Dr. Green and White Sports Authority

As I pointed out in this week's preview, this season has in general been a bit erratic, with dramatic and emotional swings. It almost feels like we are bouncing back in forth between two parallel Universes where some things are the opposite of how they are in our Universe. It's just like the classic Original Series Star Trek episode "Mirror Mirror," except instead of Spock suddenly having ragged clothing, a goatee, and acting mean, this week it was Mike Tressel's defense suddenly not being able to cover anyone. For once, MSU offense saved the day, with Captain Kirk  Captain Lewerke once again showing he was the master of the two-minute offense. Matt Coghlin missed another kick early, but the real Coghlin emerged from the mirror Universe after half time in time to play the roll of hero. Apparently there is also a version of Brandon Sowards somewhere in the Multiverse who is a great punt returner.  (We aren't sending that guy back. He stays in this Universe). 

In Week 1, MSU was error prone, sloppy, and largely ineffective on offense, yet still found a way to win the game. Despite the win, some fans were spittin' mad, other fans felt a sense of dread and horror, and still others suggested that Father Time had past by Coach Dantonio and his staff. (whoosh) In Week 2, MSU suddenly caught fire on offense. Everything clinked. MSU rolled. Some wondered if the offense even looked better than the defense. MSU fans started to ponder another run to Indianapolis and beyond... (whoosh) In Week 3, MSU was again sloppy and error prone.  Watching the game was like torture, and as the candle of time finally burned out, MSU found themselves behind on the scoreboard and with a loss on their ledger. Coach Dantonio was once again called into question. The week soon turned into the Spanish Inquisition. But, all was not lost... (whoosh) In Week 4, MSU started fast, but soon descended in the pit of mistakes and misdeeds.  Spartan fans had that all

In retrospect, we all should have seen this coming. The signs were all there.  We know that MSU has a dominant defense.  On offense, the Tulsa game was not good. I was harsher than most following that game. But, the offense was much, much better against Western, and at least in the box score, it was better against Arizona State. Once the initial sting of last week's lose wore off, I was still pretty guardedly optimistic about the direction of this team.  Some might even refer to this belief as "sunshine blowing." Many people, myself included, pointed out that the ASU game looked like an anomaly.  Sure, MSU put up only 7 points, but you change the outcome slightly of one of out of 10-12 different plays, MSU wins that game.  If you chance 3-4 of those plays, MSU wins going away.  Anomalies are frustrating because they can feel like reality. If you spend too much time staring at the fun-house mirror, you start to squint and think, "no, maybe that is actually what I lo

In the field of quantum physics, there is a concept known as superposition.  Without getting too far into the weeds, superposition is the concept that systems can exist in states that are effectively a combination of multiple states.  An electron can sometimes act like a wave and sometimes act like a particle.  It is a superposition of both at the same time. Schrödinger's cat (a close relative of Faux Pelini’s cat) can be both alive and dead at the same time.  Statements can be both true and false simultaneously. Quantum mechanics can be a very confusing, frustrating, and difficult pursuit.  In that regard, it is exactly like MSU football.  As we look back on MSU’s excruciating loss to Arizona State last weekend, everyone has an opinion on what went wrong and who is to blame.  Was it the play-calling? the coaching? the execution? the refs? the added pressure of Dantonio breaking the record? the injuries? just bad luck?  Well, I would argue that MSU’s misfortune was a superpositio

In my preview for MSU's game with Arizona State, I made reference to Coach Dantonio being the Exorcist. Like essentially everyone in the college football universe outside of Tempe, I expected MSU's new offense to show progress and MSU's defense to dominate this weekend.  I expected MSU to win comfortably and to see Coach D get to celebrate being MSU's winningest coach of all time in front of 75,000 or so grateful fans. But, much like the original film that I riffed on, things did not actually go to plan and things did not end well for MSU's high priest of football... at least not on that night. Perhaps scheduling a game against a team with a demonic mascot on the day following a full moon on a Friday the 13th was not a great plan after all. The 2019 version of MSU still clearly has a lot of demons, and on this particular Saturday night the game played out just like the sequel to a bad slasher movie. For some reason, the kids went back to the lake and Jason (play