Tag Archives: Michigan State

Early Title Games for the Big Ten and Big 12?

Posted on by
Reply

Navi Sol 11-8The Fall sports season is reaching its climax as conference races are easy to picture now. Ohio State at Michigan State is virtually the Big Ten title game. Kansas State at TCU could be the same with the Big 12. I like Michigan State and Kansas State for those two. Alabama at LSU is always a big game that could go either way. Arizona State has a chance to stop Notre Dame’s playoff hopes in the afternoon. I’m picking the Sun Devils.

If women’s soccer is your sport than this is your weekend with conference tournaments. The Big Ten, ACC and SEC will have their title matches Sunday afternoon but look for smaller conferences on ESPN3.

Have College Football Rivalries Become Too Heated?

Posted on by
Reply

There were three examples Saturday of in-state rivalry games turning ugly. Two were in unconventional ways I’ve never seen before. Not to mention the fact they were beyond disrespectful.

Michigan at Michigan State

Michigan State is the defending Big Ten champions and are the pride of the conference yet again heading into November at 7-1. Michigan is 3-5 with little hope of making it to a bowl. So when Michigan took the field at East Lansing and planted a stake on the field it did not go over well. While Michigan may have thought it represented unity, the Spartans viewed it as vandalism to its turf.

https://twitter.com/NeonBets/status/526214931557801984

Michigan’s head coach Brady Hoke apologized after the game but the whole act is tough to excuse. Michigan State fans shouldn’t feel bitter though as the Spartans won 35-11.

Texas Tech at TCU

Over in Fort Worth, TCU showed no mercy to in-state rival Texas Tech. The result was an 82-27 final score in favor of the Horned Frogs. The score was 68-27 at the end of the third quarter but TCU was still trying to tack more on, including putting the ball in the air six times in the quarter. Maybe it was because they were record hunting.

Passing the football late in the game with a huge lead is unacceptable. Just run the clock out and go home. The Horned Frogs had cupcake wins over FCS Samford and SMU and only scored 48 and 56 on those teams. TCU was just trying to embarrass a rival and went to great lengths to do so Saturday. Just because TCU could score 82 doesn’t mean it should.

Georgia Southern at Georgia State

Move over Georgia and Georgia Tech, the Peach State has a new college football rivalry that has more “clean, old fashioned hate” than you. Georgia Southern is tearing through the Sun Belt in its first season as an FBS team and has developed a passionate fan base thanks to decades of success on the FCS level. Georgia State is still an infant in the college football world and is going through the growing pains of just 2 wins in its last 25 games. Despite the contrast this is a heated rivalry. Both programs like to be called GSU, wear blue, and are in the same conference now. Although, the Panthers went into detail as to why they believe GSU is for Georgia State alone.

Georgia Southern wanted to really stick it to the Panther fans by traveling to the game wearing white Eagle’s shirts in a successful white-out in the stadium of its rival. You can see how many Georgia Southern Fans are behind the goal post here.

GA So takeover

Having more fans than the home team is one thing. Bringing a banner to the field after your win is not so innocent. The Eagles posed for a picture with a banner saying “Paulson Stadium North,” claiming the Georgia Dome as an affiliate to its campus venue. This photo is courtesy of Two Cents Radio.

Just think about it, the Eagles had to secretly carry that into the stadium and then take the time to pose for the camera like high school kids at prom. If that’s not enough for you, then what about T-shirts? For almost $17, you can buy a T-shirt of Georgia Southern Eagle holding a Georgia State panther upside down over the Georgia Dome. Oh, and the “GSU” battle comes up again at the bottom.

These types of shirts are common through fan sites, but this shirt is THROUGH THE SCHOOL. This is Georgia Southern merchandise! This rivalry is getting out of hand and it seems to appear that both sides have forgotten it’s just a football game, not a cure to solve trademark dispute. Georgia State does not have the ability to fight back in football today but what will happen if the Panthers become a power five years from now? This could really blow up.

I hope fan bases from all schools who are about to square off in November (looking at you Iron Bowl) don’t turn to blatant disrespect as their weapon of choice. What were once harmless jokes between fan bases got out of hand Saturday, and that’s probably not the last time that will occur this season.

The FCS gets it right

Posted on by
Reply

As the BCS rankings and match-ups were announced on ESPN Sunday night, the trinity of annoying studio commentators (Jesse Palmer, David Pollack and Kirk Herbstreit) said the BCS got it right.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

For the record, I agree Auburn should be ranked no. 2. That doesn’t mean other one loss teams are not more deserving.

Michigan State only has one loss too and folks north of the Ohio River say the Spartans should be in. Check out what Big Ten talking head Mike Hall had to say while watching the SEC championship game.

Nice sarcasm as both Auburn and Missouri were scoring at will. Even Purdue fans tried to make a case for Michigan State.

What about Baylor? The Bears only had one loss too. Heck, I still think Alabama is the best team in the SEC as Auburn won the Iron bowl in its own house. What if the game was on a neutral field? Alabama would probably be going for its third straight title.

Yes, it’s the last year of the BCS; but instead of media personalities saying the BCS got it right, we should be blasting it one final time.

Look at how much fun the second round of FCS playoffs were this weekend. Several top teams went down and its games were great.

  • Coastal Carolina had maybe the surprise win of the weekend going into a freezing Montana. Montana’s website gave detailed advice on how to handle the below zero wind chills. Now that’s extreme. Coastal Carolina came out on top 42-35 in what might be the biggest upset a road team has had in below zero conditions since the Empire took over Hoth.
  • No. 2 seed Eastern Illinois has been destroying people all year with its passing game. Even the mascot was burning calories on the sideline in its 55-10 drumming of Tennessee State.
    • Still better than "Insanity"

    Still better than “Insanity”

  • New Hampshire stunned No. 5 seed Maine 41-27 to take the important title of “Best FCS Team in New England.”
  • No. 4 seed Southeastern Louisiana survived its upset scare against Sam Houston State 30-29.
  • No. 6 seed McNeese State was not so lucky as it lost 31-10 to Jacksonville State. That’s what happens when you’re too busy putting the name of your school on the back of the jersey instead of the players.

Get in there McNeese! No not you. I was talking to McNeese.

Get in there McNeese! No not you. I was talking to McNeese.


Come on McNeese State, even Michael Bay is more creative than that.

The FCS playoffs are just juicer than the anticlimactic BCS. The regular season still matters as not that many teams get in. The idea that the BCS system protects the magnitude of the regular season is just a total fallacy.

It’s so easy to accept the BCS after the great couple of weeks of football that we’ve had. But conference championships and huge rivalry games would happen no matter what type of postseason format was in place.

At the end of the day, can you justifiably say that Auburn is better than a Michigan State or a Baylor? Like bet your car, house, and PS3 type justification? What’s the harm in having them play each other for that spot?

The excitement we’ve had in college football the past two weeks can be recreated for four more weeks if we had the eight-team playoff we should have. Sorry ESPN, the FCS gets it right.