how that would qualify as a spiral.
September 27th, 2009 at 8:48 AM ^
doesn't count as an 8 point loss to me. Wisconsin had them blown out and their backups gave up a 90+ yard TD pass with 15 seconds left in the game.
My concern is that at 1-3 beating Michigan makes their season. Oops, I forgot with Dumbtonio Sparty owns the State lol. Wonder how Gholston is feeling about his verbal now? How stupid does the Freep look now with their preseason picks on team records?
September 27th, 2009 at 9:02 AM ^
Freep not only looks stupid, they are stupid...
Gholston is going to give the pre-game speech this week. To sum it up," You guys better quit sucking so bad or I'm going to a real football school, Duke!"
September 27th, 2009 at 9:15 AM ^
According to sparty fans that I work with, the only thing that could help their season is a victory over M. They are already getting ready for B-Ball season. The spiral is on, but with a home loss next week, .500 is probably too high of a goal.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:32 AM ^
Michigan football ALWAYS spirals after playing MSU.
UM is 1-5 in regular season games played after facing Dantonio's MSU teams.
MSU football is simply not that good this year. It's hard to spiral when you don't start high. But the UM obsession with the idea is cute.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:44 AM ^
What an excellent sample size.
Michigan was 1-3 last year after the MSU game, which was part of a 3-9 season. That record has nothing to do with a "spiral." That was the same winning percentage Michigan had for the first 8 games of the season.
In 2007 our starting quarterback had a noodle for an arm, but even with a gimpy shoulder, he was still good enough to beat MSU.
If you're an MSU fan, you have no high ground when it comes to football. Just like UM fans should admit that MSU has a better basketball program, you should probably just give up trying to talk shit about Michigan. There's nothing you can say that makes us feel bad about ourselves compared to MSU.
September 27th, 2009 at 8:25 PM ^
Likewise, nothing you can say make me want to cheer for anyone other than MSU.
Give up talking shit about Michigan? Never. Congrats on having a better football program, but your coach just matched Dantonio's first-year win total... in his second season. Your QB has a great ball fake... and fake injuries. Your best DE is a fantastic football player and sure-fire NFL pick... but 0-1 in guaranteeing the winner of MSU-UM. Congrats on beating Indiana... with the help of replay officials who don't know the meaning of "simultaneous possession".
High ground? I don't need no stinkin' high ground.
September 27th, 2009 at 8:30 PM ^
I'd like your opinion on something. Is Dantonio better than Smith?
September 27th, 2009 at 8:39 PM ^
Two bowls and more wins than JLS in two years. Easy call.
September 27th, 2009 at 8:42 PM ^
Because I read that they both started with identical 17-13 records in their first 30 games as State coach.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:24 PM ^
Dantonio is sort of like the Charlie Weis of East Lansing. Everyone has anointed him the savior even though his numbers are precisely par for the course.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:58 PM ^
Consecutive bowl games were not "par for the course" in Dantonio's first 2 seasons.
The arbitrary time frame of 30 games is an interesting comparison, but there are no awards for winning in September. JLS would have locked those up.
September 28th, 2009 at 12:49 AM ^
30 games is not an arbitrary time frame whatsoever. It is the exact number of games that Dantonio has presided over at this point in time.
Even if it were arbitrary, its arbitrariness is utterly unimportant since it IS a statistically significant sample size unaffected by any confounding variables, unlike your alleged "Michigan spiral" of 1-5, especially given that last year's UM team was literally the worst team in the history of UM football.
But yes, JLS has the Mr. September award locked up. So far this season, Dantonio doesn't even have that.
JLS was your Tyrone Willingham.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:11 PM ^
"Likewise, nothing you can say make me want to cheer for anyone other than MSU."
Ummmm...okay. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. I'm not trolling on any MSU message boards trying to stir shit up.
WTF is that comment about Dantonio supposed to mean? Yeah, it's really funny that Dantonio had all those wins in his first year. It really turned that program around, didn't it? Right now MSU has the same winning percentage that Michigan had in its worst season in decades.
"Your QB has a great ball fake...and fake injuries."
If that was meant to be an insult, it wasn't a good one. Seriously? The best you can come up with is 'Yeah, well...uhhh...ummmm...er...your QB faked an injury, so take THAT!'
Oh, wait...I take that back...that wasn't the best you could come up with. You bashed Brandon Graham for being 0-1 in guarantees...who's also 2-1 against MSU in his career. I care more about wins than fulfilling guarantees.
The only team MSU has beaten this year is Montana State. Meanwhile, we beat Notre Dame (you lost).
Seriously...what's your point? These are the lamest insults/accusations I've ever read on this board.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:40 AM ^
I didn't realize that Dantonio has been at MSU 6 years.
September 27th, 2009 at 1:40 PM ^
Mike Valenti
September 27th, 2009 at 2:02 PM ^
You should make JLS proud and slap yourself for your stupid post.
September 27th, 2009 at 5:02 PM ^
congrats on beating our worst team in michigan football history last season. woopity doo... I guess it takes our worst team for MSU to beat Michigan without cheating.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:39 AM ^
I think Sparty is a lot better than their record indicates, and we are in for one hell of a dog fight next Saturday.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:46 AM ^
i agree. it's very possible we lose this game (in the air.)
September 27th, 2009 at 12:17 PM ^
Not to mention it's on the road and the big ten network. I'm worried about the run defense too. I'm hoping that somebody will explain to me that my fears are crazy.
September 27th, 2009 at 10:51 AM ^
If UM starts out strong, then the MSU spiral might come into full force. This game is critical to turning around their season and everyone wearing green will be amped. If UM can get a lead, the doubts in their little green hearts will start to rise up. After a loss to UM, being 1-4 (and still having another MAC team on their schedule) should have Dantonio wondering if his "pride comes before the fall" statement was also applicable to himself.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:10 AM ^
It deserves no more attention than a dog gets for barking. It's what they do.
They are a slightly better than 500 team for the past four or five decades.
It is mildly interesting how they may get the wins or losses in clusters, reminds me of the sores I would see on the women in E.L.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:30 AM ^
Ugh, I negged you for that imagery on a nice autumn Sunday morning.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:12 AM ^
It doesn't matter whether they beat us or not, Sparty's season goes into a downward spiral after playing us anyway (mostly because their season is over). Look at the past few years (outside of last year) and check out how they do after playing us. It's just sad. Even way back when they beat us in a year that wasn't the apocalypse, they still sucked afterward.
They should be favorites to win, maybe they will, and either way I'll continue to not really care about their existence.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:19 AM ^
This MSU team reminds me of those Lions teams a few years ago. They would go 4-12 or 3-13, but they would have a lot of "close" losses, usually losing by less than 7 points. But in each of those games, they blew coverages, made bad play calls, and generally lost those games through a combination of inferior talent and systemic problems. This MSU team is staying in games, but they are making boneheaded plays and poor decisions at the worst times. I saw the same thing under JLS - they won for a bit, but the coaching staff could never generate a sustainable identity, and as a result the team started to fall apart. I still think Dantonio is a good coach for the team, but MSU has been about a .500 team for the past 20-30 years; that isn't going to change overnight.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:50 AM ^
if you actually watched the WIsconsin game, you would know they were dominated by Wisky. They only got the game close to one score in garbage time.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:55 AM ^
Let's look at how MSU lost their games. Specifically the ND game where they "threw" the game away. MSU hasn't shown they know how to win a tough game. On the other hand, Michigan has pretty much faced adversity in every game and came through to find a way to win. That experience is priceless and hopefully will help when UM plays The Clowns in East Lansing next Saturday. The problems UM have right now are the health of Tate, Brandon and Carlos and whether or not the D can find some consistency. While I hope UM can embarrass Spartina next week, I also won't be surprised if they lose. Regardless, UM is 4-0 and The Clowns are 1-3. So much for MSU being the dominant football team in the state of Michigan.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:26 PM ^
Why is redcedar87 still allowed to post here?
September 27th, 2009 at 9:56 PM ^
I suggest you cry about it. Email the mods and get a ban.
Did my "Sparty propoganda" comment bother you? Or was it because I posted a link that hurt your feelings way back in the day?
September 27th, 2009 at 10:11 PM ^
No, it's mostly because you're an annoying, petulant child like your head coach.
September 28th, 2009 at 12:36 AM ^
"It's just been revoked!"
September 27th, 2009 at 10:41 PM ^
It must be a very fulfilling life you lead, spending all sorts of your free time on your rival's main message board.