Will Refs Fairly Call MSU Penalties?

Michigan is 33rd in the nation in fewest penalties (36 year to date, 5.14 per game). They're in good company, with Alabama tied at 33rd in penalties.

Michigan State is ranked 89th in the nation in fewest penalties (47 year to date, 6.71 per game). Their neighbor at 89th is Notre Dame, the team they lost to.

Is it hard to predict what happens when UM comes to EL? No.

The last two MSU home games read like the refs got paid off after the USF season high:

  WMU, 6 penalties 75 yards

  USF 9 penalties, 94 yards

  YSU 2 penalities 19 yards

  @ND 8 penalties, 86 yards

  @Iowa 8 penalties, 70 yadrs

  Purdon't, 2 penalties, 14 yards

In short, I would expect a lot of helmet twisting, uncalled pass interference and adult onset blindness for the refs.

Still, MSU is not the worst.  Get a load of Nebraska at 97th in the nation in fewest penalties with 43 year to date after just 6 games.

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/697/p2

If we count on or need penalties. It's at Sparty we need to beat the team and the refs just like they would have to at our house.

Go Blue!

Blaming the refs before the game even starts is pretty cool.

Play the game.

This is a fair post.  Narduzzi's (Dantonio's under Tressel really) strategy has always been to play ultra aggressive with his DB's, and expect that not every penalty will be called.  If you think about it, a ref is not going to throw a flag every single play.  Therefore, if you interfere on every single passing play (like they did against ND), the ref is only going to call some percentage of those interferences penalties.  This then allows you to stack the box without worrying about getting beat deep.  Great strategy if you ask me.  

Probably not.  Something about 60 minutes of unnecessary roughness.

in addition to that 67th ranked strength of schedule of course.

 

 

In agreement with the masses. There are so many no calls a game. We really only see or hear about the most blatant and seemingly important ones. I chalk it up to a wash at the end of the game. If you needed that 1 more play to win and there is a no call, I'm sorry not quite enough was done as a whole and it wasn't deserved.

Good grief, those bitching know what this thread is going to entail so if you've nothing to add but griping about the subject, like, go take a walk?!

It's a fair question, one I've been pondering lately as well.  I could see the referees calling a decent game in the beginning, ignoring the crowd and trying to set a fairness(?) tone.  I can also see things being close in the second half and a eventually seein a call or two biting us in the ass, something like a drive killer where a WR gets mugged but no call or a terrible spot occuring on a 3rd/4th and short.

I really think Borges calls an aggressive game and we are able to pass the ball deep; then set up some decent runs. I think it is a 7-10 point game most of the way and we close it out late and win. MSU has a great defense, I feel pretty good about our chances. 

Fair question. MSU has made a strategy out of toeing the line between aggressive play and fouling. They seem to rely on a certain level of leeway from the referees. Usually it works out for them. Against ND, it burned them. It's a risk that any physical secondary assumes. 

No game is called by the letter of the law. There will always be hand fighting and things of that nature. As long as it is called the same both ways, that's really all you can hope for. If the refs are allowing aggressive defensive play, it is up to our defenders to adjust.

I think the referees will absolutely be favoring the Sparties. Quite often, the referees tend to favor the home team in rivalry games.

I  watched the ND-MSU game and every single PI call was warrented under the interpretation of the rules for as long as I can remember. In fact, it seemed like the refs started getting reluctant to keep calling it (simply because they were calling it so much) even though the MSU dbs kept on blatantly holding/interfering the ND receivers. 

I was apalled that Dantonio actually had the nerve to go and bitch about it. Which calls didn't they like? Is their argument basically that no one could possibly commit that many pass interference penalties in a game? Even if some of them had been questionable calls, they committed enough actual PI penalties that there's no way they should get the benefit of the doubt for any 50/50 situation.

To be honest it's probably very difficult for any ref to keep up with the amount of penalties MSU commits during any given game.  If they're missing calls, it's probably because they're overwhelmed!

there is a school of thought, shared by brighter people than these--including much of the Detroit professional press--that MSU fouls so regulary that the refs can only call a small fraction of their actual INfractions, that this gives them a certain edge that is otherwise unobtainable on the field of play.

I tend to share that view. 

But these manly men are going to prove just how very manly they are by dissing your very legitimate query. Because a manly man does not complain, he just. . . something something.

This place didn't used to be so lame. 

EDIT: Is that Arthur Miller and MM, btw? Cool photo. I think that Miller wrote for the Daily too, right? I know he won a Hopwood.

Even if we wanted to entertain this I don't exactly get what you want from the board. If you want to dig up statistics on the officiating crew's outings featuring Michigan State and then other teams as control cases, then go for it. Other than that, analysis will be ready pending the final whistle of the game. Did you just want to make this point and you decided to frame it as a question to make it a board topic?

It's in EL - remember Spartan Bob? No way they call it fair.

Basketball. Last year.

As long as we keep our composure, and have 1 or no turnovers, it won't matter. Don't get me wrong it's gonna be a tough ass game but staee has no O.