On Saturday afternoon, around the time that Wisconsin wide receiver Lee Evans caught his third or fourth touchdown pass behind the MSU secondary, I wonder how many television sets made that beep-crackle-and-fade noise they make when snapped off.

It would be even more interesting to know how many of those blackened TV screens were accompanied with a four-letter word. Then, along with a five-letter or 12-letter word for some spice.

Even more fascinating is what it would sound like to actually hear the wheels fall off the Spartans' bandwagon. But most of us probably couldn't hear that happen all the way from Madison, Wis.

It finally happened. The wheels are off, and there probably won't be a Jan. 1 bowl game with the Spartans on a sideline. The team that wasn't supposed to win many games this season became the team that couldn't lose. Then, the Spartans became the "i" team of blackhorse, feel-good underdogs before proving to be human against better teams such as U-M and Ohio State.

Yeah, after Lee Evans went behind the backs of the MSU defense like a two-timing boyfriend, I'd bet the farm that some half-full beer cans were pitched Gagne-style into drywall across this city. And I'd bet the house that the frustrated profanity that clings to mediocre performances flowed like Niagara.

So, the next time you see an MSU football player on campus, shout a 15-letter word at him, and then drive your point home with a two-word phrase.

Congratulations. Thank you.

I'm not an expert on studying the correlation between football teams and fans. I couldn't tell you why the coronary-cases at Buffalo Bills' games go with body paint in December. But I can tell you something that it doesn't take an expert to figure out.

This team and this coaching staff made people in East Lansing and Spartans fans around the globe care about football again. I compare that to taking your great-aunt's inheritance and heavily investing in Enron based on a "good feeling" that things will turn around.

And please don't spout off about how this team choked or dropped balls or lost to a Wisconsin team that was on its own three-game losing streak. This isn't about wins or losses or stats or personal performances or who was injured.

This team was about knowing that U-M feared this season's game. It was about the look on the Wolverines fan one row down from you on Nov. 1 when Smoker had the team marching down the field in the last minute. And it will be the look on the seniors' faces after this Saturday's game against Penn State.

Be sure, though, about the point of this column. This is not a pat on the back or a fan-based diatribe. It's been about John L. and the MSU football program beating the odds this season. And it took them until Nov. 15 to finally prove to be entirely human and capable of looking as such.

For a team that wasn't "All-Anything" this summer - pretty good job, fellas. You brought war-painted students and inflatable body parts back to the student section. You gave students a better tailgate than last season. I think the bets were a little higher between U-M and MSU neighbors this year.

You replaced a snide U-M fans' chants of "Smoke Green, Snort White" with three MSU kids yelling "Go Green, Go White" loud enough to drown him out.

So this Saturday, instead of the beep-crackle-fade of a TV turned off, there should be a different noise. It should be the loudest cheer on record for a four- or five-loss team made by 72,000 people in one place at one time.

So, congratulations, and thank you, Spartans. Pride isn't an easy thing to recapture.

Patrick Walters is The State News sports administration reporter. He can be reached at walter88@msu.edu.