Opinion: Spartans Will Get No Help to Pasadena
November 10, 2013
This bye-weekend for the Spartans gave the people of Spartan Nation a chance to sit down and watch some good football. So after this important weekend filled with upsets and blowouts we now ask ourselves: “What have we learned?”
We have learned a lot of things, chiefly; no one is going to help the Spartans to the Rose Bowl. The biggest game many MSU fans were watching this weekend was Michigan vs. Nebraska. I will not be ashamed to say I was rooting for Michigan to win. Had Nebraska lost, MSU would have had a two-game cushion going into a matchup that they have historically had trouble with (the Huskers are undefeated against MSU since joining the Big Ten). But Nebraska did win, and ended Michigan coach Brady Hoke’s supposed home-turf invincibility. Thanks Ann Arbor.
Another blow came at the hands of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Yes, those gods of college football that you just wish could lose a game. It is no surprise to hear Ohio State is in the running for the BCS National Championship. Currently they are ranked #3. For those of you who don’t know, if a team wins the Big Ten Championship AND is eligible to play in the BCS National Championship game (ranked 1 or 2) they are ineligible to play in the Rose Bowl. Meaning if the Spartans went to Indianapolis and played a first or second ranked Ohio State, any outcome would likely end up with Mark Dantonio and the Spartans on a plane to Pasadena.
This weekend offered a chance for the Buckeyes to move up in the standings. No. 3 Oregon suffered an upset to No. 5 Stanford, thus vacating the third spot. Also, Alabama was given their toughest challenge yet against rival LSU, but the Crimson Tide held strong and both they and Florida State hold on to their number one and two spots respectively.
All of this comes down to the one major fact: no one is going to hand the Spartans a ticket to the Rose Bowl. They are going to have to fight for it blood, sweat, and tears. That means rewriting history in Lincoln, that means planting the green flag in Evanston, once more in East Lansing and that means having to slay the Buckeye beast that has yet to be tamed this season. Can they do it? You bet.
Jason Ruff is a multimedia journalist for Impact Sports
Photo: David Defever