FanNation - The Republic of Sport

The heart says this is a big win. The head says otherwise. They're both right.

Emotionally, this was the biggest win of the year. But for what it says about where Michigan State ranks as a Big Ten team and a college football power, it's about as important as beating Indiana. Maybe lower.

A 35-21 etching in the record book doesn't tell the whole story.

A normally very reliable Spartan placekicking unit missed three field goals, and an officiating crew with good eyes on the field watching the game in real time was overruled by some blind bats in the replay booth who can't read a rule book. Generously giving Michigan a field goal in place of the Brandon Minor "touchdown" and giving Michigan State just one of the three botched field goals, the final score goes to something like 38-17.

And that's before we get to the fumble that set up the phantom touchdown, a pile of offside penalties by the Spartan defense and other little bits of slop that should have been avoided and have been in other games. The Spartans were their own worst enemy for much of this game, and that was compounded by football gods also working against them. All the fates were cutting Michigan's way on their home field and yet they still lost by two touchdowns.

A good team overcomes these things on such days. That used to be Michigan. It's now Michigan State.

For a variety of psychological reasons, MSU needed to win this game to finally bury the "Same Old Spartans" naysayers. It wasn't their last chance to do it, but this was their very first chance under Mark Dantonio to show that they could bounce back from getting their butts kicked and still win an important game on the road.

Mission accomplished. "Same Old Spartans" no more.

Now, take off the winged helmets and the broken-down, oversized high school stadium full of weepy, spoiled fans reminding us of national championships won before their birth. What does the head say about this win?

What kind of team did Michigan State just beat?

Shocking as it is to write this, the win over Michigan shows again that the Spartans have become good enough to reliably walk over the also-rans of the Big Ten. No more. As I said earlier: It's like beating Indiana.

Given what we now know about Iowa, that win was more impressive. The same can be said for the decisive road win over Nortwestern and the home victory against Notre Dame. All three are better teams than what Michigan has devolved into.

Likewise, reversing the loss to Cal on the road and (obviously) beating Ohio State at home would both have been much bigger victories. Clearly, so would a stunning and improbable upset at Penn State to end the season.

Hail, hail... Looked at this way, the Spartans just beat the seventh most challenging team on their twelve game schedule.

The heart can't help but enjoy this. The head is just relieved that it's over and can't wait for Wisconsin.