Eleven days gone
And just five days until Saturday's opener, are you hyperventilating yet? Before delving deeply into the Western Michigan matchup, let's review:
In the past week and a half...
* Barry Alvarez followed up David Brandon's strong hint of an OSU-Michigan split by coming out and telling us that Wisconsin and Iowa will be split in the Big Ten's new divisional structure. He said it should be easy to figure out how things will be divided based on competitive balance. With those two bits of info, it seems likely that one side will have Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, MSU and either Indiana/Purdue or Northwestern/Illinois. The other side will have Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Minnesota.
The MSU-Michigan rivalry will become the end-of-year tradition. Ohio State-Penn State meet on the final week. Same with Nebraska-Iowa, Minnesota-Wisconsin. The IU-PU and NW-Illinois rivalries will be maintained. The Land Grant Trophy becomes an infrequent spoil of victory. The Big Ten takes the opportunity to protect Nebraska-Penn State instead. And MSU's cross-protected rivalry is Purdue or Northwestern, depending on how things settle.
That's how it looks right now. That's not concrete. If this does happen, it's a good deal for MSU. It's a bad deal for Michigan, in my opinion. Why do you want to sacrifice the Ohio State end-of-year tradition? Why do you want to compete in your own tough division and sign up to play the Buckeyes from the other side every year? I don't get it.
* At MSU, Will Gholston switched to defensive end. Either way, he's going to be attacking the QB. Isaiah Lewis is impressing early and is MSU's nickel back as the season starts. Not bad for a true freshman who tore his ACL a year ago. And we're still waiting to find out who will emerge in the kicking competition.
* Chris Allen chose Iowa State as his final-year destination for 2011-12. Seems like a good choice, Fred "The Mayor" Hoiberg is bringing in some talent and Ames seems like a better spot for Allen than New York or El Paso. Not that I've been to Ames.
* MSU basketball released its full schedule. And it has to rank in the top four of Izzo's toughest (the 1999-2000 and 2003-04 skeds remain the standard). What surprised me when looking around the league were the schedules of MSU's fellow top contenders. Purdue goes to Virginia Tech for the Big Ten/ACC, hosts Alabama, goes to West Virginia in the middle of Big Ten season ... and that's it. Ohio State goes to Florida and Florida State (Challenge game) ... and that's it. Here's a prediction that's almost too obvious to qualify as a prediction: Purdue and Ohio State will have better records and higher rankings than MSU when conference play begins.
