Spartans Slay Irish

The Spartans continued their winning ways Saturday behind another 200-yard rushing day from their All-American candidate Javon Ringer. Ringer once again looked impressive and the Spartan defense ended Notre Dame's win streak by doing something that SDSU and UofM couldn't do against the Irish in previous weeks, sack the QB. As many thought, State proved Notre Dame isn't as good as some analysts were leading us to believe after beating a weak Aztec team and a transitioning Wolverine squad.

Although as one fellow DGFer pointed out, the key to the Spartans becoming a Big Ten Championship contender is not how well Ringer performs, but how well Hoyer plays. Hoyer's throwing percentage was under 50% this afternoon with no passing touchdowns. Hoyer needs to get better if this team is going to be a contender.

Spartans Win Sign of More to Come?

The Michigan State Spartans shutout their opponent for the first time since 1999 against Northwestern, which ended in a 17-0 victory over mid-major Florida Atlantic. While this can be seen as a large accomplishment for the Spartans, I'd warn the fans to not get too excited just yet as it being a pre-cursor to future victories.

The Owls' had three significant blown opportunities that could have easily changed the game from a shut out loss to going into over time. As ridiculous as it sounds after a 17-0 shut out, I'd even venture to say FAU had enough dropped and misdirected passes that they might have won in regulation, if they just hit their wide open players.

The other thing to consider is it was a down pour for much of the game and FAU's bread and butter is the passing game, which of course was at a minimum due to slippery conditions.

So while State did in the end take care of business and Javon Ringer looked good on a muddy track, I'd caution Sparty fans to hope for better play then this from their team if they hope to crack the top 3 in the Big Ten this year or next.