Go Green! Blair White! (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
After being held scoreless in the first half, Michigan State scored 24 points in the second half to defeat Northwestern 24-14. A couple of notes on the game before After the Chaos comes out tomorrow:
- Blair White had the best game of his career, with 12 receptions for 186 yards and 2 TDs, including a 47-yard touchdown strike to give the Spartans the lead in the second half.
- It was all Cousins, all game long, as Captain Kirk was 21-31 for 281 yards, 2 TDs and 0 interceptions.
- It didn’t take long for the coaches to pull the trigger and burn Edwin Baker’s redshirt. Baker came in on MSU’s fourth play of the game, rattling off an 11 yard jaunt for an MSU first down. On the day he carried the ball 12 times for 45 yards.
- There were a number of scary injury moments (not necessarily from a severity standpoint, more from a “what the hell will we do if _insert player name here_ goes down?” Larry Caper went down in the second half, as did Blair White. Both guys were able to come back into the game.
- The game was very close statistically:
- With Ohio State losing to Purdue (Purdue? Purdue!), the night game next week against Iowa will be for…wait for it…the lead in the Big Ten title race. Uhh, WTF? Really? Yeah, really.
- The crowd just was not in the game today, and I can’t say I’m surprised. After such a huge game against Michigan, going up against Northwestern doesn’t quite bring out the competitve spirit that you get after talking trash with your coworkers from the last home game. Combine that with the lay fan probably thinking we were going to manhandle Northwestern (I was very surprised the line going into this game was 12 1/2, but hey we covered), and once we didn’t convert on 3rd and 4th and short on the first drive, it really took the crowd out of the game. I’m willing to guess it will be a much different atmosphere next weekend.
- I actually had a guy sitting behind me ask if people in front of me were standing up, then when I said no he said I should sit down and not stand up as much. I was considerate with him since I think he was the father of the woman who sits behind me and is also a season ticket holder, but get a grip. It’s Big Ten football, and I’m going to cheer for my team. If you want to sit the whole game, head over to East Lansing high school on Friday night, I’m sure you’ll find a seat with an unobstructed view. One of the things that really gets to me is that unless we’re playing Michigan, the student section is the only group in the stadium that makes noise on 1st and 2nd down. In his radio show this past Thursday, Dantonio said that the atmosphere is a big factor for the team. So have fun, make some noise, and let’s put some fear into the hearts of the opposing players.
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