It is time to get on with the game but first we must put Penn State to rest. The travelogue around league is almost over. A trip to Columbus is not in anyone’s interest.
I admire James Franklin because to the casual observer he has kept the lid on a near-impossible situation. The sanctions are over and no doubt Penn State should… You fill in championship aspirations.
Franklin can be a weird guy—the “we don’t disclose injuries” policy is one example. Carl Nassib, a game-changer as the nation’s sack leader, is someone we cannot talk about; he started, was too injured to play, so end of story. Even after that he did not have a known injury.
Onward and upward. From before:
This win on the road was easier than expected. Maybe James Franklin is not great and Penn State is not on its way. It was not a tough win. It was not tense. Michigan did not look banged-up or beaten afterward.
The crowd of 107,000 was relatively quiet. It seems as though they did not trust their team to come back or win.
They are not all the way back as they have had trouble against ranked teams. Much has been made of the Nittany Lions unfulfilled search for a signature win.
The truth is Minnesota and Indiana, each with their own set of motivations, proved tougher than Penn State. Mitch Leidner and Nate Sudfeld were better than Christian Hackenberg; I would also include Travis Wilson from Utah, who Michigan played earlier in the season, on this list. Hackenberg seems like a distraction, and if he is injured he should come out of the game. “He can make all the throws” is boring. And, at least once, when he came off the field Franklin was talking to him and he was walking away.
Never underestimate a Mark Dantonio Michigan State team is something anyone who is paying attention should have learned by now. This week, that means MSU will get the job done. We’ve seen Penn State. We know Michigan State. (RE quarterback comparisons, Connor Cook and his back-up are doing quite well.)
Can you imagine actually being in Columbus, Ohio?
No comments:
Post a Comment