Michigan State and Michigan, the tale of two different seasons

Well you can now put in the books, the regular seasons’ for Michigan and Michigan State are now over and after this weekends finale games there is plenty we can take away from what happened this year.
So without beating around the bush, let’s get right into it.
MSU leaves Happy Valley with a share of the Big Ten title
Finally after 20 years, Michigan State can finally once again say they are Big Ten Champions. Even though they share the title, this season was one that is definitely worth celebrating. It was the first time in 45 years that Michigan State was able to score a victory in Happy Valley and the first time ever that an MSU football team had 11 wins in a season.
“We’ve been saying all year long, ‘We will be champions,’ ” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. “It’s nice to be able to say we are champions.”
I was also impressed with Michigan State going into this game. After starting out slow against teams like Illinois, Purdue and Northwestern, this certainly could of been one of those games that State came out flat. However this wasn’t the case. MSU knew what was on the line and Dantonio had them prepared.
Where is State bowling in the postseason?
Most of the projections have Michigan State playing in the Capital One Bowl on New Years Day against an SEC team, most likely Alabama. Of course there is still an outside chance the State goes to a BCS bowl but that all depends on their final BCS ranking which comes out Sunday at 8:15PM ET and how well Michigan State A.D. Mark Hollis lobby’s for his team to appear in a more attractive bowl game.
Unfortunately for State, the teams they needed to lose won. Ohio State and Wisconsin both blew out their opponents this weekend and will more then likely remain ahead of Michigan State in the final BCS rankings. This probably places Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl facing off against TCU and Ohio State playing in the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas.
Should Michigan State get more recognition for beating Wisconsin and handing them their only loss of the season? Probably, however this is what you get with the BCS system. You not only have to beat a team, but you have to beat them at the right time and unfortunately for State they played Wisconsin too early in the Big Ten season.
UM leaves Columbus embarrassed and unsure of the future
What can really be said about Michigan’s performance in Columbus Saturday? Nothing positive, just more questions.
After being embarrassed once again by Ohio State by a score of 37-7, Michigan left Columbus surely asking themselves what will happen to head coach Rich Rodriguez, is our offense as good as we thought it was and what can we possibly do to turn this defense around?
The numbers don’t make it any better either.
In the 107 year rivalry this was the second most lopsided loss Michigan has suffered. What was the first you ask? How about a 42-7 loss in 2008, which also came under Rich Rod’s watch. And speaking of Rich Rod, he is now 0-3 against Ohio State and has been outscored by them 100-24.
The politician, Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel was like always very diplomatic about this game and the “rivalry”.
“You know, we all have our ups and downs,” he said after improving to 9-1 against Michigan. “But Michigan will be back. You don’t have to worry about that.”
Michigan will be bowling where?
Yes, Michigan finally makes it back to the post season in Rich Rod’s third season as head coach.
Most projections have Michigan playing in the Insight Bowl on December 28th against Texas A&M or Missouri. Both of these teams have the potential to give Michigan a very hard time if they do in fact meet.
Final Thoughts
For Michigan State they are in a position to be good for a long time. In terms of the in state rivalry between State and Michigan, the Wolverines have no choice to but to respect MSU and finally recognize that “little brother” has finally grown up.
Things aren’t as bright in Ann Arbor.
Like I said before, Michigan has tons of questions and it all starts with coaching. There’s no telling right now what Michigan Athletic Director David Brandon is going to do with Rich Rodriguez. Many feel that he could fire him as soon as Monday and some feel that he may wait till after the bowl game.
What has to be certain though is Rich Rod should be gone.
He has done really for this team and the “positives” that some supporters throw out there to justify Rich Rod staying on I still very much question. First off his improving record. Yes he has gone from 3-9 to 5-7 to 7-5, however those numbers are very deceiving. Most of those wins in Rich Rod’s three seasons were against non conference cupcakes in which he should win as a head coach of a BCS conference team. His Big Ten record looks vastly different at 2-6, 1-7 and 3-5. Second we all know the defense is atrocious but I still question his offense. Sure they scored tons of points behind Denard Robinson who looked unstoppable earlier in the season. The thing is when push came to shove with this team, they failed to score meaningful points at meaningful times. If this offense was really as good as many claim it to be they would be able to score along side their opponents, including Ohio State who by all indications had a down year this season. Finally, when is enough enough? It seems like I constantly hear that if Michigan brings in a new coach then the current players will fail to adapt to a new system. But what has Rodriguez done himself to get these players adapted to the current system? In reality, nothing. Not to mention if Rich Rod’s recruiting hasn’t gotten it done now in his third season, what makes you think that he will be able to get it done next year or the year after that? I’m reminded of a quote I heard the other day that goes, you have to dare to be great. At this point Michigan must be daring. They need to take chances. They need to realize that what they’ve been doing for the past three years hasn’t worked. They need to move on from Rich Rod.
Source: Mlive.com, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Ann Arbor News