" title="Spartans Weblog">Spartans Weblog

Tuesday Links

I’m back, with a response to an MSU editorial
Hear, hear.  G0EL Pete deconstructs inane rantings from “Spartan Nation.”
Loose Balls: December 16
Hoopraker: “The sulks and sighs directed toward Coach Izzo seemed more passionate and apologetic when he was a Freshman, but as a Junior, it would behoove the Spartans if Raymar Morgan restrained the grimaces [...]

OR “If the football team goes 9-3, the basketball blogger will take the time to do a full-fledged game preview for the bowl game.”
1:00 pm, Thursday, January 1.  The Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium, Orlando, Florida.  ABC.
Georgia’s and MSU’s win-loss resumes are nearly identical: 9-3 records with two decisive losses to top ten conference opponents (Alabama [...]

Football Outsiders, the leading purveyors of advanced football statistics, are concerned about Javon Ringer’s workload to date, comparing him to current Lion Kevin Smith, who carried the ball 450 times for Central Florida last season:
One of the factors at least partially mitigating Smith’s huge workload last year was that he was playing in Conference USA [...]

Note: It was a busy Saturday at the Spartans Weblog residence, so I only saw about three-quarters of the game.  These musings are, therefore, even more random than my normal football musings.  Nevertheless:

Another monumental performance by Javon Ringer: 198 yards on 44 carries.  The offensive/special teams touch counts are now up to 203 for Ringer [...]

A few links from opposition territory:

A defense of the indefensible: Charlie Weis (guest post at Rivalry, Esq.).
Michigan’s miscues against the Irish set to a whimsical musical score (The House Rock Built).
Attempting to debunk the idea that Michigan handed the game to Notre Dame (Kelly Green).

There’s not much in the way of game previews from the [...]

In the early years of organized baseball, before team mascots became as formalized as they are today, teams would sometimes be referred to by the name (or nickname) of their star player.  For example, the Cleveland “Naps” were named after future Hall-of-Famer Napoleon Lajoe.
Based on the numbers below, perhaps the MSU football team should take [...]

As I indicated in the comments section of the last post, I wonder whether MSU is overutilizing Ringer.  Through two games, here are the number of total touches (rushing attempts plus pass receptions plus kick/punt returns) by MSU players:
Javon Ringer: 70
Everyone else: 59
At this pace, Ringer will touch the ball (i.e., get tackled) 420 times [...]