TD celebration of the year!

No idea what the guy in the backpack did to the Giants’ Michael Boley, but he looked like he deserved it.

If history is our guide, ND doesn’t stand a chance against State

The 2010 play of the year was affectionately known as “Little Giants” and it couldn’t have been more beautiful for Spartan fans.  That play simultaneously propelled Michigan State to an 11-1 regular season and a B1G championship while crushing the spirit and ruining the season of the Fighting Irish. The fact that State’s Coach Mark Dantonio had a heart attack shortly after the call is testament to how taxing and ballsy that decision was.

But more than anything, the play exemplified the dominance Michigan State (2-0) has had over Notre Dame (0-2) over the better part of the last two decades regardless of circumstance, talent, coaching or even home field advantage.  Since 1997, State has taken 10 of 14 from the Irish, including six out of the last seven in South Bend, of which I was lucky enough to witness two in person.

Notre Dame comes into the game nursing substantial wounds from yet another devastating loss, this time to arch-rival Michigan, in what will go down as one of the greatest (well, let’s say most exciting) games in college football history. “Under the Lights” at Michigan Stadium for the first time ever, a superior ND squad managed to piss away a 24-7 fourth quarter lead that included two separate leads in the last two minutes.  The loss turned Coach Brian Kelly’s head a frightening color of purple and sent the Irish home 0-2.

MSU, on the other hand, comes in 2-0 after dominating performances with a combined score of 72-6.  While Youngstown State and Florida Atlantic are admittedly subpar opponents, the Spartans are riding a wave of confidence nonetheless and certainly are not intimidated by the spectre of playing in the shadow of Touchdown Jesus tomorrow.

It seems the Green & White simply has the Golden Domers’ number and there’s little to suggest that will change this year as State will walk away with yet another Megaphone Trophy.

Can’t wait!

Spartans join the shitty uniform craze

Michigan State's "very special" uniforms for the Oct. 15 home game against Michigan.

Michigan State is yet another of the latest schools to let their equipment company convince them to make themselves look like a ridiculous On Any Given Sunday fake football team, unleashing this horrendous creation on the world today.

Not to be outdone by Under Armor (Maryland) or Adidas (Michigan, Notre Dame), Nike persuaded State to join their other schools including Oregon, Ohio State, Army, Navy, Georgia LSU and Stanford in the latest round of their Pro Combat Series. Their attempt to redefine the look of college football really only succeeds in creating a social media frenzy for a few weeks (damn I’m falling for it!) and sells some novelty jerseys no one would be caught dead in in a few years.  Maybe it’ll generate some buzz about each of the programs involved, but it’s hard to believe a one-off uniform will help recruiting in the longrun, as I’m sure Nike has promised school administrators.

But when it comes down to it, who really cares about a uniform the team is only going to wear for one day?  The Michigan and Notre Dame unis didn’t spoil the taste of my beer on Saturday night and they actually grew on me after awhile.  I just wish the Spartan version actually looked like a Michigan State uniform. The bronze, while historically accurate, comes out of left field from the proud Green & White and resembles the uniforms of mediocre football traditions of UAB or Baylor.  I think silver would’ve been a better choice—check it out (thank you PhotoShop):

The Theismann's Earhole version of MSU's new unis. You're welcome.

HIT THE LIGHTS!!!

A record 115,000 fans are expected to jam into Michigan Stadium tomorrow night for the first-ever night game at the Big House. It should prove to be quite a spectacle, even if both programs are mere shadows of their former selves.

I have two predictions for the game: 1) Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly will still fucking swear at his fucking players from the fucking sidelines despite the fucking ridiculous criticism he received from the fucking media this week (but I still think he’s a douchebag) and 2) Michigan will win in an epic shootout with very little defense, 55-48.

And now for your listening pleasure…

Mission Accomplished

Here's the reason why your Twitter account locked up last night.

The University of Maryland and Baltimore-based sportswear and accessories company, Under Armor, succeeded in their goal: to remind the country that the school actually has a football team.  And I always assumed they only had a lacrosse team—who knew?

Smitty’s College Predictions 2011

Say hello to your next National Champions, the Oregon Ducks.

After a tumultuous offseason of scandals, sanctions and pink slips, the college football season finally (and mercifully) gets under away this weekend—and not a moment too soon.  It’s great to be able to push all the nefarious off-field activity aside and talk about what should be a wide open college football season.  So without further ado, here are my 2011 predictions.

Big Ten
The historic addition of Nebraska to the Big Ten will prove to the smartest move commissioner Jim Delany and his cronies have made to date, although the bar has been set rather low considering the conference division names they chose.  While I can’t stand Nebraska or it’s fans, I also can’t deny their honored place in college football history and the gravitas they bring to an already legendary (sorry, bad pun) conference.  However, it will take time for the Huskers to establish themselves in a tough conference and division.  Wisconsin and their dynamic new QB, Russell Wilson will steamroll their way through the Hayes Division and win the inaugural Big Ten Football Championship Game in Indianapolis.

Southeastern Conference
With eight teams ranked in most pre-season polls’ top 25, the SEC will be a bloodbath as usual. Perennial power Alabama and their duplicitous coach Prick Saban will emerge atop the pile of corpses when all the smoke clears, though they will have at least one loss.

PAC-12
Adding Utah and Colorado will bring a little more panache to the conference, but Oregon is still light years ahead of their competition and will roll unscathed through conference play on their way to their second BCS title game in as many years—even if they lose to LSU tonight.

Big 12 (or 10, 9, 8, 7, 6….)
This dying conference could’ve saved themselves some numeric embarrassment and reflected reality more accurately if they had simply called themselves the Big 2 from the beginning as it always comes down to Red River rivals, Texas and Oklahoma.  This year will be no different as Oklahoma will run the table to take the posible final conference title as it may no longer exist after this season.

Atlantic Coast Conference
Another down year for the once-proud ACC will prove to be an easy road to an undefeated season for Virginia Tech who may not face a ranked opponent until the conference championship game.  However, that same weak schedule will cost them a chance for the national title as an undefeated Oklahoma squad, a one-loss SEC champ, and/or one-loss Oregon squad would still garner more votes in the ridiculous popularity contest we are forced to endure to settle our national championship (but that’s the subject of another blog post coming soon…).

Big East
Who really cares?  The fact that the Big East is considered a BCS conference is testimony to how corrupt and unjust the whole system is.  The MAC has nearly equivalent credentials, but are left outside of the big party.  West Virginia will represent the chronically mediocre conference in an increasingly irrelevant Orange Bowl. Yawn.

BCS Championship Game
I see five teams with legitimate shots at the title game but Wisconsin, Va Tech and Alabama will be on the outside looking in when the computers finally work their evil magic.  Oregon will face Oklahoma at the at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans on January 9th with the Ducks and their hideous uniforms prevailing. QUACK!!!

Prick Saban models Alabama Sportswear Collection 2211

It’s understandable that someone who dresses like he’s from the future doesn’t understand the present.

In case you hadn’t heard…

It’s Christmas in July!

“M” stands for “MUTILATED”

It was nearly impossible, but Adidas found a way to turn the best uniform/helmet combo in college football into the worst.  Bravo.