Bad day to be a college football fan in Michigan

Expectations were extremely high entering the contests for both Michigan State and Michigan on Saturday: the undefeated Spartans traveled to Iowa City to try and prove their legitimacy as a National Title contender, while the Maize and Blue looked to save their season with a win at Penn State. While Spartan and Wolverine fans were naturally a little nervous before this weekend, I got the feeling from talking with some fans that both clubs could and should come out on top when the dust settled.

I'm not sure the dust ever settled at either event though: Iowa's offense never stopped moving long enough to give the field (or the Green and White) a break, and the schools who generally pride themselves on stout defense combined in surrendering 72 points in Happy Valley. Michigan's 31-41 loss to the Nittany Lions may not have come as a complete shock, but it still has to be seen as another disheartening appearance after what seemed to be such a promising campaign only a few weeks ago. 

The laughable performance the Spartans displayed should, however, not be a surprise: while they were undefeated, they had weathered big blow after big blow through cagey (desperate) play-calling and some luck. Don't get me wrong, they deserve some credit for the way they've been able to fight their way to victory in most of their games, but a team ranked No. 5 in the nation should not have to battle back to beat the likes of Notre Dame (who just lost to Tulsa at home, basically excluding themselves from postseason play) and Northwestern ( I love my 'Cats, but they really dropped the ball in that loss to State). The Hawkeyes simply delivered the knock-out punch MSU had been able to avoid up to this point.

The Spartans have looked spectacular during some stretches of the season, sure, but their opponents before Iowa have been anything but; Wisconsin was the only highly-ranked school State had played until Saturday (yes, I know Michigan was ranked when they squared-off, but let's be real, they should not have been), and the Badgers were without a completely-healthy John Clay for that game. State's only other Big Ten test (besides those mentioned above) was against Illinois for homecoming, a game they should win in their sleep.

Luckily for the Spartans, the cupcake that is the rest of their schedule should help them stay toward the front of the pack in the chase for the Big Ten title. With games at home against a terrible Minnesota team and a mediocre Purdue squad, the only slightly difficult match-up remaining comes in the form of State's end-of-season road trip to Penn State. In all honesty though, the men of Sparta should finish 11-1; obviously a very exciting and tremendous season. But don't get your hopes up, Spartan fans--after Saturday's shellacking by Iowa, there is no way MSU finds themselves in the BCS Championship game. 

Meanwhile, Michigan will be lucky to find itself in any bowl game outside the Mitten. They MUST win their next game, a home duel against the Illini, because the final three games on the schedule are making RichRod look for Realtors: at Purdue, home versus Wisconsin and away for the Buckeye showdown. The game against the Boilermakers may seem like a gimme, but that offense's average of almost 175 yards on the ground per game is taking away from Defensive Coordinator Glenn Robinson's already limited hours of sleep.

Frankly, it will take a massive defensive awakening for U of M to stand a chance against either Wisconsin or Ohio State, but that seems pretty unlikely, seeing as the Wolverines have given up an average of 37 points per game in Big Ten play. While that offense is stellar, they're still only putting up 29.5 points per game over the same period. You can't win games in the Big Ten (or really anywhere, for that matter) when you are giving up seven points more than you are scoring. So, barring any miraculous turn around or miserable performances from their opponents, the Wolverines seem like a lock for the Little Caesars Bowl. 

A fact that has to make Spartan fans happy, regardless of where their team finds itself on New Year's Day.