Overtime: Michigan St Post-game Overreactions

GOAT said:
What I want to know is, what did Vegas oddsmakers know that we didn't know?
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Yeah, I thought the line was too low by several points. Even so, I still took Nebraska to win in my pickem' pool.
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BigWillie said:
This is what happens when these guys fight.

Players beat up, hurt, and still dying to come back in the game to make a play to help their team.

A defensive line that couldn't get pressure all damn night, but still continued to fight. An offensive line that was overmatched by a fantastic defensive line from Sparty, but they punched them in the damm mouth all game long.

I could not be more proud of this group of guys for how they fought all game long.

GBR
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A-freakin' men!

 
We played a lot better tonight and I was generally more pleased with the performance tonight but I admit I did think we were going to come up short so winning was awesome. I hated the pass plays in the red zone that led to the INT. It just felt like that sucked all the momentum out of the game and we needed to keep matching Sparty as they were moving it on us. Thought we could not climb out of that double digit deficit but we did! Man, we gave Cook a lot of time back there (maybe that is why he felt so comfortable letting 7 seconds off at the end...Mack Brown flashback with the Dantonio asking for 1 second left!). Special teams...onside kick look liked we never practiced it...and why did we not kick the ball deep at the end of the game...we nearly gift wrapped them field position to hit a FG and break our hearts again. Imani Cross and Jordan Westercamp were awesome! Reilly with a clutch catch! Tommy kept battling and that's who is...I feel like if he had the time Cook did he'd be a lot better QB. The OL blocked for the run better tonight but they still can't pass protect. If we had lost I'd have said we saw good progress but winning is major progress. Let's win our next one. Noise came through on television so we need top recruits from this game. Packed house sounded electric!

 
GOAT said:
...and meanwhile, here in Baton Rouge, the annual "Fire Les Miles" posts and threads have begun
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Please give us Les Miles. I would take him in a heartbeat. LSU are a bunch of whiners. Let's trade LSU, Les Miles for Riley. I will even deliver him to LSU myself and will throw in banker and Eichorst for free.

 
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
brophog said:
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
This is the biggest accomplishment for this program since Black Friday, 2001, on Folsom Field.

Let that sink in.
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As I said before this game was even played....bullsh#t.
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Who have we beat that's better?
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There is a reason they played so many poor teams so closely, and it's similar to the reason some analytics had this undefeated team dangerously close to being out of the top 25 (that's really hard to do for such a team this late in the season). They're just not a top ten caliber team on either side of the ball (total offense and pass defense, in particular). The political correctness policy may say that scoring margin should not be used in college football, but there is a very good reason it should be: it predicts future success better than any other primary stat in alternate possession sports. Michigan State's margin of victory was pedestrian given its strength of schedule. That's why this line was so low. The record and therefore ranks of these respective teams were a much bigger gap than their metrics.

Arizona 2009, despite 5 losses, has a similar profile to this MSU team in terms of differentials (their production relative to their opponents). The big difference between those teams: turnovers, and turnovers have a high degree of randomness to them.

While those two may have similar profiles, 2010 Missouri has a better one. They beat their opponents by more, and out gained them by considerably more. They finished 6th in scoring defense, MSU came in ranked 37th. Missouri scoring offense 44th, MSU 48th. (Yes, it is silly to consider a team top ten with those scoring numbers.)

2015 MSU only out gains opponents by 0.3 yards per play (and they didn't outgain us today in that category). 2010 Missouri was at 0.7. (For reference, 2015 Alabama is at 1.5 yards per play, but many griped when they were ranked ahead of undefeated teams like MSU.)

Edit: Post Nebraska, MSU out gains opponents by 0.2 yards per play, rank 40th in scoring offense, rank 47th in scoring defense.

 
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After this game, I'm inclined to give Riley at least another half-year, though I remain baffled by a lot of decisions he or his staff makes.

 
I still have no clue why they chose to kick a squib kick at the end of the game instead of kicking it deep. Made absolutely zero sense.

 
GOAT said:
I still have no clue why they chose to kick a squib kick at the end of the game instead of kicking it deep. Made absolutely zero sense.
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Michigan St was having success in the return game, so Mike Riley made the call to take that away and trust his defense. It worked.

 
I still think it was a HUGE risk. Giving them the ball at their own 41 kinda defeats the purpose of trying to limit their success in the return game.

 
TheSker said:
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
brophog said:
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
This is the biggest accomplishment for this program since Black Friday, 2001, on Folsom Field.

Let that sink in.
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As I said before this game was even played....bullsh#t.
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Who have we beat that's better?
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Missouri 2009 or 2010.
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Missouri 2009? Lol not by a long shot.

Missouri 2010 is the closest, and if this MSU team isn't a true top 10 team, than neither was that team.

 
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