[tRhinoceros]

As a Spartan fan and soon to be student, I follow Michigan State football very closely.  Our SOS is not strong this year.  Last year we played a bad Wisconsin team and beat them away and lost by a screw up on Offense and a referee that called a dead ball on an obvious fumble that was returned for a TD.  This year, we still played a good Ohio State team, an average UM team, an above average Hawkeye squad, a meh Nebraska team, and a yucky Northwestern team.  Our SOS is NOT good.  But look at the games, Michigan State won every big ten competition by 10 or more points and pitched a shutout while also not allowing a touchdown in four big ten games.  Keep in mind, UM did not score a touchdown on MSU and was stopped to -48 rushing yards, the LOWEST ever in Michigan football history.  You might say, wow, Ohio State, Indiana, and Nebraska really killed MSU on defense.  Ohio State has arguably the best DUAL quarterback in all of College Football who really creates on broken plays.  Nebraska was a different story, the QB could run, but it's more of the option plays they ran.  The option plays are what carves up the MSU defense.  Abdullah and Hyde were able to get a lot of their yards from them because they have QBs capable of burning defenses with their feet.  The Indiana game on the other hand was a lack of discipline, missed tackles, a 70 yard untouched run up the middle, and great quarterback play.  I think the problem Stanford is going to face is setting up the Play Action.  Kurtis Drummond is great at stopping the run, but he's average in the pass.  He has great athleticism and a brobdingnagian hitter.  If Stanford wants to pass effectively, they're going to need to use the Tight End a lot more, because they are not going to be passing on Trae and Darqueze with out multiple turnovers.

[tRhinoceros]

As a Spartan fan and soon to be student, I follow Michigan State football very closely.  Our SOS is not strong this year.  Last year we played a bad Wisconsin team and beat them away and lost by a screw up on Offense and a referee that called a dead ball on an obvious fumble that was returned for a TD.  This year, we still played a good Ohio State team, an average UM team, an above average Hawkeye squad, a meh Nebraska team, and a yucky Northwestern team.  Our SOS is NOT good.  But look at the games, Michigan State won every big ten competition by 10 or more points and pitched a shutout while also not allowing a touchdown in four big ten games.  Keep in mind, UM did not score a touchdown on MSU and was stopped to -48 rushing yards, the LOWEST ever in Michigan football history.  You might say, wow, Ohio State, Indiana, and Nebraska really killed MSU on defense.  Ohio State has arguably the best DUAL quarterback in all of College Football who really creates on broken plays.  Nebraska was a different story, the QB could run, but it's more of the option plays they ran.  The option plays are what carves up the MSU defense.  Abdullah and Hyde were able to get a lot of their yards from them because they have QBs capable of burning defenses with their feet.  The Indiana game on the other hand was a lack of discipline, missed tackles, a 70 yard untouched run up the middle, and great quarterback play.  I think the problem Stanford is going to face is setting up the Play Action.  Kurtis Drummond is great at stopping the run, but he's average in the pass.  He has great athleticism and a brobdingnagian hitter.  If Stanford wants to pass effectively, they're going to need to use the Tight End a lot more, because they are not going to be passing on Trae and Darqueze with out multiple turnovers.