Preview—Spartans 2009 Game 5: Michigan

SpartyMSU is starting our early look at each Spartan Game...and how the Spartans will March to 12-1 in 2009

Michigan
Oct. 3, TBD: in East Lansing

2008: 3–9 overall, 2–6 in the Big Ten
First season for Rich Rodriguez, and what a memorable season it was….

Much like Notre Dame, this game is an annual favorite.

No matter the size of the rash my little brothers in Ann Arbor give me, I have always enjoyed the contest. The years of not winning has made the victories even that much more sweeter.

I plan to gorge myself on the succulent taste of a Spartan Victory again this year. Yes, many UM fans are insufferable, arrogant jerks, more despicable than ND, OSU or PSU fans put together, but I still like this in state antagonistic matchup.

2008, was a most wonderful season for the Wolverines, with a record of 3-9 and only two wins in the Big Ten, they also missed a bowl game for the first time since 1974.

Adding insult to injury it was the second year in a row they lost their home opener: in 2007 to Appalachian State, in 2008 to Utah (and later that year to Toledo), and in 2009 they’ll probably lose to Western Michigan. Western is no slouch, and Michigan is hurting.

Michigan State hasn’t won at home against Michigan since 2001.

Heck, in this century, the Spartans have only won twice. It has been sad, but it is getting better. The Spartans currently hold the Paul Bunyan Trophy and plan to keep it.

From Wikipedia on last year's game:

“The most recent meeting took place on October 25, 2008, in Ann Arbor. Early in the game there was a controversial touchdown by a Michigan wide receiver who only was able to get his foot on a pylon, it was reviewed and the referee called it a touchdown.

"The commissioner of the Big Ten later said the call was wrong. It was the first UM-MSU game for new Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez who, like his four immediate predecessors, lost his first meeting with MSU. The game was won by MSU 35-21.”

In 2008, Wolverines didn’t have much of hard charging, killer instinct. They folded when the going got tough.

The Spartan game in Ann Arbor last year was tremendous, the Go Green—Go White cheers rang throughout the stadium from the beginning of the game and continued for at least an hour after the game was over.

This year it might be much more of the same in Spartan Stadium.

Predictions on the Wolverine team:
The lone bright spot might be the offensive line. In 2008, they only gave up 22 sacks all year. The line is supposed to be the area that makes or break the offense, but not in Michigan’s case, and not due to any lack of production by the offensive line.

The returning starters:  LT Mark Ortmann (6’7”, 284 lbs., LG Schilling 6’2”, 304 lbs., C Molk 6”2”, 283 lbs., RG Moosman 6’5”, 292 lbs., RT Mark Huyge 6’6”, 291, lbs.)  These guys are good, these guys will be as good or improved from last year.

Though they only gave up only 22 sacks last year, ( don’t forget their strength of schedule. This year using the NFL method of Phil Steele: only 41st). 

The offensive line was the only area of Wolverine that carried their load.

This same offensive unit (except for QB, they are new this year, last years either broke their leg or jumped ship) topped the Big Ten for the most ball turnovers.

They were also last in scoring offense, and 119th in the NCAA for third down production (27%). Also, they were first in the Big Ten and second in the NCAA for number of punts.  (Zoltan Mesko second in NCAA in punting behind CFU punter).

Sure, the front may have given time to the skill players, but the skilled players didn’t do crap. 

Note: In last year’s game against the Spartans' Zoltan punted eight times and had a total of 80 for the year.

This year, the skilled players are okay, but not great. The QB will probably be Robinson (not on campus yet) or Tate Forcier (6’1”, 187 lbs).

Neither has real game experience at signal callers, Zip, Zero, Zilch... so, if the front line is at all suspect, has a bad day, or it bitten by the injury bug, then rookie freshmen QB(s) will be eating a whole lot of turf.

Michigan has hope, wishes, and prayers, but that’s it. At least the Spartans have some experience in a QB.

But, even with the projected front strength, will the freshman avoid mistakes? Probably not. Spring ball showed good progress for the QBs, but it's still an open question. Maybe RichRod will step in as QB. Does he have eligibility ?

Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown are two returning running backs. They should might see more than the 84 yrds from last year’s game against the Spartans. Both are decent, but they are not Mike Hart, Jovan Ringer, Ashton Leggett good. With a stronger Spartan defense, they will be challenged.


Offense is going to be a maybe.  Like Wisconsin, dependent upon how the QBs turn out to be.

2008: Michigan was 10th in the Big Ten for scoring. Defensively, they gave up around 29 points per game. For 2009, the  defense has lost almost everybody… on top of that they are retooling with a new defensive coordinator.

They have lost four out of their top six leading tacklers, but with so many new players, the lack of experience is going to hurt real bad. Enough to make a Sparty smile.

However,  a couple strong leaders remain in LB Obi Ezeh (who is no Greg Jones), and DE Brandon Graham might be the magic dust for the rebuilding.

Brandon Graham is good and will probably play on Sundays. He is a solid force that possibly the Blue and Yellow defense can build around this year. Bottom line: the Ann Arbor defense is a young unit.

Special teams: they were bad last year, and only a bit better this year. But don’t count on it. Their Punter has had lots of experience last year, with the second most punts in the nation. Let's see if he can achieve or beat that record again.

They will be better in 2009 than 2008—SpartyMSU predicts a record of 5-7 or maybe 6-6.

Angelique S. Chengelis of The Detroit News predicts they will end up with a record of 7-5.

No matter how glossy, rosy, the artificial dream of success the Wolverine mafia wants it to be, 7-5 is perhaps the best the Wolverines will be, since they do have a favorable schedule (six out of first eight games are at home).

Spartan Victory on Oct. 3 will be a home game for the Spartans in front of a raucous, boisterous, but hospitable crowd (more than I can say about the Wolverine fans).

Spartans      41
Wolverines    20

Sparty ON!!!