Dr. Green and White Sports Authority

Back in the summer, fans of both the Michigan State Spartans and the Michigan Wolverines would have marveled at the situation that we find ourselves this weekend. Back then, neither team was ranked and most pundits projected that the Spartans would not even get enough wins to play in a bowl game.  Time jump forward to late October and both teams are undefeated and ranked in the top eight nationally. The last time both teams met as member of the top 10 was in the 1960s, and back then the annual Civil War took place in the third game of the season. One could argue that this will be the biggest match-up between the Green and the Blue... ever. Yes, the contest this Saturday in East Lansing has all the trappings of a clash of superheroes. On one side is the hero who recently came out of a few-decades-long deep freeze of mediocrity and is currently enjoying a 21st century resurgence that started around 2008. He is generally considered to be better looking, stronger, and generally tries t...

The Michigan State Spartans had the week off in Week Eight, but there was still a lot of action to discuss. Most importantly, the Michigan Wolverines managed to avoid embarrassment and were able to pull away from Northwestern in the second half to ensure a battle of unbeatens next week in East Lansing. It is now officially "Michigan Week." A lot can and will be said about next weekend's match-up. Some fans on both sides are excited by the unprecedented fact of both teams being undefeated this deep into the season. I do not count myself as a part of this group. From my point of view, beating Michigan has it's own appeal, regardless of their record. Beating "bad" Michigan teams is just as satisfying as beating "good" Michigan teams. MSU has had enough high level success in both major revenue sports over the past 10-20 years that one more win over a top 10 team, while certainly nice, is more of a drop in the bucket. I would much rather hand Michigan t...

I don't know about you, but how about the weather out there recently here in the beautiful state of Michigan? I mean it's been just gorgeous out there. It been sunny with that cool, crisp feeling in the air that you only seem to find in the upper Midwest this time of year. The fall color this year has been amazing. A lot of the public schools have been on Fall break, so it's been a good time to go out and enjoy the weather with the family. Some of our favorite college athletes also seem to be taking a bit of a Fall break here in late October. The kids in Ann Arbor were off last week, and the Spartans are taking a much needed break from the gridiron this week. I imagine it is a good time for Coach Mel Tucker to take some time to enjoy everything the mid and southeast Michigan have to offer. Perhaps Coach will choose to just walk around the beautiful campus of Michigan State University. Maybe he will explore a local brewery, restaurant, or a museum. Maybe he will take a long ...

I will start with a bit of an apology to the Indiana Hoosiers. In my weekly preview, I basically said that they were a bad team that MSU should blow out. While Indiana's offense is certainly limited, especially without starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr., the Hoosier defense was tough as nails all day on Saturday. Fortunately for the followers of the Green and White, the Michigan State Spartans wound up being just a little tougher, especially on defense, and escaped Bloomington with a 20-15 win. In all three phase of the game, MSU made the plays when they needed to.  MSU has showed a lot of guts this season and so far the results have been glorious. The Spartans are 7-0, with four wins coming on the road against Power Five opponents. Only Georgia, Oklahoma, and Texas San Antonio can claim as good of a record. While five of MSU's wins have come by 17 points or more, the Green and White have also notched two gritty wins over Nebraska and Indiana. Every really good football tea...

Last Friday I had a chance to attend Big Ten Basketball Media Days in Indianapolis, and I had a chance ask Michigan State University Basketball Coach Tom Izzo about any items that remained on his professional bucket list. (Coach Izzo gave an entertaining and long-winded answer that concluded with a game against the Wolverines in the Upper Peninsula.) Coach Izzo also had a lot of complementary things to say about Michigan State head football Coach Mel Tucker. It occurs to me that while Coach Izzo's bucket list has most of the items already crossed off, the football team's sophomore head man has a list with a lot more goals that he is eager to reach. With the win last week at Rutgers, Coach Tucker was able to cross "bowl eligibility" off his list, as the Spartans guaranteed themselves at least a .500 regular season record. This week at Indiana, ironically, the Spartans are trying to reclaim an actual bucket. Well, it's not a bucket, per se, it is technically a Brass...