The meaning of Saturday

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westcoastgopher11

westcoastgopher11

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It seems the conventional wisdom around the board is that the upcoming Michigan State game is very winnable. I'm very conflicted with this point of view though, and it primarily comes from my feelings about what the Spartans are playing for in the final weekend.

First off, Michigan State is a very good team. Yes you read that right, very good. They are without a doubt the best team under .500 in the country, and if they could have even had 1 half of competent offense per game would be representing the Legends division in the B1G championship in my opinion. All of their conference games have been decided by single digits, and their 5 losses in the B1G have come by a combined 13 points. If Cousins was back for another year they would've been dangerous with the defense they have, which is 10th nationwide in scoring.

In addition to being a good, albeit inconsistent offensive team, the Spartans are going to be fighting for their season tomorrow. If a preseason top 10 team can't even go .500 the season would be considered nothing but a complete failure, even with the nature of their losses. The Spartans are a wounded animal backed into a corner, and they will come out swinging because its a de-facto playoff game for them.

On the flip side if you asked me before the season who among Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska, and Michigan State would be our most winnable game I would have answered the Spartans without a doubt. To beat the Badgers, Michigan, or Nebraska we were going to have to score ~33+ points I figured, the Spartans have already proven they can be beaten with many fewer than that. If our defense plays well we legitimately could win even if we only muster 3-4 decent drives all game. Our defense, especially the front seven, has to play out of their minds for us to stop Bell though, because with the weather he will probably be their entire offensive game plan.

Win tomorrow and this season exceeds all realistic expectations for this season, and puts us in a position to go to a very surprisingly respectable bowl game. Lose and we are still right where most of us would have pegged this team from day 1 of fall camp. We are playing with house money tomorrow, and especially with senior day I see no reason why this team shouldn't go all in. Leave it all out there and let's guarantee ourselves a winning record for the first time since 2008.

Ski-U-Mah and beat the Spartans!
 


Well stated, and from someone who clearly follows Big Ten football. This would be a significant win for the Gopher program if they can get it tomorrow, especially considering the talent gap between the two teams, and the fact the Gophers are banged up & the Spartans have been getting healthier.
 

I agree. Michigan State is not your normal 5-6 team. You know the saying where a team catches lightning in a bottle. I feel like the exact opposite has happened to MSU this year.
 

I won't label any team that is 2-5 in conference as "very good". You can say that they have some talent, but when measuring the "goodness" of a team, their ability to close out in the fourth quarter is just as important as their ability to hang into the game in a fourth quarter. If they win tomorrow, at best they are the 7th best team in a conference that hasn't looked that great. I am not trying to say that a win for us (a struggling team) against a stingy defense playing with their season on the line wouldn't be a good win. However, lets bear in mind that this is a team that we only lost be one score to last year, is not as strong as they were last year, and last year was in Sparta and this one is at the bank.
 


"Winnable" doesn't mean "sure thing". If the Gophers had beaten Nebraska last week, it would have been a real shocker. The Gophers are underdogs against Michigan State, but a Gopher victory wouldn't shock the football world. Perhaps MSU will come out motivated to win, or perhaps the pressure on MSU will simply be a burden.
 

I'd beware of Sparty tomorrow. They're a pretty good team. Look at a few of their losses...Michigan 10-12 and Nebraska 24-28, And they BEAT Wisconsin 16-13 at Wisconsin. The Gophers will have to play a mistake-free game tomorrow and score a few points. Let's hope for a good game.
 

I'm thinking MSU will fold like a cheap hooker who's been punched in the face by a fat man with open sores on his face; much like last year's Illini squad
 

Michigan State was rated #12 in the ESPN pre-season rankings and has not lived up to expectations. Obviously the Spartans need a win tomorrow to be bowl eligible so I expect them to play very hard. Considering the Gophers limited resources duto injury, I think the Gophers will have a big challenge in beating the Spartans tomorrow. The Gophers have played well against the Spartans the last couple years and will need to do that again tomorrow to stay in the game. If the Gophers play like they did against Nebraska they will lose by 3 touchdowns.
 



I don't think Sparty's offense is capable of scoring 3 touchdowns (let alone 1 or 2) -- the offensive line stinks -- but it's possible their defense could score 2 of the 3!
 







Good analysis WCG. I feel the same way. This could be a slog. Avoiding mistakes will be huge. It is the type of game where it could be 6-6 going into the 4th quarter. PN needs to be smart and patient. I will have no problem with running a lot of read option with Gray at QB either. He had arguably one of his best games against these guys last year.
 

I know i will be putting big bucks on michigan st tomm they have everything to gain!
 

Regardless of what happens tomorrow I have already deemed the season a huge success. We are relevant again, going to a bowl and we have the makings of a special player at QB for the next 4 years.
 

gopherhoopsguy said:
I know i will be putting big bucks on michigan st tomm they have everything to gain!
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And if they were out of bowl contention, you could say that MSU would do well because they had nothing to lose. Will the pressure to win the game help them or hinder them? Remains to be seen.
 

Without looking at any past statistics I believe a win would be right up there with the upset of Iowa 2 yrs. ago. I see a Gopher win coming down to the wire as that Iowa game did. We talk about State's bowl bid is on the line and they have a lot to play for, but I also think there is an extreme amount of motivation today for the Gophers and believe they will be ready to play. Kill is a great coach and motivator and he will have this team ready.

GO GOPHERS!
 

Sportsfan24 said:
Regardless of what happens tomorrow I have already deemed the season a huge success. We are relevant again, going to a bowl and we have the makings of a special player at QB for the next 4 years.
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I agree, but also think we are a ways off from being relevant IMO.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I won't label any team that is 2-5 in conference as "very good". You can say that they have some talent, but when measuring the "goodness" of a team, their ability to close out in the fourth quarter is just as important as their ability to hang into the game in a fourth quarter. If they win tomorrow, at best they are the 7th best team in a conference that hasn't looked that great. I am not trying to say that a win for us (a struggling team) against a stingy defense playing with their season on the line wouldn't be a good win. However, lets bear in mind that this is a team that we only lost be one score to last year, is not as strong as they were last year, and last year was in Sparta and this one is at the bank.
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what you have writen is almost 100 percent true except MSU being the 7th best team in the BIG (10/12/14) There is a reason that they lost all Big Ten games by 4 points or less,,,,they are very good. Yet the game is in Minny and MSU has a very poor record of either sport playing in MN. As a Spartan fan, is there any chance you could just become a province of Canada as we always lose in MN.......You could beat the Rough Riders 3 outta 4, ya could rule Jr hockey and ya would kill them in Baseball....As far as MSU is concrened we need ya to leave the Big Ten....or at least never schedule us at home.....
 

macspartan said:
what you have writen is almost 100 percent true except MSU being the 7th best team in the BIG (10/12/14) There is a reason that they lost all Big Ten games by 4 points or less,,,,they are very good. Yet the game is in Minny and MSU has a very poor record of either sport playing in MN. As a Spartan fan, is there any chance you could just become a province of Canada as we always lose in MN.......You could beat the Rough Riders 3 outta 4, ya could rule Jr hockey and ya would kill them in Baseball....As far as MSU is concrened we need ya to leave the Big Ten....or at least never schedule us at home.....
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As a Spartan fan you know that even though the Spartans are favored to win today, they are NOT a good team, let alone a very good team. A VERY good team needs to have an Offense. The Spartans don't. That's why they are 5-6.
 

macspartan said:
what you have writen is almost 100 percent true except MSU being the 7th best team in the BIG (10/12/14) There is a reason that they lost all Big Ten games by 4 points or less,,,,they are very good. Yet the game is in Minny and MSU has a very poor record of either sport playing in MN. As a Spartan fan, is there any chance you could just become a province of Canada as we always lose in MN.......You could beat the Rough Riders 3 outta 4, ya could rule Jr hockey and ya would kill them in Baseball....As far as MSU is concrened we need ya to leave the Big Ten....or at least never schedule us at home.....
Click to expand...

Very insightful. That's why the 3/4 million people that have left Michigan in the last 10 years have only two options:

1) Find work elsewhere, or;

2) Get the hell out of that dump.
 

They are good, but they also barely beat Indiana, and lost to both Northwestern and Iowa. They seem to play to the level of competition. Hopefully this is the case today, it should be a close game that we have a chance to win.
 

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