How Good is Michigan State This Year?

The Michigan State Spartans have a 9-2 record this year and are playing pretty good football. Everyone seems to notice that the Spartans haven't had their annual Fall collapse and seem to be heading to Florida for a Bowl Game.

MSU is currently ranked No.18 by the BCS and AP and No.17 by the coaches. Not a bad year and Michigan State should feel pretty good about their record and where the program is heading.

Sparty has had a nice year, but are they finally where they want to be? Not so fast my friend, as Lee Corso would say. Let's take a look at MSU's record this year and see how they played....

1. A road loss to a pretty good Cal team (Cal's current record 6-3)
2. A blowout win against a very bad Eastern Michigan (currently 2-8)
3. 17-0 win against a poor Florida Atlantic team (currently 4-5)
4. A 23-7 win against a re-building Notre Dame Team (currently 5-4)
5. A 42-29 win against a poor Indiana Team (currently 3-7)
6. Struggled at home against Iowa but won 16-13 (currently 6-4)
7. Nice road win against Northwestern 37-20 (currently 7-3)
8. Blowout loss to the 8-2 OSU Buckeyes in East Lansing 45-7
9. Struggled but won against the re-building Wolverines 35-21 (currently 3-7)
10. Got out played but stole a win against the struggling Wisconsin Badgers 25-24 (5-5)
11. Scored 21 points in a home win against a Purdue team that gave up 42 to the league's worst offense the week before. (3-7)
12. Playing Penn State in two weeks at Happy Valley.

So is Michigan State really good this year or just an example of how down the Big Ten is? I would have to go with the level of poor play in the Big Ten.

Michigan State's nine wins come against teams with a combined record of: 38 - 50

Michigan State's losses came against the two best teams they have played this year: CAL and Ohio State.

I expect we will see Michigan State lose it next two games vs Penn State and any SEC school they get matched up with in a Florida Bowl. Believe me, MSU doesn't want anything to do with an SEC or Big 12 team in their bowl game.

There is still more work to be done in East Lansing. We will see if Dantonio will be around for it. He is rumored for some of the openings at Clemson and Tennessee. Also look for his name to be thrown around for the Syracuse and other openings as well.

Last point to ponder: Has the way MSU used Javon Ringer this year limited his NFL career? He has had 353 rushing attempts this year and 806 over his career as a Spartan. This year he is averaging 35 rushing attempts per game. His carries are up 108 attempts over last year and he still has two more games to play!