What Wisconsin Means

I could natter on about all of the yards surrendered and the bad penalties and such. Blah, blah... Whatever. Guess what? It's not like anyone expected a Big Ten title run this year. Deal.

What I would like to fixate on is nearly beating what is now the #5 team in the country in their own legendarily loud house. When I looked at the schedule for this year and tried to reasonably evaluate what it meant, here is what I thought an early season win streak would mean:

1. Beat UAB soundly = pleased but not yet convinced
2. Beat Bowling Green = relieved
3. Beat Pittsburgh = interested
4. Beat Notre Dame = mildly surprised
5. Beat Wisconsin = "shocked and awed" because that would mean...
6. A probable win against Northwestern...
7. A probable win against Indiana...
8. A 7-0 start and a MONSTER showdown in Columbus vs Ohio State.

Straighten out a long field goal try and/or don't make one of several dumb late penalties, and Michigan State has cleared stage 5. Basically, they have come damn close to the shock and awe. I feel cautiously safe in saying that his team decidedly does not suck and can win at least three of its remaining seven games.

They came back in the 4th quarter, in a hostile environment, and nearly upended a top ten team to go 5-0. Home field means a lot to Michigan State. It means even more to Wisconsin. This was basically a tie on a neutral field. If they could beat Wisconsin -- and they COULD have beaten Wisconsin -- then Ohio State is the only remaining team on the schedule that makes you shake your head and say "no way."

Not figured into my pre-season analysis was:

1. Michigan losing its first two and nearly losing to Northwestern.
2. Penn State losing to Illinois and looking very bad against Michigan.
3. Illinois -- who we don't have to play -- looking like it could turn more upsets.
4. Iowa also looking horrible.

These are all favorable developments for MSU that I did not count on, and all of that in the face of a Spartan team playing better than I dared hope.

Six wins now seems a pleasantly modest request. Eight seems doable. Nine doesn't look completely crazy anymore. No matter how much better this may get, I will keep a promise to myself made after years of watching the Wal Mart Wolverine fans beat themselves into frustration: Enjoy the moment. Enjoy the ride. You don't know when it will end.