Michigan St/Michigan

What's up everyone,
I apologize for the absence of a post last week.. I was in Iowa City with some friends and I was unable to reach a computer. Anyways, its MICHIGAN/MICHIGAN ST WEEK, but before we dig into the rivalry, lets look at some of the shit that happened last weekend..

Scheelhaase eating turf.. left game with concussion 

I think my sub-conscience had the biggest influence in my decision to write a post last weekend (aside from my other excuses). What happened? Uhhh.. pretty much what I said a couple weeks back.. "Illinois is just bad..". They lived up to their reputation and were destroyed in a 45-0 blowout. (Side Note: Though I say Illinois is bad, and they are, they put up a fight against Wisconsin the weekend prior.. just keep that in mind as we get closer to Indianapolis). Michigan was better at everything.. Offensively, Denard and the backs picked up some yards. Defensively, Jake Ryan proved that he is a rising star in the B1G. Special Teams, Norfleet probably should have just hurdled the punter and he would have scored. Put simply, we're better. Any 2010 repeat was absolutely crushed when Scheelhaase was knocked out of the game. Riley O'Toole sucked and it was over pretty quickly.

The long hair makes you look 20 times more badass

Now that we are done with that...

Michigan State heads into the Big House this weekend. Michigan State is coming off a 19-16 OT loss in East Lansing to an "OK" Iowa squad. I honestly thought Michigan State was going to win, but they choked and couldn't finish. The offense continued to be inept and the defense was average at best.. This is the same team that was predicted to basically walk thru their division and make it over the hump to a BCS bowl.. Whatever though. I hate Michigan State so it is always nice to seem them suck. That being said, they still scare me coming into this weekend. The past 2 years, the Michigan State defense has done an exceptional job containing Denard. Even though their defense has been sub-par so far this season, rivalry games often bring the best out of players.. For Michigan to have success on offense, Fitz needs to grow a pair and stop dancing around in the back field. Make a cut, get your ass up the field, and when you have the room, THEN you can do your jukes. If he can't step up his game, Thomas Rawls is the next man.. I'm not sure why, but I just cannot look at Rawls the same ever since the hit he took during the Alabama game... (11 minute mark)

Look for Gardner to get involved Saturday. I like Roundtree, but Gardner is my favorite WR. He is the most athletic receiver we have and I love seeing the ball in his hands. Borges said he wants to develop a go-to WR and I hope it is one of the Devin's.

Most athletic players on the Michigan roster

Defensively, I think Michigan matches up well against Michigan State's offense. Michigan State has a new QB, new WR's, and a mediocre offensively line. The lone bright spot on their offense is Le'Veon Bell and he is pretty tank-ish.. Michigan ranks 3rd in the nation in pass-defense, but they will be tested more this week as opposed to weeks prior. The biggest challenge for this Michigan defense will be stopping the trick plays.. Michigan State's offense blows and Dantonio knows this.

This game is a toss up for me.. I think the game being in Ann Arbor helps, as well as past tweets that will only fuel Denard.. I have Michigan winning this game by a reasonable amount with hopes that Michigan State's offense will continue to sputter.

Other B1G games:
Navy>Indiana
Iowa>PSU
Wisconsin>Minnesota
Nebraska>NW
OSU>Purdue