Final Four Friday: Home Conference Games

In the last Final Four Friday, we took a look at MSU's non-conference schedule. Today, we'll look at the most anticipated home conference games.

Michigan - The conference season starts out with a bang, thanks to a game against MSU's most hated rivals. This year's Wolverines won't be as good as those that won every in-state tilt from 2002-07, but they're not going to be as bad as last year's sad sack excuse for a squad. Despite MSU going in as the favorite - again - I don't think fans will have a problem getting up for this game.

Northwestern - The Wildcats will likely be just as solid a team this year as they were last year. Still, it's hard to get really animated about playing Northwestern, unless one remembers the last time they visited Spartan Stadium and how bad that overtime loss felt. One thing's for sure, Northwestern will remember how bad it felt to get spanked by us in their place last year, and they'll be looking for revenge.

Iowa - Very little would give me more pleasure than waxing the Hawkeyes, especially after their disgusting lobbying for a better bowl game than NW and MSU, despite being beaten by both. It's not that I dislike Kirk Ferentz, Kinnick Stadium or the state of Iowa. I like corn, really I do, and Field of Dreams was a good movie. But some of those shameless Iowa boosters just rub me the wrong way, so this home date is circled on my calendar.

Penn State - You know what we needed to make the Land Grant Trophy really valuable? A good MSU team, that's what. Last game of the season, possible January bowl game on the line against a team that's likely to be in the Big Ten championship hunt all year. Plus the annual "is this JoePa's last Big Ten game?" question. It'll be a big day for both schools. Yep, this rivalry is actually starting to mean something, even if it is a bit friendly for my taste.

And the winner is... Michigan. I want to pick Penn State, but quite frankly the game I'll always want to win most is against Michigan. It's just no contest.

MSU Day!

As a thank you to TOSSS for it's win in the last Final Four Friday, the Big Ten Network made today (Monday, June 1) MSU day on the channel. All day is filled with different programming related to MSU, from past Greatest Games to campus programming. I'm pretty excited to see the 2006 MSU at Northwestern football game tonight at 10:00 ET, a game that I enjoyed from the front row. Make sure you check it out!

Time to Talk Polls!

A story recently in the Detroit News mentioned that Michigan football Coach Rich Rodriguez weighed in on the debate over the USA Today Coaches Poll. What debate you ask? Well, the debate over showing the public how each coach votes, of course!

The debate has raged in niche sports circles for a long time, and every once in a while it pops into mainstream media. Evidently this is one of those times again, because the off season is the perfect time to evaluate rules and procedures for all things college football, and that means that USA Today is considering changes to it's Coaches Poll procedures.

Currently, the poll releases the full ballots of each coach only for the final ballot of the regular season. All other ballots during the season are secret. Is this a big deal?

Well, remember that the Coaches Poll is one of the two human polls used to calculate the BCS Standings. And those determine which schools play in which bowl games, with millions of dollars at stake, not to mention the intangible benefits to recruiting, prestige, and even general enrollment.

According to Pollspeak, a great site that has championed this issue, making the ballots public "allows anybody – fans, universities and the voters themselves to see that the process is open and fair. Even if fans don’t agree with the voters, they at least know that the rankings really were their opinions and not some mythical cover-up or mistake."

Currently, any coach with a vote could attempt to artificially sink or inflate any other team, including conference opponents or others on their schedule. Why would a coach do this? Because of the millions of dollars involved. Because being a higher ranked team makes his team look better. Because having your rival unranked could help you land that recruit who's visiting next week. Any reason. Do coaches currently do this?

Coaches Poll representatives told Pollspeak that "We closely examine each ballot every Sunday. If we see something that seems the least bit out of whack, we contact the coach, with whom we can usually resolve the issue. Most of the time, it's over an inadvertent omission. If it cannot be resolved there, we will bring an AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) representative into the discussion."

So, the argument that the Coaches Poll makes is "Trust us." Evidently, that is not good enough. Pollspeak has a petition up urging the BCS to use only human polls that release every voter's ballot. And that is OK with Rodriguez. "To me, it doesn't matter one way or the other," Rodriguez said to the Detroit News on Sunday. "I can understand why some coaches don't want to release it, but I can also understand why a lot of folks want it released for transparency or whatever."

So how did Coach Rodriguez final ballot look? Not much different than Coach Dantonio's, actually. He had Northwestern a little high (#16), and agreed with Dantonio about MSU's place in the poll (#18). Overall, voters put MSU anywhere from #13 (Bobby Bowden, Gary Pinkel) to unranked (Gene Chizik).

So, what do you think? Tell us in the comments or vote in the poll.

What a Game at McLane!

What a way to open a new stadium!

In the opening game at the new McLane Baseball Stadium last Saturday, Spartans Pitcher Nolan Moody threw a no-hitter to defeat Northwestern 2-0. He had a perfect game going into the 8th inning, when he gave up a walk. Mr. Moody was honored as Pitcher of the Week by the Big Ten for his efforts. It was MSU's first no-hitter since 1993.

The Spartans held their home opener at Oldsmobile Park earlier in the spring. So far, the Spartans are undefeated in their new stadium, with a 3-0 record. The Spartans play this weekend at Ohio State, with their next game back on campus Wednesday, April 15th vs. Western Michigan at 3:05 p.m.