alum96

August 31st, 2012 at 11:23 PM ^

Maxwell has to improve as the season goes by so they'll be better as the season goes by, but the Boise QB improved from one half to the other.  Notre Dame will be far more telling, if he hasnt made a sizeable jump by then it's going to be a long season for that offense. 

Doc Brown

August 31st, 2012 at 11:23 PM ^

Here we go, MSU has a september heisman. I can't wait to kill them in ann arbor. the only rose bowl they are getting is a smoker from bongz and thongz.

Lionsfan

August 31st, 2012 at 11:24 PM ^

Bell just lied about what he really said to Maxwell at halftime, I imagine that conversation was something like this "STOP THROWING THE FUCKING BALL AND JUST HAND IT OFF TO ME!!!!"

Committed

August 31st, 2012 at 11:29 PM ^

Had to watch most of the game on mute...the announcers kill me. They were all over State's nuts.



State is a solid team. They will be fine. Boise is exactly what everyone thought. Overrated. Boise lost their entire offense and it showed.



Unless MSU can improve its passing game, teams will load up the box on Bell.



WHY THE HELL DIDN'T BOISE PUT 8 IN THE BOX ON EVERY PLAY!

Wolvercane

August 31st, 2012 at 11:33 PM ^

Michigan State was suppose to win and they did. Great, and as a Michigan and Big 10 fan, this is want we wanted! It looks good for our conference and makes our eventual win over Michigan State looks better.

But as a team, Michigan State looks very beatable. I am more confident now, then before the game, that we can beat Michigan State come game time. Bell looked great, which is what I expected. But often he had to made something from nothing. Their OLine looked average and their receivers looked poor. The only other standout on offense was Sims, but I believe you can easily gameplan for a big TE with limited speed. Maxwell, who was suppose to take over where Cousins left off, left a lot to be desired. He struggled with pressure and his completetions were mainly to open receivers on very short routes. 

Defense wise, Michigan State looked very good, but also still beatable. They were aggressive, but they also need to be aggressive to bring pressure. They run and pass blitz a lot, which is why Boise States trick plays gained big yardage. Borges need to realize this and scheme for it. But when State only tried to bring the 4 down lineman, they often struggled to get pressure on a very so-so Boise State OLine. The only other comment on State's D is that their CBs are big and aggressive, but Boise State was easily able to beat them deep when they tried to press. They had many potential TDs turned into PI calls because the ball was badly underthrown and the CB was playing catchup the to WR without ever locating the ball in the air. 

With that said, Michigan should now be favorites to win the Legends division. 

turtleboy

August 31st, 2012 at 11:33 PM ^

Honestly, last 5 year's I'd say Boise was the better program. Bigger wins, more wins, higher rankings, more guys in the NFL, probably a better recruiting class, but tonight Sparty had a defensive tackle taking handoffs.

jmblue

August 31st, 2012 at 11:33 PM ^

I'm not too surprised by this game.  I've argued since last season that MSU was likely to be in the 7-5/8-4 range.  I don't think they have the offensive firepower to do much better.    Cousins masked a lot of weaknesses last year.

 

 

SonofTroy

August 31st, 2012 at 11:48 PM ^

he will not be able to deliver that level of performance on a regular basis but if he does something similar week in and week out and the win a rose bowl expect to see him on the short list.





Much like Denard, great early unsustainable individual effort but ultimately removed from Heismen conversation due to limitations of the team.

lhglrkwg

August 31st, 2012 at 11:45 PM ^

At the very least, this does give some credibility to the B1G. 98% of football fans probably have no clue that this Boise State team is different than any other so MSU's win does look like a big win just from seeing a 30 second sportscenter clip.

Unfortunately for them, unless Maxwell improves the D and Leveon Bell probably won't be able to drag MSU to Pasadena

Jimmyisgod

August 31st, 2012 at 11:52 PM ^

Boise's O line looked good, that's a great defense whose front 7 ran through our O line last year.  Offensivle, Maxwell is OK, but they miss clutch WRs big time.  They look beatable.

 

1st time a Boise State team has been held to no offensive TDs since 1997.

WingsNWolverines

August 31st, 2012 at 11:56 PM ^

Offensively they are not strong. Except for Bell. If he has to make 44 carriers a game for Sparty to win then they are in for a LONG season. Defense looks really good I won't lie. Their QB Maxwell SUCKS thus far but seriously if he can't take the reigns at QB as the season goes on they will cripple in conference play. I see us mounting some serious points against Sparty this year. I think their Achilles heel was given away tonight. Shut down Bell and you shut down State.

BJNavarre

September 1st, 2012 at 12:13 AM ^

Maxwell has potential. He has a big arm and did what was asked of him in the 2nd half. We'll get a better idea of what he can do against ND. Their big problem on O right now is their receivers.



Hard to say how good their D is. Boise's offense looked TERRIBLE. Not a lot of talent at any position.

Sten Carlson

September 1st, 2012 at 12:25 AM ^

Sparty looked pretty terrible tonight, IMO, for a team that EVERYONE is picking to win the Big10.  All week on ESPN and BTN, the talking heads are all over Sparty's jock, yet they looked like a team with a great RB against a pretty weak BSU team.  I was impressed with their defense for two series in the first half, and then it definitely looked beatable by a balanced offense.  IMO, Sparty was lucky as there were several deep passes that were mere inches from changing the game -- especially the one where the BSU QB slipped when he threw the pass. 

Bell is a stud, no doubt about it.  But, without a viable downfield threat -- other than Sims -- I don't see MSU as a "Rose Bowl" team.  Maxwell looked lost to me, and made some pretty horrible throws, several of which should have been INT's that weren't.  If he doesn't learn to deal with pressure in his face, it's going to be a long season for Sparty.

phork

September 1st, 2012 at 12:37 AM ^

Because running the ball and defense has never gotten anyone anywhere.

Nice to see you fellas celebrating your victory over MSU already, don't wear yourselves out.  Big game tomorrow night.

Sten Carlson

September 1st, 2012 at 12:47 AM ^

I am not celebrating anything phork. 

Yes, running ball well and playing good defense has gotten lots of teams a long way.  But, when you play a team like BSU, whose defense is pretty pathetic, and you cram the ball down their throat, that doesn't mean that you're going to be able to do that against the tougher teams on the schedule.  I really couldn't believe that BSU's DC didn't just load the box every down.  When he did, Bell got stuffed.  As someone else said, his YPC wasn't all that great.

phork

September 1st, 2012 at 12:55 AM ^

I never said that Boise is really good.  While you guys are burying and euligizing MSU they racked up almost 500 yards of offense and held Boise to 200.  Get rid of the turnovers and this game is a blow out.

 BIG championship course is now through East Lansing, or through Ann Arbor by way of East Lansing.

Good luck tonight fellas!

Jeff09

September 1st, 2012 at 1:22 AM ^

Did you not see the fact that the oline was Swiss cheese to a shitty Boise dline? Or that msu receivers looked awful? Or that Maxwell looked atrocious in the face of any pressure?



If you assume Boise is a good team this year then you guys looked awesome. But Boise should suck. They lost just about everyone this year. If bell doesn't break like 600 shitty excuses for tackles you guys aren't even in the game