I can't believe how bad Iowa and Wisky looked. I hope those teams play that bad against the Spartans.

Can't argue with any of that. Wisky didn't look good last week, and just confirmed every concern about themselves this week. Big 10 BCS chances have essentially vanished already. Even if MSU goes undefeated, they'll never have the strength of schedule to jump over an undefeated team from any other conference, or even a 1-loss SEC/USC team.

It may en up being a good thing though, from an expectations standpoint. If we want to be the class of the Big 10, it's time to step up to that plate. We will be favored, often significantly, against every remaining team on our schedule. Being great is about consistency. We are the best team in the conference, and the only way anyone is going to take the us and Big 10 as a whole seriously is if we run the table and come up big in the Rose Bowl.

Some teams still worry me, but not as much as before the season. It will still be hard to beat UM, Wisky, and Neb in 3 straight weeks. OSU also might be the best team the Spartans play.

Nebraska about to go down, and Illinois getting beat too.

JScottWriter said:

Some teams still worry me, but not as much as before the season. It will still be hard to beat UM, Wisky, and Neb in 3 straight weeks. OSU also might be the best team the Spartans play.

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As early as this morning, I was talking about how I was hoping Nebraska could work it's way into the top 10 by the time we played them, as they were the only team that looked capable of giving our schedule a boost. Now Nebraska is absolutely blowing it against UCLA. Martinez has turned back into a trick play RB in the last quarter.

And while agree it is hard to get up for three straight pretty good teams, I don't see any of those teams being as good as I had thought this morning. Even OSU didn't exactly look good. I'm not saying we won't stumble somewhere in league play and drop a winnable game. That can happen to anyone. What I'm saying is we shouldn't. OSU didn't drop bad games when they were ruling the conference. If we have designs on being in the same air as other great Big 10 teams, we have to beat an obviously weaker than normal conference. Either we are that good, or we aren't building the team we thought we were.

I believe that the Spartans are the best team in the conference. After today it pretty much confirms it. But year after year they drop games they should win. A lot hinges on Maxwell this season and the team not taking a week off.

JScottWriter said:

I believe that the Spartans are the best team in the conference. After today it pretty much confirms it. But year after year they drop games they should win. A lot hinges on Maxwell this season and the team not taking a week off.

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I don't expect to see the defense take any weeks off, too many of them are playing for draft positioning as much as any championship. Maxwell has shown already he can be rattled, and if teams stack the line against Bell we don't have the O-line to make holes out of nothing. So you are right that a lot hinges on Maxwell and the offense overall.

Your first point is exactly what I'm getting at though. If we're the best, we have to play like it. If we want to believe we aren't just the same ol' Spartans, we have to stop being just that. We can only prove it on the field.

I agree, I hope they do start to prove it. I think coach D having us near the top the last couple of years will help this current team get over the hump. I still can't believe how bad the B1G has been, this is the year the Spartans need to get to the top.