Will the Badgers get their revenge?

[djkimmel]

He should check his sugar level immediately!

Luckily for you Team houston, you will be catching giant peacock bass in a few weeks!!!!!!

[Team houston]

OH YES!! Praying for no snow on the 12th or 13th

[1javelin]

I know the Spartans can win, it's a question of do they know it.  But, whoever loses, will lose the BCS bid to an inferior Michigan team, because it's all about money.  Fans that travel bring in the dough, Michigan fans pay A LOT OF MONEY to travel for their team.  Same way if Notre Dame was high ranked.  Is it fair?  No.  Is it fair that the government spends my money instead of me?  No.  It's the way of the mighty dollar.  Sure will be nice when the Spartans knock off Oregon and hoist that Rose Bowl trophy though!!

1jav

[djkimmel]

Good to know your college education isn't totally going to waste...

On one point, I would like to say it is just your opinion and a few others the MICHIGAN is inferior. We'll see if the entire BCS feels the same way after tomorrow.

Notre Dame 31 sparty 13
MICHIGAN 35 Notre Dame 31

Nebraska 24 sparty 3
MICHIGAN 45 Nebraska 17

Looks like things are pretty close to me, but of course, I have my own opinion on who the superior team is! GO BLUE!

[Durand Dan]

Good to know your college education isn't totally going to waste...

On one point, I would like to say it is just your opinion and a few others the MICHIGAN is inferior. We'll see if the entire BCS feels the same way after tomorrow.

Notre Dame 31 sparty 13
MICHIGAN 35 Notre Dame 31

Nebraska 24 sparty 3
MICHIGAN 45 Nebraska 17

Looks like things are pretty close to me, but of course, I have my own opinion on who the superior team is! GO BLUE!

EQUAL IS IN THE EYE OF THE OBSERVER

BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY VS WISCONSIN

GO STATE!!

[djkimmel]

EQUAL IS IN THE EYE OF THE OBSERVER

Pretty much all I was saying too. Though no one should be unsure where my heart lives!

[YpsiBass]

Pretty amazing game, but mental mistakes by MSU cost them the game.  The interception and fumble in the first half and running into the kicker in the second half.  Great game though.

As for the previous comments, MSU had a more difficult schedule this year than the Wolverines, but next year should be interesting.

[djkimmel]

A defensive struggle just like some thought!!

For a while there, I didn't even think Wisconsin had a defense on the field... my wife was happy about that though (MSU employee). Once again, it could have gone either way. After seeing all the big passes made pretty easy, I have to wonder what Oregon is going to do with that?

[djkimmel]

I don't know where the tougher schedule comments come from. I don't see it. Just look at the preseason schedules... The schedules look pretty much the same to me. The only difference at all between the two is Wisconsin and they proved they are not the dominating, unbeatable team people said they were at the beginning. I think next year will be a lot more interesting and more of a return to the 'good ole days.'

In the meantime, ON TO THE BOWL GAMES!!! I always root for all the Big Ten teams during bowl season. Even the buk.... buc... bu... ohio...

[1javelin]

Seems the game ended the same as the last one, some very lucky heroics near the end.  I'm not going to say State deserves a better bowl game than Michigan, even though so we know where my heart lays they do, but both teams last night left it all on the field.  I'm not sure if #9 will ever walk again after that idiotic play, but it started way before that.  I told my wife when they got inside the 10 and settled for a field goal in the 4th that we would lose by less than 4, and they should have pulled off the 4th down go for it.  That series would have changed the whole dynamic of the end of the game.  A lot of game winning plays were left on the field, along with a lot of bad plays that made it on the field.  I like what Eric put on Facebook, it's still only a game played by young men.  With that, GO GREEN!!!

1jav

[djkimmel]

There were quite a few plays in that game that changed the tide one way or the other. I think parity is a lot closer now than ever before which is why you see so many surprising wins and upsets in league play in almost all the leagues.

[Team houston]

How long after the game do you think it took for the players to fill up a pillow case with batteries and beat #9 to death?

[Eric]

That dude might have beat himself to death by now for the play that has replaced Leon Lett's as the stupidest in the history of football.

As for who is better, stats never lie, but liars do stats.  So we can all spin anything the way we want to make our team appear to be better than another. 

How about if we settle it on the water at the spring DK Open.  Sign up and declare yourself blue or green.  The Mishawaka wacko will just have to pick one or the other.   

[cameraguy]

U of M to Sugar Bowl. MSU to Outhouse Bowl.
That must be a tough pill to swallow for the green and white.

[YpsiBass]

U of M to Sugar Bowl. MSU to Outhouse Bowl.
That must be a tough pill to swallow for the green and white.

Status quo. 

[djkimmel]

You can't really lose a game on only 1 play. If that were the case, games should be one series of downs each and that's it. Games are won or lost over the entire course of the game on a number of plays and decisions. I feel sorry for that kid but the entire team and coaches, and even fans, win or lose the game. Same thing with the season. Msu lost 2 games prior. If they had won them, than maybe there wouldn't be all this meanness, envy and jealousy back towards Michigan. But they did lose them and to then throw all the disappointment darts towards Michigan just makes the fans who do it look worse which makes the program look worse. Teams should control their own destiny by winning and when they lose they should accept what they get rather than try to put the blame on others who had nothing to do with the losses that cost them.

I never minded when U of M has gone to the Outback Bowl. It's the right time of year in a good location. I like it when they go to different bowls around the first of the year. Provides some variety. It shouldn't be so upsetting to have a chance to play Georgia and maybe prove something that in the end, only W's and L's prove.

The only real way to earn respect is to put out a long-term, pretty consistently good program with the support of a large and loyal fanbase. People expect those programs to be successful again just as much as they expect inconsistent programs to be inconsistent again. It takes time to build a program that everyone comes to believe will stay near the top or come back after a short slide verses thinking they're just having a few good seasons or a few bad seasons.

Who can really be surprised and unknowledgeable about that?

I watch the debate every year about the bad BCS including talk of wasting my tax dollars with a congressional investigation - which if that doesn't show how insane things can get, I don't know what will - and I just shake my head. I want to say, get a life, but that won't change anything. I love my Michigan Wolverine football - it's the only non-fishing sport I really follow every year - but it is just football, not life and death.

I know it won't really matter what system is in use. Someone will always feel left out, slighted and disrespected, and be demanding changes or 'investigations.' Meanwhile, I'm happy because I just like to watch the game, watch the plays, see sportsmanship and take what we get. I'm less happy when we lose but I get over it because there's always another game next week or next year. The only time I get upset is when there's unsportsmanlike behavior that dirties the game, or a little when I see people get ugly over things that make themselves look worse than their intended target.

[1javelin]

The only real way to earn respect is to put out a long-term, pretty consistently good program with the support of a large and loyal fanbase. People expect those programs to be successful again just as much as they expect inconsistent programs to be inconsistent again. It takes time to build a program that everyone comes to believe will stay near the top or come back after a short slide verses thinking they're just having a few good seasons or a few bad seasons.

All I'm saying is, if it's all about the football team, the team that takes the field every Saturday, then history of the program before then should play no factor.  Playing Georgia is an awesome opportunity, and hopefully will turn a lot different than it did last year when we played Alabama, though I have a feeling the outcome will still be a loss for Sparty.

I guess I keep expecting to get the agreement to my argument, and I'm looking in the wrong places.  You can't ask a duck hunter if they think ducks are more important than deer.  Subjectively speaking, without any ties to any teams, because it really is not about MSU here, if it's not about the money and not supposed to be about the storied history of the program, and it is supposed to be about the team that takes the field on any given Saturday, then why is Boise State playing in Vegas, when they were a field goal miss away from undefeated, against a stout TCU team?  They beat the pants off Georgia in Georgia opening week!  Why does Alabama get a rematch when Oklahoma State ran a tougher schedule, and lost in double overtime?  Why does Virginia Tech get to go to a BCS game when they didn't win their conference, by a long shot!?  It's because of money! Someone please be honest and say it!  I don't care that Michigan goes to a bowl game, but I want it to be because they deserve it, not because they did good (worse than some very deserving programs) and will bring the dollars!

1jav

[djkimmel]

Life isn't fair sometimes and sometimes just 'not fair' for some people. Boise State every year has a big question mark over them because their overall schedule just doesn't convince enough people. Alabama finished above OSU because more people think the sec is superior and that Alabama is a better team overall. After watching both play, I have no doubt that Alabama could beat LSU if they give it their all while OSU would have to have a pretty amazing game to outscore LSU. I wouldn't mind seeing them play but I'm sure not going to sue because they don't get to. They should have beaten Iowa State and then things might be different. But they didn't.

LSU is beatable. Arkansas State and Georgia both showed they can be put in a hole, but both teams failed to make the hole deep enough so we didn't get to see at what point LSU might might lose some of their 'invincibility.'

It is so much more common now for upsets within league play because parity has gotten a little closer and because of the history and emotions - emotions have a lot to do with it when you are talking about kids playing sports. Anyone can say anyone is better than so and so, and it doesn't mean a hill of beans. It doesn't change the polls. It doesn't change who is in which bowl game. It doesn't change who thinks the polls or voters are fair or not. It won't change how true fans feel about their teams.

I could make all kinds of claims about who is better and what proves it, and whose mind will it change? Pretty much no one's. So why bother. One big different I notice is that I believe U of M is going to win every game no matter what the circumstances and who they play because they are U of M and I know they are capable of it every time, while I notice often, spartans making comments about 'they'll probably lose' or 'odds are we won't win this one' things like that. I live in Lansing. I hear these things all the time. I've been in both stadiums a number of times and you can feel the difference. So can the teams. It is a game of emotions.

That is maybe the single, simplest key difference between the blue and the green. It really is different and great having that kind of faith in a program. I think that is something too many spartans haven't figured out yet. And because of that, some will inevitably jump on it trying to prove how misguided my faith is when everything they say will not change the faith one tiny fraction. That is a difference between Wolverines and spartans. Having a fanbase with that kind of faith is what helps Wolverines get the BCS bowl game.

Despite the flap on the Internet about how 'inferior' they think they are 'proving' Michigan is, we were only a few weird plays away from being 12-0. Even if we had won every game, envy would still drive people to try to prove we are inferior. We don't care. Sure, we get a little irked at times but we have The Big House, we have the pile of Big Ten Championships, we have the 11 national championships (yeah, mean persons, 1997 counts even though you try to say it doesn't), we have the 3 Heisman trophies, we have a winning record against almost every single team we have played and we have more wins than any other college in the US and none of the comments change that. We'll be even greater again because we know we will be.

That's what other schools should be spending their energies trying to achieve rather than spending their energy trying to tear down someone else's program. It's no different when I see someone in the fishing industry badmouthing their competitor. I always believe if you are spending your time badmouthing the competition, it must be because you don't have enough good things to say about yourself!

So, do your program a favor and spend your time having faith and saying good things about it! For the spartans, that means beat Georgia next. Despite the orneriness, the dirty plays and the harassment that I sometimes respond to but don't initiate when we are beating you, I will still be rooting for the spartans when they play Georgia. Even though I will read about all the 'fans' who say they root for anyone who plays Michigan. Whatever. I'm a Wolverine so it's important to us. In fact, the envy and jealousy actually proves we are as special as we believe we are. I wish that for every team. Well... maybe not that team to the south... I'm human too afterall

[Durand Dan]

The only real way to earn respect is to put out a long-term, pretty consistently good program with the support of a large and loyal fanbase. People expect those programs to be successful again just as much as they expect inconsistent programs to be inconsistent again. It takes time to build a program that everyone comes to believe will stay near the top or come back after a short slide verses thinking they're just having a few good seasons or a few bad seasons.

All I'm saying is, if it's all about the football team, the team that takes the field every Saturday, then history of the program before then should play no factor.  Playing Georgia is an awesome opportunity, and hopefully will turn a lot different than it did last year when we played Alabama, though I have a feeling the outcome will still be a loss for Sparty.

I guess I keep expecting to get the agreement to my argument, and I'm looking in the wrong places.  You can't ask a duck hunter if they think ducks are more important than deer.  Subjectively speaking, without any ties to any teams, because it really is not about MSU here, if it's not about the money and not supposed to be about the storied history of the program, and it is supposed to be about the team that takes the field on any given Saturday, then why is Boise State playing in Vegas, when they were a field goal miss away from undefeated, against a stout TCU team?  They beat the pants off Georgia in Georgia opening week!  Why does Alabama get a rematch when Oklahoma State ran a tougher schedule, and lost in double overtime?  Why does Virginia Tech get to go to a BCS game when they didn't win their conference, by a long shot!?  It's because of money! Someone please be honest and say it!  I don't care that Michigan goes to a bowl game, but I want it to be because they deserve it, not because they did good (worse than some very deserving programs) and will bring the dollars!

1jav

I hear all of Michigan's games will be at home next year due to the home field advantage and the millions of dollars they bring in! This should eliminate the road loses. This year they ONLY had 8!

[YpsiBass]

I hear all of Michigan's games will be at home next year due to the home field advantage and the millions of dollars they bring in! This should eliminate the road loses. This year they ONLY had 8!
[/quote]

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