Penn State-Michigan State: Obama to Dantonio, "Yes We Can!"

This Saturday's matchup between the Michigan Sate Spartans (9-2) and the Penn State Nittany Lions (10-1) resembles another huge test of time and perseverance—two factors which recently decided the presidential election. Like that fight, Penn State offers a heavily lauded team led by Joe Paterno, the elder statesman of college football. A man that, like John McCain to the Republicans and America, has unquestionable integrity and commitment to his chosen profession.

On the other sideline stands Mark Dantonio, scarcely two seasons into his tenure as head coach of MSU, leading a group of Spartans that have received only the slightest of backhanded praise, parceled out by tight-lipped "pros" of in-state publications and national news giants throughout the past three months. These Spartans were not expected to be here, just like Barack Obama was not supposed to be on the presidential ballot, let alone win the big game. Surely the other teams normally perched atop the Big Ten may be asking, "who invited them?" to this final championship-deciding weekend. But guess what, they are here, and they have a great chance of shaking up the world of college football Saturday by beating Penn State.

How did Barack do it? Go to CNN to find that out.

How will Michigan State do it? Read on...

Freedom. MSU has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Just like Barack Obama, Michigan State is not SUPPOSED to be in the position they are in. Nobody expected they would be playing to win the Big Ten and go to The Rose Bowl. Nobody. Not even I could have dreamt nor hoped for this opportunity. Penn State will be playing in front of 100,000 people who expect them to win but who are truly heartbroken about how the Lions blew their chance at a national title. The pressure on them will be huge. Win one for JoePa. Make up for Iowa. Don't fall apart any further. Sure, everybody will be asking "can Michigan State win the big games?" as they have before the Northwestern game, the Michigan game, the Wisconsin game, the Notre Dame game, etc. Now, I'm lying by saying MSU has nothing to lose, if Javon Ringer goes off and runs wild, he will be on the Heisman stage. That alone will give added momentum. Also, look for Mark Dantonio to take chances, run some odd plays. He knows the truth that you cannot win big unless you bet big.

Unity. Just like the Democrats ran a focused, finely-tuned message-machine, Michigan State's football team is the ultimate example of a coalesced team. The German school of psychology calls this "Gestalt." According to Webster, Gestalt is defined as: "a structure, configuration, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable by summation of its parts." You may look at Michigan State on a position-by-position basis and think they don't match up with Penn State. Watch some game film. Note how when Javon Ringer scores any of his 20 touchdowns this season, he doesn't pound his chest and prance around like a fool in heat. He hands the ball to the official and greets his linemen with thanks and class. Watch how just when you think Mark Dell is the only option to make a first down grab, some unknown receiver streaks across the middle and burns the opposing defense for a 60-yard TD. The power of team unity is often preached, but seldom attained or harvested as it has been on the field this year by MSU.

Rest. The Spartans have enjoyed their bye week at exactly the right moment in the season. As Penn State was beating up on Indiana to make up for their less-than top-5 showing at Iowa, The Spartans were resting and watching the Nittany Lions' every move. MSU will have its full complement of offensive and defensive weapons to choose from come game time.

Let it snow. Inclement weather is always the great equalizer in football. With the nation's leading rusher in the backfield, who has not fumbled once in 350+ rushes, The Spartans should fare just fine on the ground and open it up when needed. (Refer to QB Brian Hoyer's 60-yard connection through the air with Blair White between two receivers in last week's Purdue game). The weather is forecast to be 30 degrees and snowing.

No doubt. One of the weirdest looking written words in our fine English language is the downfall of any sportsman. Now that Penn State has been beaten, they have that incessant, creeping, clawing demon of doubt rooted in their minds. It may not be big, it may not be overwhelming, but once you know how to lose, you will lose again. If MSU can score first or take a two-score lead, look in the Penn State players' eyes as they search the scoreboard for more time and an answer. Key stat: Penn State was only leading 10-7 at halftime at home last week against Indiana, a team that is dead-last in the Big Ten standings, as well as defense (along with probably every other stat).

Underdog? The Spartans could teach Rodney Dangerfield something about "No Respect." It doesn't matter how many games we win, how many opponents go down, it's never enough. It's always "this next game will prove the old demons are finally laid to rest," "this next test will really prove if the Spartans have changed." Guess what sportscasters, that's old, stale, tired, done, kaput. This potential 11-2 season is way more than any Spartan could have hoped for, and if the team doesn't even show up for the game on Saturday, it's been a season to remember. Someone please take that albatross from around our green-and-white necks and shove it up the next ESPN commentator that says it.


Sorry GramPa Joe, there's a new coach in town named Dantonio leading a team who wants it more, and they will take it on Saturday.


Calling all Spartans! Be sure to join www.SpartanZone.com and post your green-and-white heart out.

MSU 2008 Spartan Basketball Schedule

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Michigan State Soccer Wins Big Ten Regular Season and Tournament Championship

Spartan soccer title is a keeper - Seventh straight shutout seals Big Ten sweep

Eric Anderson
For the Lansing State Journal

MADISON, Wis. - Avery Steinlage (right) and Josh Rogers stood and posed for picture after picture Sunday afternoon, smiles frozen on their faces.

And that wasn't just because temperatures hovered in the low 30s at the McClimon Complex.

They were two key pieces to the latest defensive gem for the 16th-ranked Michigan State men's soccer team, a 1-0 victory over No. 18 Indiana in the Big Ten Conference tournament championship game.

Senior forward Doug DeMartin provided the offense with a 57th-minute goal in the third straight 1-0 win for the Spartans (13-5-1), who extended their unbeaten streak to nine (8-0-1) and assured themselves of seeing their name called tonight when the 48-team NCAA tournament field is announced - not that there was any doubt.

But what made this day special, just like the one two weeks ago when MSU celebrated its first Big Ten regular-season title at DeMartin Stadium, was the man who lifted the crystal trophy: Coach Joe Baum.

"To send a coach out on top is fantastic, especially one of Joe's caliber, if you will, the historical magnitude that he has in college soccer in general, you can't really put it into words," said Steinlage, the sophomore goalkeeper who made six saves in his seventh straight shutout.

'Extra special'

Baum called the Spartans' accomplishments in his 32nd season as head coach "extra, extra special.

"If you look at it mathematically, by the RPI index, the Big Ten's the No. 1 conference in the country, and to win the regular season and the tournament in the No. 1 conference in the country, we're very proud," said Baum, whose team also likely will be rewarded with a good seed for the NCAA tournament.

In a program that stresses defense, there's a lot of pride in a stout backline that has allowed only one goal in the past nine matches - that on a penalty kick more than a month ago - and hasn't been scored upon in nearly 700 minutes.

"That's been the huge part of this success," said DeMartin, the Big Ten player of the year and tournament offensive MVP. "That's why we're winning - the defense."

For the second straight game, a defender cleared a ball off the goal line. Rogers did it late in Friday's semifinal win over Northwestern; this time, it was sophomore Nosa Iyoha in the 11th minute, who was in the right place to get the ball out of trouble with the Hoosiers (12-6-3) threatening.

And despite 11-time tournament champion Indiana holding a 19-6 advantage in shots, Steinlage needed to make just two tough saves.

Spartans win on the field, but could lose in the long run

by Michael Ferro, Michigan State Spartans Examiner

Some Spartan fans may have been rooting for Penn State to lose yesterday to Iowa. They did just that and some thought that signaled a better possibility for Michigan State to win the Big Ten Title. Well, I'm sad to inform those that yesterday's loss by Penn State is also a loss for the Spartans.

Let me explain.

Had Michigan State gone into an undefeated Penn State and won, like many had hoped we would, things would be different. If all goes according to the way analysts think it will, Ohio State will win it's next two games and close out their season with a win against rival Michigan. That would make them 7-1 in the conference. If Michigan State beats Penn State, the Nittany Lions will be 6-2 in the conference and the Spartans will be 7-1.

That's good right? Wrong.

With a tie for first place in the Big Ten between Ohio State and Michigan State, Ohio State will automatically go to the Rose Bowl since they beat us in the regular season. Had we faced an undefeated Penn State and all records between the three schools been 7-1 in the conference, Michigan State would go to the Rose Bowl because of the three, we are the only school to not face a lower division team.

What does all this mean? How can Michigan State still win the Big Ten Title?

Brace yourself Spartan fans. What I'm about to say might startle you.

Michigan State has to root for the Wolverines.

You see, if Ohio State loses to Michigan, their record goes to 6-2 in the conference. If Michigan State beats Penn State, the Nittany Lions would suffer the same record as Ohio State. The result? Michigan State winning the Big Ten Title and a trip to the Rose Bowl.

So, Spartan fans, can you bring yourself to root for a school that constantly ridiculed you. A school that called you it's "little brother" and said it would "never lose to you, ever"?

The University of Michigan is having a historically bad year. The Spartans are having a historically good one. Lets face it, that makes it easier to root for them. Wolverine fans are often booing their own team nowadays instead of the usual arrogance to the rest of the country. Let's face it, that too makes it easier to root for them. Also, Ohio State made a mockery of the Spartan team and the yearning to have them suffer (as in possibly losing to one of the worst Michigan teams in history) would make it easier to root for the Wolverines.

It's a hard question to ask, but can Spartan fans set their anger aside and root for Michigan? It's going to be hard to even focus on the Wolverines with the Spartans playing Penn State at the same time. Michigan State is the better team this year when it comes to college football in Michigan and that's very comforting. Spartans must be cautious not to become the over-zealous team that Michigan has been in the past (and quite possibly will continue to remain).

Let me put it this way: I won't root against Michigan and I definitely will root against Ohio State. I hope Michigan wins and Ohio State suffers a terrible embarrassment that allows Michigan State a chance at the Rose Bowl. Is this all too vague? Perhaps. We'll see how I feel when the game approaches (I can't wait to see if Michigan players open their mouth in the week leading up to the game like Brandon Graham did in the week leading up to the Spartan/Wolverine game).

Bottom line: None of this matters if Michigan State loses to Penn State. If that happens, Penn State gets the title and the trip to the Rose Bowl (they beat Ohio State). The Spartans have a bye week coming up before they face Penn State. I hope they use that time to get healthy and mentally prepare themselves for one of their biggest games in recent history.

Detroit writers don't respect MSU

Columnists always write through prism of Michigan

November 5, 2008
Patrick Walters, Columnist for NOISE - Lansing State Journal


This will begin with a heartfelt-if-reactionary rant against Detroit newspaper columnists.

If you get your news from the Detroit newspapers, it hasn't been a pleasant past fortnight to read about MSU football. And yes, I'm referring to both of you who still get your news like that.

Granted, it's not on the scale of 2002 or anything like that, when the national types wagged fingers and even the surprisingly-still-alive Beano Cook registered his thoughts, but it's unpleasant to the extent that the Detroit newspaper columnists have been opining on the Spartans with alarming consistency.

This, as anyone who has followed the Spartans with any modicum of interest in the past few years knows, is always a complete disaster. (Yes, I'm building up to Rob Parker and Drew Sharp, so don't be disappointed if they're not in the next few paragraphs. Foreplay is important. Patience.)

You see, when the Detroit columnist comes up to East Lansing, it's only for one of three reasons: the Spartans are winning, the Spartans are playing Michigan in football or basketball, or the Spartans/coach stand on the precipice of some kind of accomplishment, which is really just a philosophical extension of the first reason.

And, because said columnist comes from the Detroit papers, he or she is under the obligation to view the Spartans through the prism of the Wolverines, because Michigan is CLEARLY the only major university in the state, and people in the Detroit area are clearly only interested in reading nine different ways about how the Wolverines somehow still have value this season.

So, you know, if you ever need to know how Michigan State is doing, by all means pick up a Free Press or News and see if the Detroit columnists have deemed it OK for anyone to watch anything but the Wolverines. Because it's with their blessing, you see, that the Spartans get their sense of self worth.

Weak analysis

I guess I could go on, but sarcasm can only take you so far and NOISE won't let me use the F-word as much as I enjoy using it. So that said, my thesis: F--- the Detroit columnists.

You, Detroit columnists, cannot offer a unique context to Michigan State, because you visit thrice yearly. You cannot provide insight, because you are all either so entranced with your own ego that you dabble in hyperbole (see below), or, in the case of Mitch Albom and Rob Parker, just decide to make s--- up. You cannot phrase any of this in a way that is unique or original, because to you, the Spartans are a secondary assignment, but to the reader, it is primary content. And it shows.

Why else would Drew Sharp call the Spartans the worst two-loss team in the nation after Saturday's narrow win over a blundering Wisconsin team? Surely not because of stupid arbitrary things like facts!

(While far from the BEST two-loss team in the nation, how the Spartans can be considered worse than Northwestern, a two-loss team that lost to MSU as recently as last month, just points to something else. To me, it points to Drew Sharp's creepingly and patently insecure need to cultivate his contrarian status by proffering arbitrarily-determined inaccuracies, presumably for the sake of rankling people like me, but surely not to sell papers. He gets paid to watch sports for a living; he's not THAT inexplicably dense.)

Oh, but all in all, it points to the greater triumph: they're here because Michigan State is winning in whatever fashion, and everyone loves to cover a winner. And from a readership standpoint, the Detroit papers will never stop covering Michigan State athletics, so it's foolish to suggest they butt out.

I suppose I just don't understand what will make Mitch Albom or Rob Parker just conjure something up that never happened. (Granted, different versions of make-believe in the respective cases, but make-believe nonetheless.) Or what will make Drew Sharp elect to rag on the Spartans following a stirring win. Print sports commentary is dead, so it can't be for readership.

In short, the journalistic value of Michigan State sports exists and exceeds your scope of expertise in this matter. We do not need you to tell us how to support MSU; we are not asking for you to put the already-known into a context that is already considered. Kindly stay home and write books about Michigan athletics, get rich that way, and we'll all be OK. And piss on your hats.

End heartfelt-if-reactionary rant against Detroit columnists.

Reality check

Back to sports.

Hey! Holy cow! The Spartans are 8-2 and have thus already exceeded everyone's expectations and secured a security bowl game appearance - how lavish! - at the Capital One Bowl in Orlando. That's not bad as a fallback! All they need to do is beat Purdue this week and then - joy! - playing for a share of the conference title against Penn State in Happy Valley!

(It is here our author extends his thumb in the downward fashion, extends his tongue between his lips and makes a farting noise.)

Shove your scenarios in a sack, mister. Michigan State needs some major, major help from whatever the patron saint of football injuries is if they're going to make all the swell-sounding chatter come true. They rushed for 25 yards last week, their best receiver couldn't play, and the defense was pushed around with remarkable regularity.

Let's pray to the same pagan icon that Drew Sharp made his success blood oath with for all of this to go away next week. That said, I expect the Spartans to defeat Purdue 76-3.

Virus limits Ringer to 21 carries, 54 yards

Eric Lacy / The Detroit News

EAST LANSING -- If you're wondering why Javon Ringer looked slower than usual Saturday against Wisconsin, he had a legitimate excuse.

Ringer wasn't near 100 percent healthy because of a virus he caught during the week that led to a 10-pound weight loss in a matter of days.

"That's what the doctors tell me," Ringer said. "I haven't eaten, by body had been aching, I haven't been sleeping. My body has been hot one moment and cold the next."

The Spartans' top running said he weighed in at about 192 Saturday, the lightest he's been in years. Once the appetite is back, Ringer will know he's recovered.

"I love to eat," Ringer said. "Once I start eating, I know I'll gain my weight back quick."

Entering Saturday's game as the nation's leader in rushing touchdowns (16) and carries (300), the 5-foot-9 playmaker finished Saturday with a season-low 54 yards on 21 carries.


Ringer did, however, score two key touchdowns to get MSU back in the game.

Both came from distances of two yards late in the third quarter and midway through the fourth.

In post-game interviews, Ringer expressed plenty of happiness about the win, but also some frustration that he couldn't be in the best shape.

"A lot of times I felt like maybe things could be a little different if I had a little more kick in my step," Ringer said. "My teammates knew I wasn't feeling too good, my offensive line knew I wasn't feeling too good.

"I'm just glad everybody continued to work. This is a team thing."

NOTE FROM SpartyOn.com :

Despite only carrying for 54 yards this Saturday, Ringer amazingly is still the #1 running back in the country leading all others with 321 carries, 1,427 yards and 18 touchdowns. Even more unbelievable is the fact that in those 321 carries, Ringer has not fumbled once all year.