MSU loses to Wisconsin 38-0. Maybe Wisconsin is good.
Instead of focusing on the most painful 17 point win ever and before more context is added to our Iowa win after tonight’s game I’d rather look at the MSU mess that just finished against Wisconsin. To gain some context on whether the Wisconsin game was more us being bad or Wisconsin being that good see if you can guess which stat line each game came from. Choices are:
Michigan @ Wisconsin
MSU @ OSU
MSU @ Wisconsin
Michigan/MSU Offense
A. 149 yds, 7 first downs, 2 TOs
B. 285 yds, 18 first downs, 3 TOs
C. 299 yds, 15 first downs, 4 TOS
Opponent Offense
X. 402 yds, 22 first downs, 0 TOs
Y. 487 yds, 25 first downs, 0 TOS
Z. 529 yds, 22 first downs, 2 TOs
Michigan @ Wisconsin (CY)
So 35-14 and we had a -230 yd. gap and a -4 TO differential
MSU @ Wisconsin (AX)
So 38-0 and they had a -253 yd. gap and -2 TO differential
MSU @ OSU (BZ)
34-10 and they had a -244 yd. gap and -1 TO differential
So MSU has a worse offense than us. We should be able to beat them in AA. Wisconsin may actually be comparable to OSU so since that game is in AA too maybe we only lose by 2 scores.
October 12th, 2019 at 9:00 PM ^
Maybe MSU sucks?
October 12th, 2019 at 9:01 PM ^
I wouldn’t want to play @OSU and @Wisconsin in back to back weeks.
The stat line needs to factor in the law of diminishing returns.
MSU/Michigan is a rivalry game. Both teams play brutally physical D, neither team has an elite offense. It’s a 9-6 kind of game.
Knowing our luck it will be sleeting and 32 degrees, MSU plays best in slop.
October 12th, 2019 at 9:09 PM ^
They are an agricultural college after all.
October 12th, 2019 at 9:11 PM ^
They are, but that doesn't really tell us anything about UM other than they aren't as good as Wiscy. I will be interested to see how they match up against OSU or PSU in the title game.
October 12th, 2019 at 9:24 PM ^
Dude, math class doesn’t work when comparing football teams.
I haven’t posted in a LONG time, but I had to for this. Your analytical point of view doesn’t work. You can’t look at like that.
Just because MSU didn’t score vs WISC doesn’t mean we are better. Just because OSU beat MSU by whatever points doesn’t matter. Just because we scored 14 vs WISC doesn’t matter when it comes to UofM vs MSU.
Your engineering degree is showing. Not saying it’s a bad thing, but you can’t use that analogy when comparing teams. There’s sooooooo many things that can happen on game day...weather, future injuries, coaches decisions, etc.
If stats were the end all, be all...this would be a waste of time. Especially after 5 weeks. Michigan is a better team than MSU (many will debate that) but that doesn’t matter, that game will be close 9/10 times.
Like Herm said...’you play to win the game...hello’.
October 12th, 2019 at 9:34 PM ^
Weird flex.
Of all the things people post, this made you chime in? Holy shit I’m missing something in life.
btw - Love Herm!!
October 12th, 2019 at 10:16 PM ^
I get it. But it’s not weird. Yes, this is crazy. You can’t use ‘this, because of that’ logic when talking sports. Especially, when stats are the main focal points.
My opinion doesn’t matter to the masses of UofM fans. But I assure you, I am HUGE UofM fan...all my life. But reality says we are a 3-4 best B1G team.
Week after week. People devote their lives to UofM FB. I’m close to that. But using analytics over and over eventually doesn’t make sense. I’m not the ‘get off my lawn’ guy, but when someone says ‘this happens cuz of that’...not a chance.
When it comes to posting, I stopped when this board goes nuts. ITS FREAKING FOOTBALL. Go hug your kids. But in reality, we may never see UofM win a natty in our lifetime in the 2 major sports (BB and FB). If they do, I will probably be hungover for a week.
October 12th, 2019 at 9:26 PM ^
I was hoping that by Year 5, we would be good.
Crazy...
October 12th, 2019 at 9:33 PM ^
I care about how good Michigan is. I don't care how bad or how good other teams are. My focus is on Michigan becoming a National contender in college football. Threads like these are not focusing on what is needed to become a contender. It's not ok to lose because another team is "good".
October 13th, 2019 at 9:25 AM ^
Your ‘focus’ doesn’t matter. You don’t contribute to the success or failure of Michigan in any way, nor do the other posters, so who care what you think fans should focus on?
You talk as though your caring about how Michigan performs, and not how other teams perform makes an iota of difference..it doesn’t.
October 12th, 2019 at 9:43 PM ^
What is up with people that keep posting a thread like this every week regarding Wisconsin? Of course Wisconsin is good, no one expected them not to be or has ever thought they were mediocre or bad.
The rage with M fans regarding the Wisconsin game and pathetic showing had everything to do with Michigan, and nothing to do with Wisconsin. Everyone was expecting a lot better from this team this team- as a result that performance was unacceptable.
thats it. Period.
October 12th, 2019 at 10:16 PM ^
Some highlights from the preseason "who is the B1G's paper tiger?" thread:
" I don't know much about his history before Wisconsin but I think [Chryst] is what Brady Hoke was to Michigan."
" I would say Wisconsin. I don't think Chryst is all that great a coach and they just don't have all that much talent to overcome that."
"[MSU] will look lights out against the likes of Wisconsin and Iowa type teams."
" Wisconsin is my pick. The only thing keeping them on top in West the last few years was their QB's uncanny ability to hit the tiny windows needed to make the few big plays they made. With no QB, a relatively inexperienced O-line and a fading defense I see their bully boy days in the West coming to a close."
" I don't think Wisconsin has greater than a 10% chance to win the West."
" Wisconsin is also always overblown merely by being in a shit division."
" The answer is Wisconsin. Yeah, they still have all their pipelines for OL and that's not changed, but Chryst sucks. Nothing that guy did at Pitt was notable enough to get him a job like Wisconsin if he wasn't an alumnus and one of like 5 people willing to work for Alvarez. His game management is worse than anyone I've ever seen. They're going to slowly drift down a little bit at a time until we wake up one day and Wisconsin's losing OL to Minnesota or Michigan they used to never miss on. "
Then after they won their first two games 110-0 or whatever it was, we had stuff like...
" I’ve got them at 8-4. Adjusted that up from what I had preseason, but we don’t know shit about them that we didn’t know before the season started...I still don’t think they win the West. "
That's a fair number of posters here who thought they'd be mediocre.
October 12th, 2019 at 9:59 PM ^
Wisconsin is last year's Michigan team. Against teams with non-functional offenses, they'll wear your defense out and look pretty competent on offense. When they play someone that can and will score points they're going to struggle to keep up.
October 12th, 2019 at 10:05 PM ^
They are playing better than Michigan has ever playd right now. It's early like see do it on road too but still very impressive
October 12th, 2019 at 10:07 PM ^
We'll see when they play a functional offense.
October 12th, 2019 at 10:58 PM ^
How did Michigan do against below average offenses this year cough Illinois or even one dimensional offenses, cough cough army?
October 12th, 2019 at 11:57 PM ^
What does that have to do with last year?
October 12th, 2019 at 10:03 PM ^
Was already feeling bad today and then you throw a confusing multiple choice at me. Wasn’t sure I was supposed to be answering each or you somehow had broken it down. Spent like five minutes trying to figure it out and then started drinking again. Felt like college all over again. Thanks!
October 12th, 2019 at 10:47 PM ^
With Patterson at QB the ceiling is 8 wins. Maybe he's our best option but given how he's played that is our ceiling
October 12th, 2019 at 10:50 PM ^
I think we are slightly better than Iowa and PSU
October 12th, 2019 at 11:00 PM ^
We’ll find out about PSU next week....it’s not going to be pretty after what I saw today
October 12th, 2019 at 11:59 PM ^
Penn St ain't looking so powerful either though.
October 13th, 2019 at 8:50 AM ^
It depends completely where the game is played. If the teams play in Ann Arbor, then yeah. We likely beat both. On the road, we likely lose both.
October 12th, 2019 at 11:18 PM ^
Wisconsin has now played six games and held their opponents to a total of 29 points.
The last two B1G teams to hold their first six opponents to less than 30 points both ended the season undefeated.
But not untied, because they played each other. UM gave up 23 points through six games in '73; OSU gave up 20.
October 12th, 2019 at 11:57 PM ^
They haven't really played anyone yet. They have Ohio St in 2 weeks.
(Oh I'm sorry. They DID play someone. They faced that awesome and terrible juggernaut Speed in Space thing job)
October 13th, 2019 at 12:27 AM ^
We shouldn't need to use MSU's performance against a common opponent as a measuring stick for the state of the program.
October 13th, 2019 at 12:31 AM ^
We don't need to - as we'll play MSU ourselves soon enough so we can then use that as a measuring stick.
October 13th, 2019 at 12:48 AM ^
I do think Wisconsin is good this year. Probably only have 2 losses to the same team. Certainly look like the second most complete team in the Big 10.
October 13th, 2019 at 8:47 AM ^
Wisconsin IS a good football team. Definitely the #2 team in the Big Ten. I have a lot of admiration for their program. They have a clear identity that they haven't wavered from, they are expert at finding talent that other teams overlook, and they are excellent at developing players. Their number of NFL draft picks compared to their average recruiting class ranking has to be one of the best. This year's Wisconsin team is different in that they finally seem to have put together a complete team - great running game, efficient/effective passing game, and strong defense.
That being said, they do have an extremely easy schedule this year. They've played one game on the road so far this year, against a weak team. And on their entire schedule, they only play one team on the road with a pulse - Ohio State. In the past, Wiscy has done well against the TOSU. But this year's Ohio team is one of the best we've seen. And in the upper hierarchy of college football, Wisconsin still is below teams like Clemson, LSU, Alabama, OSU, OSU, Oklahoma. Still, I'd take that in a second compared to where we are.