What the TOC writers are saying about Saturday’s game
Well Spartans, we are just a day away from the biggest date on our sports calendar. Yes, our annual football game against the hated um is nearly upon us. And while each year’s game is important, this year’s has a few pieces of extra significance. As detailed by Steve , this is the first game in the rivalry for both head coaches. Jonathan Smith came from Oregon State to try and turn around the MSU program. And Sherrone Moore was promoted to take over that program so he could continue to destroy his public image.
The 2024 game is also significant as it seems to be happening when the two teams are meeting at a crossroads and going in opposite directions. For our Spartans, momentum suddenly feels back on our side after disposing of the pesky Iowa Hawkeyes a week ago. The Spartans are 4-3 now and seem like they have a good shot at a bowl game for the first time in three years. The other team, also 4-3, has lost their last two games by a combined 48-24. um is dealing, poorly, with a quarterback controversy that has one obvious answer to it (D. None of the above). With no reliable passer, their offense has become completely reliant on the run game. While um’s two featured backs do have more total yards than MSU’s main two RBs, the averages are pretty similar; um is just going to their running game more often. Again, that is because they have no choice.
The good news for us Spartans in this, the reason TOC is brimming with confidence ahead of this game, is that MSU just finished shutting down the nation’s second leading rusher, Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson, to his second lowest output of the year (only Ohio State minimized him more than MSU). If MSU can shut down a weapon vastly superior to anything um has, then we can logically deduce that shutting down um is very accomplishable.
But this is about more than just catching um after they have slipped out of national relevance for the season. This is about having an opportunity to right some wrongs that have been done to our Michigan State University over the past two seasons. Mike chronicled some of this in his latest article, rehashing some of the major points of um’s multiple cheating scandals of the later harbaugh years. Those cheaters had snuck one of their operatives onto the sideline of one of our opponents in a game they were not even playing in. It is obvious that their latest exploits in the land of poor sportsmanship directly impacted the results of their games against us and their other opponents. I have read articles by sportswriters from Florida to the West Coast commenting on the illegitimacy of their 2023 championship. It may be the one thing the entire country can agree on.
Beyond the cheating scandals, MSU also has the matter of “Tunnelgate” to settle the score on. Yeah, that little incident where um officials campaigned to have criminal charges filed against MSU players for a fight they began. Yeah, I hope Coach Smith is using that as fuel to motivate his team. I am not looking for us to get in any more rumbles, but I do want to see a level of aggression that was completely absent from our team in last year’s contest.
Speaking of, let’s not forget that um came into Spartan Stadium last year and put an absolute beating on our team. It was a game we knew we were not going to have a chance at winning, but it ended up being one of the worst losses in MSU’s history. Some players are back from last year’s team, and I hope they are all telling the story of the 2023 game to their new teammates and getting them to feel the animosity, anger, and shame that should have come out of last year’s contest. Those emotions should fuel our performance this year, and hopefully we can exact some retribution.
I do not expect MSU to reverse the 49-0 score from last year. I do, however, predict the Green & White to bring Paul Bunyan home to East Lansing.
Mike predicted a 24-17 Spartan win in his article linked above.
Steve predicted “MSU 28 weasels 17”.
Brian, in all his wonderful Brianness, predicted a 31-14 victory for MSU.
And that leaves us with my prediction. Which I will get to in a minute. But first, let me just say it has been a joy reading everyone’s comments across our articles this week. I know you guys are foaming at the mouth waiting for this one. You guys are sensing the victory. And what is wonderful is that it is not coming from the hatred we all collectively harbor for that school in ann arbor. No, it comes from actual objective reasoning that we are looking like the better team right now.
But this is a rivalry game. um will be getting up for this one as well. They are going to drill their one-dimensional playbook to death in preparation for this game. And come Saturday, they are going to run their running backs early, often, and non-stop. They are going to try to show they are still a stronger team. NO! They are not!
MSU is going to be ready. MSU is going to be disciplined. MSU is going to be focused. And MSU is going to be the team that wants this game more. And when the clock strikes zeroes and the final whistle blows, it will be MSU celebrating. Jonathan Smith gets the win in his first game in this series and the Spartans walk out of enemy territory with, I predict, a 30-20 victory.
And the best part of this will be that I am going to be on the field taking pictures of it all.
TOC Nation, I need you all to do your part. Get your game shirt ready. Make sure there are no leaves in your satellite dish or that your internet router is working properly. Make sure your drink of choice is on hand. And make sure no one is sitting in your lucky seat. But then be ready to be up out of that seat as you cheer for MSU and help fill our team with energy. Yes, I do truly believe that fans, even those at home, can impact the games. And I know that our fans are much better than those walmart shoppers.
It’s rivalry week in the state of Michigan. It’s hate week in East Lansing and ann arbor. It’s MSU vs. um. And it’s going to be a Victory For MSU.
GO GREEN! GO WHITE!