Spartans Leggett it out Over Western, Thump the Broncos 49-14
For a guy who had only one carry thus for the season, for zero yards, So. RB Ashton Leggett looked to be in mid-season form earlier today. Leggett steam rolled the Bronco defense in the first half for a cool 100 yards and 3 TDs. He added 10 more yards and another TD in the 2nd half to cap off his impressive day.
You never completely know when your opportunity is going to come in life. Sometimes you count on one and point to it, only to see it unexplainably evaporate before your eyes. Other times you left wondering how any opportunity might possibly ever arise out of situation, only to one day see it pop out of nowhere to become a reality. Ashton Leggett might be living that roller coaster of life here in his So. season in Green and White.
I’m certain Leggett didn’t think his chance to carry the ball 14 times for 4 TDs would come in such wild season for MSU RBs. From being down to maybe 6th on the depth chart earlier this season, Leggett all the sudden found himself in a starring role today thanks to two RB injuries and two recent RB dismissals from the program. Give Leggett credit for hanging in there and continuing to carry on. Give him more credit for taking advantage of his opportunity when it finally came.
Leggett’s effort and performance are an example of the depth that is building in the program at different positions. Sure, Leggett ran all over an overmatched and undersized MAC team in Western. But isn’t that exactly the type of performance you’d like out of your 4th or 5th stringer when he somehow gets a shot to play? That’s the kind of thing that happens regularly at the great programs around the nation.
Anyone remember the Red Massacre of 1995, when the 4th and 5th string Cornhuskers of Nebraska ran circles around MSU’s defense on their way to a 50-10 morale melter? MSU isn’t there yet, but Leggett’s performance speaks to the progress that’s being made under “The Fixer†Mark Dantonio. You want your program to have enough depth that a RB that otherwise wouldn’t have gotten any carries in today’s game can come out and go for more than 100 yards in a dominant performance.
Cousins Leads a Sharp and Precise Attack
The MSU offense had its most impressive statistical day thus far in the Mark Dantonio era, running up a healthy 602 yards, in a balanced attack that saw about a dozen different Spartans get their hands on the ball (including an odd end around to Fr. TE Dion Sims?). Rs.-So. QB Kirk Cousins was as sharp as he’s been thus far into his Spartan career, picking the Bronco’s defense clean with a 22/25 throwing performance that yielded 353 yards and 2 TDs. He featured his NFL caliber arm by throwing those TD passes deep to a couple streaking Spartan receivers.
Healthy again Rs.-So. QB Keith Nichol got into the act as well, throwing his own TD pass and looking to get more comfortable playing with that monster black sleeve on his left arm. But overall, the offensive domination began with the effort up front. The Spartans’ offensive line looked like a legit Big Ten line going up against a MAC defense. It’s November, when teams should be playing their best ball of the year. If you have such a matchup between a good Big Ten and MAC team at this point, there should probably be a dominant performance for the Big Ten team. Today MSU owned the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, especially in the first half. Though the teams they’ll play the next two weeks are on a totally different level than Western, the Spartans must feed off the momentum built up front today to have a decent chance of ending the year at 7-5.
The TEs got into the act as well, led by Rs.-So. Brian Linthicum, who lit the Broncos up for 4 catches and 64 yards. Linthicum is the Spartans’ best all around TE right now, and has the size and tools to be a difference maker in his time here in East Lansing. Yet, Linthicum wasn’t the only stellar Spartan TE today. The whole fleet of them caught at least one ball and saw a decent amount of playing time. This unit could be such an advantage for MSU for the remainder of this year and in the handful of years beyond. It is unquestionably a position of strength.
Dominating Defense Dumps Broncos’ Upset Ideas Early
It was not a good day for Western Michigan. Their potential future NFL QB looked a lot like a player that was having one of the worst days of his career. Sr. Tim Hiller was off all day, and appeared to be pressing from the very beginning. Credit the Spartans for getting a decent rush up front on a fairly consistent basis, but Hiller just didn’t have it today. His misses were often on relatively routine throws. And it didn’t help him that Cousins was throwing with video game like accuracy on the other side of the field, making Hiller’s sloppy throws look even worse and less “Sunday like.â€
Jr. Captain LB Greg Jones continues to do an impressive job of keeping his effort level up throughout each game. If you watch Jones play, he looks to be bringing the same effort and intensity to the game whether it’s Michigan, Notre Dame, a Bowl Opponent, or a MAC school that the Spartans are lined up against. That’s exactly the type of player college coaches want at their Middle (Mike) LB position, and as a team captain.
Jones led the Spartans to one of their best 1st half performances in recent memory, shutting out the Broncos and holding them to a very deficient -8 yards rushing. The Spartan D looked tight, fast, and focused. They did not hold exactly the same focus and intensity throughout the 2nd half, but the game was well in hand at that point. That mental evolution is not excusable, but it is understandable, and it happens all the time across college and pro football on a regular basis.
Big Ten Network, Big Time Failure
The Big Ten Network let us down today. The dream of a network devoted only to the Big Ten failed to live up to expectations today as a scheduling blunder made following today’s action in the conference cumbersome and highly inconvenient.
For some bad reason, the Big Ten played four games in the noon time slot today, making it very difficult to find the Wisconsin-Indiana and Michigan St.-Western Michigan games, even in their own zip codes. It’s hard to understand why so many games were scheduled at noon. I understand that the Breeder’s Cup took games off ESPN today, but why not move a game to the evening? Why not split them up during the day?
I understand how the Big Ten TV schedule works, and I understand the “feature†game is the 3:30 contest that’s guaranteed to be on national TV, via ABC or the ESPN2 mirror. But that doesn’t mean the rest of the games and the rest of the fans should have to strain to follow their school. Not every devoted Big Ten fan who’s either purchased a dish or “sports pack†could find the game they wanted to see today because not every system or plan includes the Big Ten alternate channels.
Though they’ve failed to address their biggest failure to date (extending football commercial breaks another 30 seconds or so), the BTN has improved its coverage and brand each successive year. I assume they won’t let this type of scenario happen again. But they shouldn’t have let it happen this time. They knew the Breeder’s Cup was coming, and they knew they had an open timeslot this evening. They should’ve at least bought some bandwidth and run the alternate games on the internet. Today might have been one of the worst days in BTN history.
Next Up: The Black Hole of West Lafayette
It gets exponentially harder next week for MSU, as they travel to West Lafayette, site of a couple of the most painful MSU losses in the last twenty years, to take on the upstart and Hope filled Purdue Boilermakers.  First year Head Coach Danny Hope has already made his mark on Petey Purdue and the Big Ten by beating Ohio St. and Michigan in the same year. And yes, he also features a pretty killer ‘stache that very well may be his secret weapon.
Purdue’s comeback victory over Michigan today in the big house couldn’t have come at a better time for the Spartans. Purdue has just made their season. They beat Ohio St., and now they’ve beat Michigan on the road. Despite what they might say, anything else from this point is pure gravy. That’s not to say the Boilers won’t play well next week, or even beat MSU. They very well could wipe the Spartans. But it is to recognize that the Boilers could be due for a healthy and flattening letdown at home next week at Ross-Ade Stadium. Things couldn’t set up much better for MSU to make it two straight in November.
The Spartans will have to get over this blowout of Western as fast as possible. It told us some things about this team, but not nearly enough to suddenly get comfortable and relaxed. MSU is now really playing them one game at a time, because they need to win every game left in the year (including a Bowl Game) to put a positive spin on the ’09 season. MSU is now a 5-5 football team, and perhaps the epitome of their back and forth record. It’s been a wild year, expect a wild finish.
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PS. Enjoy the last two games of the Rich Rodriguez era in Ann Arbor
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