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2024, Week 13 Preview: Full Steam Ahead

Back in the 60s, the 1860s that is, there was a certain leader of men named David Farragut. He was a coach of sorts. OK, technically he was a admiral, but at the time his team was facing a major challenge.  Farragut was attempting to capture the port of Mobile, Ala. during the during the U.S. Civil War, and he had a problem. The Confederacy had placed naval mines (referred to as "torpedoes") and Farragut had sustained several loses as his navy attempted to enter the bay. But Farragut was a bold man, and despite the adversity, he gave a clear order to his troops: "Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!" His team pressed on and eventually won battle. Farragut's victory allowed the Union to complete a blockade on the Gulf of Mexico, a key step for the Union to defeat the Confederacy. While the stakes are certainly much lower, Michigan State football head coach Jonathan Smith may find himself in a similar position. After a strong start to the season, the Spartans hav
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2024, Week 12 Recap: Flatland

I have an opinion about the city of Champaign, Ill. I used to travel there for business periodically. That opinion is not positive. Champaign is my least favorite Big Ten college town, and I spent four years in West Lafayette. For fans, it is virtually impossible to get there in any reasonable amount of time. The options from southeast Michigan include two flights, one of which might involve a plane with propellers, one flight to Chicago or Indianapolis followed by at least a two-hour drive, or a six hour drive, much of it over the flattest, most boring Midwestern scenery imaginable. Once one arrives in Champaign, I will admit that the University of Illinois has a lovely campus, but there is not much else. A quick search for descent restaurants in the area on OpenTable results in three Red Lobster locations in the top six, two of which are literally in different cities an hour away. I am sadly not joking. With this in mind, I can somewhat understand why the Spartans were flat and unins

2024 Week 12 Preview: I-L-L Communication

The Michigan State Spartans have played a rather beastly schedule. My method ranks it as the No. 8 most difficult slate, year to date. A tough home loss to the Indiana Hoosiers left the Spartans banged up and the fans feeling a bit ill. It was a good time for the boys to take last weekend off and maybe have some communication about what needs to happen to close out the regular season. So here's the scoop. The Spartans have the final road game of this season this week as they travel to Champaign-Urbana to face the Fighting Illini. I believe that the best way to think about this contest is that it is a high upside proposition that is filled with opportunity. The Spartans are road underdogs, and so losing the game would not be a big surprise nor something to lament for too long. A loss would put Michigan State on the brink on elimination from bowl game consideration, but it would not completely sabotage the chance at the postseason. Based on the opponents in the final two games, the S

2024 Week 11 Recap: Pumpkin Spice

We have officially reached that super weird part of the calendar. We are in that post-Halloween yet pre-Thanksgiving period, and everything is just a little confusing. As we go about our days, one might still be able to find a back of Oberon on the shelves while sipping a pumpkin spice latte. Later in the day one might be able to sit on the patio of a Mexican restaurant and enjoy the unseasonably warm weather while listening to Christmas music. In the realm of college football, things are pretty weird as well. They were quite a few spicey outcomes of the weekend, so maybe it was for the best that the Michigan State Spartans got to stay home. Not much was changed about the trajectory of the Spartans' season, but there is still a "latte" to talk about. So grab a cup of potentially flavored joe and let's get up to speed on the weekend's results. Week 11 Bad Betting Results Let's start by checking in on the picks that I made in last week's Bad Betting Advice a