After attending last night's Izzone campout at Munn Field with thousands of fellow Spartans, I highly doubt that there's a college student section as loyal and as phenemonal as the Izzone. Even through freezing temperatures and rain, I didn't hear one complaint-every participant was simply extrarordinarily excited to be there, and that's what makes the Izzone the best student section in the country.
With the 2010-2011 squad and Tom Izzo in attendance, the atmosphere was terrific, and I'm now extremely excited to see this team come together in terms of chemistry. They have great leadership coming back in Kalin Lucas, Durrell Summers, and Draymond Green (captains for this season, anyone?), and as always, Coach Izzo will mold the Spartans into a tough squad through one of the nation's toughest pre-conference schedules.
While the men's basketball team doesn't kick off their season for a few weeks yet, Spartan Nation had something to cheer about today with a thrilling 35-27 come-from-behind victory over Northwestern. In spite of running for only 105 yards on the ground and trailing by 10 at halftime, State pulled off the win by doing what they've always done-playing with toughness and focus. In outscoring the Wildcats by 25 in the 2nd half, MSU received 3 huge scoring strikes from Kirk Cousins, and two fantastic efforts from Mark Dell and B.J. Cunningham. Cunningham's improbable go-ahead touchdown is one that'll be talked about for quite a while around East Lansing, and when Cousins, Dell and Cunningham are all on target, that trio is one of the best pass-catch combos in the Big Ten (if not the top one).
The defense performed well enough considering the patchwork array of players shuffling in and out from the sidelines, and Isaiah Lewis and Mitchell White were two surprises in terms of play. If MSU wants to advance to 9-0 on the season, contributions like these will need to continue to occur. Depending on how the rest of tonight's action shakes out, I see a jump of probably one spot, based off of the assumption that LSU's luck has finally run out,but several other games could impact the Spartans' BCS standing, including #1 Oklahoma's primetime tilt with Missouri.
For a more in-depth commentary on today's MSU-Northwestern game, see lansingonlinenews.com, where I've provided more of my own insight into their victory. Check back here tomorrow for a college football wrap-up and analysis of the new BCS rankings.
---Beau
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