One last walk across the Red Cedar River. One last trip by Sparty. One last run through the tunnel, onto the field, to the piercing staccato of "Thunderstruck". And, most importantly, one final battle in Spartan Stadium. This is the reality for the senior members of this year's Spartan football team, and on Saturday, they'll get one last chance, and one final shot, at glory in East Lansing.
But, this upcoming contest is more than just Senior Day. First and foremost, it's a terrific opportunity for Michigan State to ease themselves one step closer to a top-notch bowl game. In reviewing their opponent, they certainly have a great chance to do just that. Purdue limps into East Lansing having lost four straight conference games, and carrying the weight of six overall defeats on their shoulders. In fact, they've fallen by double-digits in each of those contests, and boast a 31-20 loss to Toledo, whose defense recently surrendered 65 points....to Northern Illinois.
All things considered, the Boilermakers have struggled in nearly every facet, and this explains their current record. In rotating two quarterbacks, they've averaged a mere 138.6 passing yards per contest, and only put up an average of 17.4 points per game (these marks rank 115th and 113th in the NCAA, respectively). They've also given up 30-plus points in three of their conference losses, a statistic which favors the Spartans, who've topped that figure in eight of their nine wins this season.
But, while the football team doesn't gear up until Saturday, the Spartan men's basketball team actually tips off later today, at 10pm against South Carolina. That game is the anchor contest for ESPN's 24-hour college basketball marathon, and that time slot actually received the highest ratings of any featured contest over that same time span last year. I expect similar numbers nationwide, and most definitely another Spartan victory. Although the Gamecocks boast Sam Muldrow, (who averaged 3.1 blocks last season and came out strong with 20 points in their season opener), South Carolina doesn't have enough talent across the board to compete with MSU, as was the case with EMU last Friday. I look for a solid MSU win to send the Spartans to Maui next week.
More on Purdue-MSU, Spartan Basketball, and the NBA later this week.
--Beau
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