Michigan State (4-4, 6-5) at Nebraska (3-5, 4-7) Post Game

[rolltidefan]

link

Nebraska and Michigan State will honor Sam Foltz and Mike Sadler during a pre-game ceremony on Saturday involving the head coaches, parents of Foltz and Sadler and specialists of both teams. It's the first meeting between NU and MSU since Foltz and Sadler died on July 23, 2016.
— Tom Shatel (@tomshatelOWH) November 12, 2018

good on the 'skers and spartans for this. sad day to remember, but their live are worthy of it.

[Entropy]

glad both universities are doing this...  Maybe this can springboard into something more permanent each time these teams meet on the field.   And I'm not just thinking a trophy... could be some type of good works for/from each campus...   

[ELA]

Might as well make this the Game thread

Michigan State Spartans (4-3, 6-4) at Nebraska Cornhuskers (2-5, 3-7)

NOON - Lincoln, NE - FOX

Chalk this one up as a big "who knows?"  Nebraska is clearly a far, far better team than the one we saw in September.  But all that said, their best actual win is a home win over 5-5 Minnesota.  They do have a pair of close losses to Northwestern and Ohio State in their last five though, and could have been playing for a bowl down the stretch if one of those breaks their way.  For the second week in a row, we have to determine if Michigan State's defense is more elite than an elite offense.  They did all they could do against Ohio State, forcing the Buckeyes off the field time and again, only to have their offense put them back in a terrible situation.  So Michigan State's defense doesn't just have to overcome Nebraska's potent offense, averaging a conference best 6.8 ypp, they have to overcome their own offense, averaging only 4.7 ypp, third worst in the conference.  The Spartans have simply been unable to extend drives, converting third downs at a horrific 22.9% clip, nearly 9% worse than anyone else, including Rutgers.  So they aren't just giving opposing offenses the ball in good field position, they aren't even giving their defense a break, averaging only 19.1 first downs per game, third worst.  Granted they are also only allowing 16.6 first downs per game, second best in the conference.  To flip that, Nebraska is second best, averaging 24.3 first downs per game, but giving up 25, second worst.  So the Spartans have gotten used to playing games with a lot of possessions, a lot of special teams play, while the Cornhuskers are accustomed to long, extending drives, on both sides of the ball.  What makes this game hard to predict is Michigan State's quarterback situation.  Brian Lewerke is clearly hurt, and has been for some time.  But it seems to be getting worse.  This much seems clear to even Lewerke himself at this point, but not to Mark Dantonio.  Rocky Lombardi looked plenty capable in the win over Purdue, after getting first team reps all week, and a gameplan built to his strengths.  Coming in cold off the bench against Maryland and Ohio State he looked like a different guy.  Dantonio has spoken of using him like a reliever, but it doesn't seem like he's capable of that at all.  If Michigan State rolls with Lewerke again, then flips to Lombardi when that inevitably doesn't work, Nebraska will win this game.  If the staff handles Lombardi like they did against Purdue, they still, even with all of the running back and receiver injuries (sounds like now only Cody White may play among the WR group, in addition to L.J. Scott officially being shut down for the year), Michigan State still has enough offensive talent against what is a lousy defense.  But Nebraska is not even asking their defense to just do enough, they've won 2 of their last 3 Big Ten games while surrendering 33 ppg.  While Nebraska's offense is good, I don't think it's as good as Ohio State's, and the Buckeyes managed only 250 total yards, on just 4.2 ypp and 7 points until the defense finally said no mas after MSU's 6 offensive drive of three plays or less, out of 7 drives to start the second half.  The problem is Ohio State won the field position battle all game long.  If Nebraska is working short fields, it means their defense played over their heads, or Michigan State played the wrong quarterback, or both.  If either happens again, Nebraska wins.  But every time this year, I've been ready to write the season off, Michigan State pulls one out.  Nebraska has been Dantonio's fly in the ointment since joining the league, only looking good against them once, 2013.  But if Nebraska holds Michigan State to "only" 33 points, it would mark Nebraska's second best defensive effort in Big Ten play, and Michigan State hasn't allowed more than 31 points all season.  It'll take some big turnovers for Nebraska to get there.

MICHIGAN STATE 33, NEBRASKA 21

[Brutus Buckeye]

This could very well be a winnable game for the Bugeaters. 

[ELA]

This could very well be a winnable game for the Bugeaters.

Absolutely.  MSU needs the offense that they ran against Purdue to win it.  Based on how everything went down after the OSU game, I think they have to prep Lombardi this week.  If they don't, Nebraska wins.

[Mdot21]

This could very well be a winnable game for the Bugeaters.

disagree.
as awful as MSU's O has been, Nebraska's D is equally as awful. This is just the perscription that MSU's O needs to get back on track. They will have success against that awful Cornhuskers D.
On the flip side, MSU's D is excellent. Easily the 2nd best D in the conference behind Michigan's. MSU will get physical with Nebraska and slow that offense down.
I like MSU by 10. I'll say, MSU- 31, Nebraska- 21

[Hoss]

Agree with that 31-21 pick.

I expect that MSU will hand it off about 50 times, rack up close to 40 minutes of TOP against our poorly-coached DL, and score 31.

I like our offense over the second half of the season, but 20-odd minutes TOP probably equates to 9-10 total possessions…that just isn’t going to provide enough opportunities to score 30+ against Sparty’s defense. This will be a major test for the revamped OL as well, and I am interested to see how they do compared to the disaster @ Michigan.

This will be a nice soundcheck for the game next week that really matters…Iowa.

[ELA]

Looks like we could be getting some snow

[MarqHusker]

Getting snow and ice tonight.  There was some snow in the rows in Lincoln last Saturday from Friday.   

[ELA]

Getting snow and ice tonight.  There was some snow in the rows in Lincoln last Saturday from Friday.  

They keep upping us here, now 3 inches followed by ice.

[FearlessF]

I assume snow and wind and poor weather is better for Sparty

I agree with Mdot.  the poorest offense hasn't been able to make Nebraska's defense look good.

w/o the 2 muffed punts vs Illinois last week it would have been a very tight game.

If Sparty doesn't make a handful of bad mistakes the Huskers can't win.

I'm just hoping the Huskers don't make their usual handful of mistakes and the game in close into the 4th quarter.

[FearlessF]

The Cornhuskers are 8-2 all-time against the Spartans, including 5-1 at home with the lone loss in Lincoln coming in 2013. Nebraska is known for drawing a packed stadium and loud crowd but also for its fans to be friendlier than others.

"It's funny, I had never experienced anything like it before I was there the first time too. It's different," Michigan State defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Mike Tressel said. "I think what you have to do is you have to realize that that's all part of the game, how nice they are to you pregame, how they welcome you, how they try to make you feel at home and they're trying to soften your armor a little bit. ... If you look at it that way and try to feel like they're actually disrespecting us by being this nice to us - if you can look at it that way, it's all just good."

[ELA]

I assume snow and wind and poor weather is better for Sparty

I agree with Mdot.  the poorest offense hasn't been able to make Nebraska's defense look good.

w/o the 2 muffed punts vs Illinois last week it would have been a very tight game.

If Sparty doesn't make a handful of bad mistakes the Huskers can't win.

I'm just hoping the Huskers don't make their usual handful of mistakes and the game in close into the 4th quarter.

Ugly has been this series since becoming conference rivals.  A lot of bad play, a lot of sloppy play.  I honestly can't think of an exception.

[MarqHusker]

Ugly yes, hairpulling entertaining at times.