Smith: No reason to worry about small margin of victory
Most fans will look at MSU's 27-17 win over Idaho on Saturday and label it as unimpressive or disappointing.
Most fans will look at MSU's 27-17 win over Idaho on Saturday and label it as unimpressive or disappointing.
In the realm of college football, preseason rankings achieve a rare level of uselessness rivaled only by sideline reporters, contraception* and Pac-10 defenses.
With both public and student season ticket sales exceeding 60,000 for just the fifth time in school history, MSU officials suspended season ticket sales Monday. The 61,227 tickets sold represent the second highest number in school history, just fewer than the 61,479 tickets sold in 2000. The school also sold 12,722 student season tickets, the highest total since it sold 13,360 in 1991. The MSU football team has played in front of home crowds of more than of 72,000 for 45 consecutive games, with a capacity of 75,005. Two games, Notre Dame on Sept.
Idaho head coach Dennis Erickson has an impressive college football résumé: a 145-56-1 career coaching record, a .718 winning percentage and two national championships.
The MSU football team hasn't been to a bowl game in two years, finishing with a 5-7 record in 2004 and 5-6 in 2005. The consecutive losing seasons and lack of a postseason berth haven't dimmed the players' morale, however.
Drew Stanton put an end to the back-and-forth trash-talking featuring suggestions for Slim-Fast and winter hibernation jokes from MSU head coach John L.
The MSU football team's defensive linemen have been shuffled around throughout the spring practice schedule as the coaching staff searches to find a combination that works best. Senior Clifton Ryan, who tallied a team-high three sacks as a defensive end during the 2005 campaign, has switched over to defensive tackle.
MSU has been a wide receiver factory in the last few years, routinely pumping out some of the best split ends and flankers in the country.
One of the team's sore spots last season at place-kicker has a positive outlook after Saturday's 115-play scrimmage at Spartan Stadium. Sophomore Todd Boleski missed his first 38-yard field-goal attempt but didn't disappoint after, nailing two field goals at 32 yards, and then at 40, 47 and 55 yards. The defense also showed signs of improvement, which senior defensive tackle Clifton Ryan said is "more athletic and (can) run the ball better than we did a year ago." The first-team defense faced a first-team offense undergoing changes with three new starters on the line. After the game, head coach John L.
John Dwan didn't see it coming. Three years ago, he was a rising pitching prospect, a powerful left-hander from Illinois who had compiled a 25-5 record at Libertyville High School and broken the school record for strikeouts. He committed to MSU and turned heads during fall practice with a nasty fastball and baffling changeup.
MSU football player Cole Corey's sentencing for pleading guilty to a single count of possession of a controlled substance has been adjourned until May 18. The sentencing was supposed to come down Thursday morning in the Lenawee County Circuit Court, but was adjourned to allow Corey and his attorney to argue some factors that could affect his sentence. "We're challenging some of the allegations in the presentencing report," said David Goldstein, Corey's attorney.
The college careers of wide receivers Kyle Brown and Aaron Alexander are over. Now it's time for seniors Matt Trannon, Jerramy Scott, Kerry Reed and junior Terry Love to help the offense live up to the expectations as one of the Big Ten's best. In 2005, the passing game was the deadliest attack for the Spartans.
Senior quarterback Drew Stanton will be stepping back for the next couple weeks so that sophomore Brian Hoyer can get more time calling plays. Head coach John L.
MSU football fans perusing the team's spring depth chart may be jolted when they see where Sir Darean Adams is listed. Instead of the bandit position, where he tallied 60 tackles and three interceptions as a sophomore, the 6-foot, 230-pound Adams is penciled in as the backup free safety.
In John L. Smith's three-year tenure as head coach of MSU football, it's been no question that the offense has dominated the program's ambitions. Players like senior quarterback Drew Stanton and sophomore running back Javon Ringer have soaked up the highlights while defensive players have been touted as the "team goats" by much of the public. In 2005 alone, the defense surrendered an average of 28.7 points per game and 5.8 yards per play while being the culprit of most passing offenses en route to a subpar 5-6 season which kept the Spartans out of a bowl game for the second straight year.
The MSU football team added its second verbal commitment of the 2007 recruiting class Monday Quincy Landingham of Bloomfield Hills Lahser High School. Landingham, a 6-foot, 195-pound junior, plays on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, but he projects as a defensive player at MSU once he enrolls next spring semester after graduating high school a semester early. He is the No.
How would one describe the offensive line for the 2005 MSU football team? The terms that surface aren't flattering. "Porous" comes to mind, as does "sieve-like" and "much-maligned." The group gave up 24 sacks last season, including 12 to Ohio State.
The spring sun is shining over East Lansing, a damp scent is in the air and the vacancy of the MSU football training facilities has been replaced once again by the sound of pads colliding with pads. The cut-and-dry personalities of MSU's winter sports coaches Tom Izzo and Rick Comley have been replaced by the entertaining, wacky psyche of John L.
Three coaches and seven new recruits made their debuts Friday as the MSU football team opened the spring season with its first practice a session head coach John L.
Spring is about change and that is what the MSU football team will be undergoing as it enters spring practice today. A number of changes grace the depth chart, led by junior Sir Darean Adams moving from bandit to backup free safety and junior Cole Corey moving into the starting bandit position. "I'm really excited about the competition we're going to have at most of the positions," MSU head coach John L.