Great win. A couple of things:

If you go and look at the stats, UM and MSU were almost identical.

MSU UM

Total Yards 304 326
Turnovers 1 1
First Downs 16 16
Passing 8 8
Rushing 7 7
Penalty 1 1
Third Down Efficiency 6-17 5-15
Fourth Down Efficiency 1-1 0-0
Total Plays 65 62
Average Gain Per Play 4.7 5.3
Net Yards Rushing 112 163
Rushes 31 32
Average Per Rush 3.6 5.1
Net Yards Passing 192 163
Completions-Attempts 21-34 14-30
Yards Per Pass Play 5.6 5.4
Times Sacked 1 0
Yards Lost to Sacks 10 0
Had Intercepted 1 1
Punts 7 7
Average Punt 41.4 42.1
Penalties 7 6
Penalty Yards 50 55
Fumbles 2 0
Fumbles Lost 0 0

Two teams almost identical. The difference is one team is on it's way up while the other is on it's way down. They just happened to meet in the middle this year.

Secondly, as already said on this board...The kicking was absolutely tremendous. I don't want to be a negative nancy, but does everyone remember how RR made fun of Gibby and at one point said on the trip to South Bend (I think) he was going to see if he could find a PK? The reason I bring this up is not to be negative, but to make a comparison to the coaching methods. It would appear that Hoke and company use more of a positive reinforcement. That's a good thing. I have never seen a more relaxed person as Gibby was at his and Dileo's presser. That's a young man who never doubted himself on the last kick.

Third...Our defense is just getting better and better. That was the best game MSU has played all year and our defense shut down their biggest threat. I cannot say how impressed I am with the job Mattison has done. His defenses just keep getting better and better. I replied earlier this week to a post and I do believe it is true: I think, defensively, UM will start and finish in the top 5 Nationally next year. We lose: Kenny Demens, Brandin Hawthorne, Paul Gyarmati, William Campbell, Craig Roh, Steve Wilson, and J.T. Floyd. That's it. And the talent behind these guys is better. UM is going to be scary good on defense next year.

Lastly..Denard...Oh man. I don't think there has ever been a player whom I hated to love so much. All I can say is I will miss him when he's gone, but my life expectancy should jump up a couple of years.

I'd give the game a A-. The defenses and the last minute heroics...great game to watch. Glad Team 133 came out on top. Now we have a short week to prep for Nebraska. That is a tough place to play in.

I loved that game yesterday. In this day when all you hear about is high scoring offenses, it was great to see a defensive slugfest.

I have to say that I think the Mattison hire was equally as important as Hoke's hiring.

Matty simply knows how to shut down B1G offenses.

Not possible Admin, if Hoke wasn't hired there would be no Mattison. Coach Hoke hired Mattison, I guess this is another "chicken or egg" conversation?

The kicking game under RichRod was a nightmare (among many other things) because we couldn't kick a field goal longer than 20 yards. And I went to the triple overtime game against Illinois that year where RichRod decided to have us try a 47 yarder. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

But I agree with you about Mattison. I wanted to build a statue of him outside the big house last year when he turned the worst defense in school history to what we had in 2011.

This year's defense will end up better than last years...in my opinion. While MSU was a tremendous win, next weeks game against Nebraska, in Lincoln, will be the real marker as to where this Team 133 is at.

Each weeks game is the biggest on the schedule in the order that they are played.

2ndComingOfBo wrote:

Each weeks game is the biggest on the schedule in the order that they are played.

Yea guys...DUH!!!