Dr. Green and White Sports Authority

In last week's Bad Betting Advice preview, I opened the article with a definition. Here is another one: A Rorschach test is an psychological exercise in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed, an example of which is shown below. They are meant to be open for interoperation and different people can have vastly different opinions about what they see. Is that a Spartan helmet, a cartoon caricature one of the officials from Saturday night with devil horns, or is it Jim Harbaugh with a long wooden nose? Who's to say? Coming into Saturday night's game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Ohio State Buckeyes, I thought that there was the potential for the game to be a defining moment in the early history of the Jonathan Smith era. My data suggested that the game would be much closer than the opening 24-point spread. Instead, the Buckeyes blew out the Spartans, 38-7. But if we squint at the image and use our imagination, the overall pictur...

Merriam-Webster defines a litmus test as "a test in which a single factor (such as an attitude, event, or fact) is decisive." We are just four game into the Jonathan Smith era of Michigan State football, so the use of the word "decisive" is a bit much. However, this Saturday night's match up with the Ohio State Buckeyes feels like it could be a strong indicator of things to come. As I outline below in detail, the Spartans have struggled mightily against the Scarlet and Gray for much of the past decade. But the majority of those games came against a Mel Tucker coached team or in the waning days of the Mark Dantonio era. Even with a sample size of just four games, I have reason to believe that Jonathan Smith is sideline upgrade. Last weekend's frustrating loss to Boston College made some fans red in the face and other just blue, but that partially obscures the basic fact that the Spartans on balance have played some pretty solid football over the past three we...

The Michigan State Spartans' 23-19 loss to Boston College on Saturday night is certain to stir several different emotions in the hearts of Spartan fans. In other words, there are different strokes for different folks. Some Spartans fans are livid over the missed opportunity. Michigan State led by a touchdown at half time and by the end of the game dominated the Eagles in almost every box score category. The Spartans played well enough to be 4-0 and knocking on the door of the top 25. But turnovers, red zone failures, a bad step by a safety, missed throws, and other bad decisions eventually caught up to Green and White. Much of the blame for the loss falls onto the shoulders of sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles, who missed several open receivers and threw three costly interceptions. The most damaging error was the interception thrown from the 36 yard line of Boston College with under a minute to play. But there are still a lot of positives to take from Saturday's nights game. D...

At the beginning of the season, I had this Saturday night's game between the Michigan State Spartans and the Boston College Eagles circled on my calendar. My expectation was that the Spartans would be 2-1 entering the game with a loss at Maryland on the resume, but with an opportunity to score a nice non-conference road victory in the city of Boston. So far in 2024 both the Spartans and the Eagles have been a pleasant surprise. Instead of 2-1, Michigan State is undefeated and hoping to stay that way. If the Spartans were to get the win and move to 4-0, it would most likely translate into a top 25 ranking. Michigan State would once again experience life in the fast lane on both the national and Big Ten scheme. But Boston College own an even stronger start due to a win at Florida State and a competitive loss at top 10 Missouri. As a result, this game looks tougher for the Spartans than expected when we were reviewing the schedule over the summer. I can't tell you why, exactly, bu...

The Michigan State Spartan's 40-0 win this weekend over Prairie View A&M was pretty standard blow out win over an overmatched FCS opponent. But the game did provide on least one memory that will likely go down as one of the iconic plays of the 2024 season. In the final seconds of the first half, Spartan cornerback Charles Brantley intercepted a pass in the end zone and proceeded to bob and weave his way across the entire field, running well over 100 yards to score a touchdown for the Green and White. After watching this play I turned to my colleagues in the press box and said "that was fun." A few hours later while sitting in the Spartan Stadium Media Center, Coach Smith described the same play by saying, "That was exciting and fun." It took me several more hours before the gravity of these two statements hit me. After two dark and painful seasons, Michigan State football is fun again. Michigan State is 3-0 for the first time since 2021 and for only the fift...