mgoblogging

It is hard to really tell what happened without being there or watching the whole game.

I never could find the whole Michigan State - Illinois game.  Hopefully the whole game will be up soon.

Wow.  44-10.  The game was better than the first, interrupted look.  It seemed like a police state, with Michigan as guilty as Michigan State.  Obviously it was going to get chippy at times.  I have never seen officials with such punitive behavior, both vocally and through their actions.  Several plays included multiple personal fouls.  They were admonishing the players.  Overall, with that live impression, I thought Michigan won that battle because of the awful late hit by the Jacob brother.  Later in the game the other brother was also called for a personal foul.

Panasiuk, that is their last name.  That is not aggressive, it is sick.  It is like an ill-conceived suicide mission.  There are cameras all around, referees, and 110,000 people.  How can you think no one will see that?  More to the point, it is not going to accomplish anything except getting yourself thrown out and making your whole team look terrible.

Michigan certainly had their share of penalties.  Some were over the top.  A muscle-flexing pass reception?  Many were holding or pass interfere; if you are beaten, do it and take the yardage hit.  

Michigan State does that.  The worst provocation fouls were made by the Michigan State players.*  It was not individual it was by the team and once again it is more than a coincidence.

Mark Dantonio set the example by contesting a whistle-blown after the play ball strip (Ronnie Bell).  

The officials did a great job.  Sometimes in a scrum you have to just choose a player and call a penalty.  There is something to setting an example and cooling everyone off at the same time.

I gained some respect for Michael Dwumfour, and others.  There was one play where the whistle blew and Charbonnet was pushed down; the next play he gained ran for about 12 mostly on second effort.  You don't want to do anything stupid.  You have to fight back.

There is always torrent.

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*  That may not be true and the teams could be equally culpable.  Khaleke Hudson appears to have started the one major brawl, the one where Hutchinson got the personal foul by shoving a Michigan State player.



The other thing that really bothered me about the game and the announcing was how biased it was.  If you are the better team (Michigan) you get that and understand that.  You have earned it.  Everyone wants to hear about a good team rather than a bad one.

It was way, way too much in Michigan's favor.  They barely previewed or talked about the Spartans at all.

Charles Woodson singing Hail to the Victors was the last straw.  He did it over and over and he was biased as hell.  I cannot believe the producers allowed that.

It is bad enough having to listen to Urbz.




Michigan State... this part was going to be about the game.  From Michigan State's perspective.

Lewerke played well and hard.  They did not have the weapons.

Perhaps the PED guy meant a lot.  They had other injuries too.


Overall, the game is for the players and the fans/locals -- those who are really into it.  Let them celebrate and enjoy it for the next year.  It was a very convincing win.

Me, I'm just a watcher.