On paper, the Outback Bowl: Michigan State vs. Georgia is a great game. Two schools that are much more worthy of being in the BCS than Virginia Tech, and probably more deserving than Michigan. So clearly, it’s a better game than the Sugar Bowl.
And the Orange Bowl too. Clemson is nothing special, and no Big East team, let alone West Virginia should be allowed anywhere near the BCS. And even though MSU and UGA were possibly worthy of at large bids, Boise State, Arkansas and South Carolina were much worthier than the Spartans and Bulldogs; and they got shut out. Proving once again the BcS in the BCS.
But it’s not the Rose Bowl, and for MSU it was all about P4RB “Prepare for Rose Bowl” and aything else is a huge disappointment.
“Obviously our goal was the Big Ten championship, but we’re 10-3, we’ve had a great season full of great moments and memories, this is just a point we have to go through,” Spartans OL Joel Foreman said.
The Michigan State Spartans pulled out all the stops in the Big Ten title game, but it just wasn’t enough. They out-gained the Wisconsin Badgers in yardage by a wide margin, and took advantage of some trick plays, but it still didn’t yield a W. It was an extremely emotional, devastating loss.
You got to feel for Sparty. 11 wins last year, 10 wins this year- yet no BCS bids to show it. No Rose Bowl trips despite being such a talented team and being right on the cusp. They achieved a school record for single season, and back to back wins- yet a running into the kicker penalty (very well sold by a great flop performed by Wisconsin punter Brad Nortman) kept them from the big time bowl, and the big pay day.
This 10-3 team is probably better than last year’s 11-2 squad. The difference is the strength of schedule, and the breaks going against them that went in their favor last year.
Did they get shafted? QB Kirk Cousins certainly thought so after the loss in Indy. He had some very strong words for the league, their arch-rival Michigan and the bowl system itself.
He has a lot of valid points about the system being broken. But what’s done is done, and time to move on from injustice.
If this game sounds like it’s been done before- yes it has. The 2009 Capital One Bowl following the 2008 regular season saw this exact match-up with UGA besting State 24-12
The game was supposed to be a “showdown” between MSU RB Javon Ringer and Georgia RB Knowshon Moreno, but both players combined for only 43 carries and 109 yards, with Ringer scoring on a rushing touchdown and Moreno on a receiving
Today, Ringer fills in for Chris Johnson with the Tennessee Titans, and Moreno sometimes starts, when he’s healthy, in Denver.
For today’s Spartans, it’s all about game-planning to stop 2011 Georgia, who won the SEC East, and their prolific QB Aaron Murray.
We’ll have much more on this game later.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too