NCAA GDT: 2015 Playoff Semi-Final | (3) Michigan State vs (2) Alabama | Cotton Bowl

[TheMoreYouKnow]

Pretty sure they have a top 10 recruiting class coming in.

13, 10, 15 on the three main services, so yeah perhaps not *quite* top 10. But that's not gonna be 100% known before signing day anyway.

But yeah saying they have mid-major talent is just trolling but compared to Bama they are of course severely outmatched but then that's probably the case for all but maybe 3 or 4 other schools.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Pretty sure they have a top 10 recruiting class coming in.

Michigan will probably have the #1 recruiting class and Ohio state #2 or 3. Could be reversed

 

[member 51464]

Don't mind the Michigan fans, they have to tell themselves they are back somehow.

I mean they're what 2-20 in their last 22 against MSU and OSU?

Although, it's weird because Michigan fans will tell you MSU isn't a rival.

Those Michigan fans are right. Michigan needs to win a few for it to be a rivalry

 

[nyrleetch]

MSU recruiting doesn't worry me, they've been recruiting better than ever.

Michigan always recruits well, same with Ohio State, Penn State or anyone else MSU competes with in the Big Ten, there's no difference. The only difference has been MSU keeps getting better players.

 

[nyrleetch]

Those Michigan fans are right. Michigan needs to win a few for it to be a rivalry

I graduated from MSU, and I've had family on both sides, it's always been fun for me. Maybe it helps that I'm only 24, so the bad years weren't that bad in retrospect.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

MSU recruiting doesn't worry me, they've been recruiting better than ever.

Michigan always recruits well, same with Ohio State, Penn State or anyone else MSU competes with in the Big Ten, there's no difference. The only difference has been MSU keeps getting better players.

Msu doesn't get better players. They're just coached better

Brady joke and rich rod and the penn state coaches are idiots

You see what coaching does. 5 wins on a hoke team. Add harbs u get double the wins

 

[nyrleetch]

Msu doesn't get better players. They're just coached better

Brady joke and rich rod and the penn state coaches are idiots

You see what coaching does. 5 wins on a hoke team. Add harbs u get double the wins

Didn't Hoke go to Sugar Bowl first year?

 

[Reality Check]

This was probably the biggest game for Sparty in about 50 years and they were utterly humiliated. No other way around it.

If you thrown in just how bad Iowa was today, these were the two teams in the Big Ten Championship game

Either karma came a calling for both of them in the bowl season or neither team was as good as advertised.

 

[GKJ]

This was probably the biggest game for Sparty in about 50 years and they were utterly humiliated. No other way around it.

If you thrown in just how bad Iowa was today, these were the two teams in the Big Ten Championship game

Either karma came a calling for both of them in the bowl season or neither team was as good as advertised.

Now we see why Ohio players were so pissed off after that Michigan State game.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Now we see why Ohio players were so pissed off after that Michigan State game.

You have to build your team to win in inclement weather games, tOSU didn't do that and that is a big problem in the B1G. Not something other conferences worry about, a part of the reason they won't play in the region after early October ever, only Bobby Bowden has been crazy enough to consider putting a contender on his schedule that late in the season that far north, playing ND in 1993 in November. Heck USC plays in October at ND and at home at the end of the season when they get to host the game it is not a mistake. It is at play though in the B1G conference where you have to be built for it, a slugfest in the 40's with 20+ mph wind and rain is something that means you have to be multiple or you run the risk of losing. tOSU couldn't throw the deep ball and thus could not force the game on their terms, it isn't as big a problem on the fast track controlled environment almost every other conference gets to play with.

Also that was the worst game MSU has played in years. Alabama was great (easily their best game of the season) and MSU no showed then seemed to quit after the replay touchdown. A really unfortunate night as a MSU fan. But the amount of people talking about them like they are a bad team today are just wrong. They picked a bad time to lay a clunker, unfortunately it happens.

They will pick themselves up.

Full marks to Coker and Kiffin. That is the gameplan to beat them, MSU's secondary and special teams have been a problem all year and Alabama studied the tape and took full advantage. Also the Spartans and Cook clearly lied about his health, his arm was still nowhere near 100%, he lacked the zip I am accustomed to seeing on almost all his throws. Oh well turn the page, they have a very favorable conference schedule next year, need to figure out a way to make it 3 B1G Championships in 4 years.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Didn't Hoke go to Sugar Bowl first year?

Honestly don't remember I blocked out everything

Are you saying that harbaugh isn't a good coach?

 

[Brodie]

Michigan's fanbase is living in WW2. You guys got that going for ya, "whoa he has trouble with the snap!"

Funny how that mid major talent beat your messiah this year, starting true freshman in the secondary.

I'm genuinely curious... are you riddled with cognitive dissonance over the way that game was won or do have you actually deluded yourself into thinking that a fluke play after over 59 minutes of losing football constitutes "beating" someone? Honestly, though, I'd stop trolling MSU fans if it wasn't just so darn easy.

Michigan State lucked their way into playing a team from an entirely different zip code in terms of talent and physicality and the inevitable happened. Teams that struggle with Rutgers and Purdue are not national championship material. To be entirely fair, the Big Ten was total garbage this year and the same thing happened to Iowa. Ohio State is head and shoulders above the rest of the league, but they decided to be listless for their first 11 games... when they play pissed off, nobody in the country can really compete with the Buckeyes. MSU will rebound, and they are already recruiting at a way higher level than they have previously, which they're going to need to do consistently if they want to actually win these type of games. Rivalry aside, sane Sparty fans must realize that competing with a competently coached Michigan team in addition to OSU is an additional hindrance to returning to this place... if this success is to be something other than a repeat of the mid 50's-60's mirage, there's still a lot of improving to do on the talent front.

 

[Brodie]

Oh, and so we're all clear, Alabama would have beaten Michigan by maybe three to four touchdowns. I'm under no delusions about the respective state of my own program.

 

[Tony Romo]

The 3 teams that could hang with Bama/Clemson are Stanford (depending on the day) Ohio State and a healthy Baylor (iMO)

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

Don't mind the Michigan fans, they have to tell themselves they are back somehow.

I mean they're what 2-20 in their last 22 against MSU and OSU?

Although, it's weird because Michigan fans will tell you MSU isn't a rival.

Notre Dame doesn't consider any of y'all rivals anymore and god's opinion is the only one that matters

Didn't Hoke go to Sugar Bowl first year?

Yeah, with Rich Rod's team.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Notre Dame doesn't consider any of y'all rivals anymore and god's opinion is the only one that matters



Yeah, with Rich Rod's team.

Notre dame has a losing record with Michigan that's why and when msu wins it's usually something that destroys their season especially now as a independent

 

[nyrleetch]

Honestly don't remember I blocked out everything

Are you saying that harbaugh isn't a good coach?

Not saying he's not, just saying I heard all the hype about Hoke after his first year.

 

[nyrleetch]

I'm genuinely curious... are you riddled with cognitive dissonance over the way that game was won or do have you actually deluded yourself into thinking that a fluke play after over 59 minutes of losing football constitutes "beating" someone? Honestly, though, I'd stop trolling MSU fans if it wasn't just so darn easy.

Michigan State lucked their way into playing a team from an entirely different zip code in terms of talent and physicality and the inevitable happened. Teams that struggle with Rutgers and Purdue are not national championship material. To be entirely fair, the Big Ten was total garbage this year and the same thing happened to Iowa. Ohio State is head and shoulders above the rest of the league, but they decided to be listless for their first 11 games... when they play pissed off, nobody in the country can really compete with the Buckeyes. MSU will rebound, and they are already recruiting at a way higher level than they have previously, which they're going to need to do consistently if they want to actually win these type of games. Rivalry aside, sane Sparty fans must realize that competing with a competently coached Michigan team in addition to OSU is an additional hindrance to returning to this place... if this success is to be something other than a repeat of the mid 50's-60's mirage, there's still a lot of improving to do on the talent front.

You can enjoy your trolling, I'll just enjoy the on field results.

The best part about the fluke play and fluke win, besides the fact MSU outgained Michigan by 156 yards had to be Harbuagh.

Talk about one of the worst coaching decisions you'll ever see. Why in the world do you have gunners on the field when the other team is sending 11 men, are you trying to fake punt? Just what in the world was he thinking, he deserved to lose the game with that coaching.

"are you riddled with cognitive dissonance over the way that game was won or do have you actually deluded yourself into thinking that a fluke play after over 59 minutes of losing football constitutes "beating" someone?" Great, so can I retroactively award the Rangers the 2014 Stanley Cup? I mean they blew each game in the 3rd period, Kings fans are going to be upset!

 

[Brodie]

See, my contention isn't that MSU should not get credit for the win. It's that walking around as though your team accomplished something amazing or tactically brilliant when they would have lost if a punter had fallen on a dropped snap with under 10 seconds left in the game after trailing for the duration makes you look silly. Sloppy ball handling beat Michigan, and the committee clearly indicated their belief in that by keeping Michigan and MSU ranked near each other until late November in spite of the difference in records.

For comparisons sake, Michigan did not so much beat Minnesota this year as benefit from a terrible coaching decision late.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

See, my contention isn't that MSU should not get credit for the win. It's that walking around as though your team accomplished something amazing or tactically brilliant when they would have lost if a punter had fallen on a dropped snap with under 10 seconds left in the game after trailing for the duration makes you look silly. Sloppy ball handling beat Michigan, and the committee clearly indicated their belief in that by keeping Michigan and MSU ranked near each other until late November in spite of the difference in records.

For comparisons sake, Michigan did not so much beat Minnesota this year as benefit from a terrible coaching decision late.

Special teams was the only reason U of M wasn't down already substantially in that game. That it came back to lose them the game was unfortunate. But in a game where Michigan State significantly out gained U of M and controlled the ball they didn't deserve to be trailing. That the only part of the game U of M actually outplayed MSU in (special teams) spit the bit is unfortunate.

And for the record if your punter just falls on it, MSU has the ball in great position down two with 10 seconds left, could make a short pass and attempt a field goal though Geiger sucks, or throw it up to the best wide receiver in the B1G this year. That game isn't as over as U of M fans say as soon as the snap was fumbled, especially when punting was the wrong call to begin with by your coach. They made a mistake and a game they didn't dominate and were lucky enough to be winning slipped away that quickly.

Unnecessary chest out behavior is happening from a team that has won one game in nine years against a team they don't think is their rival and one game in even longer against their actual rival. Troll away, Jim Harbaugh is going to be 0-4 against his two biggest rivals by this time next year, because they aren't winning on the road in Columbus or East Lansing they are not there yet.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

edit: wrong thread

 

[Brodie]

Who's chest thumping? I'm making a point here, Michigan State won 5 games either on the last play or on the last drive. There were very few games in which they did any kind of will imposing this season, and the Michigan game is emblematic of that... winning the yardage battle, winning the TOP battle and yet needing the grace of god to pull out a win against a team that MSU fan rhetoric would have you believe is vastly inferior to them. That is the story of Michigan State in 2015 and it's the story of why this game played out the way it did.

I really don't care how many games Michigan State has won against Michigan in the past decade. I'm not one of those Michigan fans who spends his free time fantasizing about our all time win totals to get my jollies, games are decided on the field and if past results played any factor in them, Michigan State would still be mired in their 40 year pre-Dantonio run of mediocrity. The MSU fanbase needs to learn that success isn't a zero sum game and that they being better than Michigan over an extended stretch of time does not mean that Michigan has ceased to be for all time, anymore than Texas will stay down forever because Baylor has been ascendant. But take it from a Michigan fan who has been there and done that with teams who were far worse than their final records indicated and were exposed come January, ignoring your flaws now because you're still winning will bite you in the ass eventually.

 

[nyrleetch]

Who's chest thumping? I'm making a point here, Michigan State won 5 games either on the last play or on the last drive. There were very few games in which they did any kind of will imposing this season, and the Michigan game is emblematic of that... winning the yardage battle, winning the TOP battle and yet needing the grace of god to pull out a win against a team that MSU fan rhetoric would have you believe is vastly inferior to them. That is the story of Michigan State in 2015 and it's the story of why this game played out the way it did.

I really don't care how many games Michigan State has won against Michigan in the past decade. I'm not one of those Michigan fans who spends his free time fantasizing about our all time win totals to get my jollies, games are decided on the field and if past results played any factor in them, Michigan State would still be mired in their 40 year pre-Dantonio run of mediocrity. The MSU fanbase needs to learn that success isn't a zero sum game and that they being better than Michigan over an extended stretch of time does not mean that Michigan has ceased to be for all time, anymore than Texas will stay down forever because Baylor has been ascendant. But take it from a Michigan fan who has been there and done that with teams who were far worse than their final records indicated and were exposed come January, ignoring your flaws now because you're still winning will bite you in the ass eventually.

What do Michigan fans know about success?

You have zero outright national championships since 1950.

Bo was 5-12 in bowl games, he's idolized.

You used to beat up on a weak Big Ten and then get smoked by other conferences.

You can take all those wins over Ann Arbor High School, Ohio Northern, Rush Lake Forest and add them to your win totals, pretend it means something, the most "winning" school in history, certainly hasn't done anything of note post WW2.

But by all means, knock MSU for winning close games, I don't know if you remember a couple years back, MSU went 7-6, they lost about 5 games by under 5 points, Michigan fans said their reign was over, well MSU went to the Rose Bowl the next year.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

Colin Cowherd apparently thinks Alabama is "too good" and that it is hurting College football as a whole.

I like the guy, but that is some pretty lame//weak trolling. I expect better from you Colin.