{"id":95,"date":"2017-11-14T02:07:23","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T02:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bigtenelimination.com\/?p=95"},"modified":"2017-11-14T02:07:23","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T02:07:23","slug":"111317-doubling-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigtenelimination.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/14\/111317-doubling-down\/","title":{"rendered":"11\/13\/17 – Doubling Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well… I was thinking about writing this post last week… and after this weekend it will hold much less water.\u00a0 So thanks a lot MSU.\u00a0 You ruined my post.\u00a0 Also sorry… I may have jinxed you guys by planning this post for the past week.\u00a0 —hears yelling State fans through the computer–\u00a0<\/em>Hey calm down!, I can’t help what my brain thinks! That thing is crazy! I mean, it just imagined people yelling through a computer screen… about a post that isn’t even up yet… none of that seems physically possible.\u00a0 Anyway here it goes…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mark Dantonio is the best coach in the Big Ten.<\/p>\n

I’m gonna give my fellow Michigan fans a chance to flip their chips and settle down so I don’t get sent bills for broken keyboards and computer screens… You guys good?\u00a0 Good… Because right now our coach isn’t even in this conversation.\u00a0 SETTLE DOWN! I’m not saying he can’t be or won’t be in the next few years, but right now he hasn’t proven to be.\u00a0 I’ll get back to him, but for now, the conversation is between Dantonio and Urban. (It also included Franklin, but he’s an ass and his losses give me an excuse not to write about him)<\/p>\n

Urban has the Resume, but he’s also coaching at OSU, not MSU.\u00a0 He inherited a team from Jim Tressel, not John L Smith.\u00a0 Being OSU’s head coach comes with an inherent advantage.\u00a0 It’s kind of like thinking you’re really good N64’s Goldeneye when you get to be OddJob and make everyone else pick Jaws… and you have the Golden Gun… and the Bobby Armor… and the other guy spawned in the vents that you’ve already littered with proxies… Anybody still reading this?\u00a0 Also Urban’s teams do some very strange things to lose games like forgetting they have the best running back in the Big Ten.\u00a0 Also Dantonio beat him with Tyler O’Conner as QB.\u00a0 Also the team that lost to Appalachian State made this happen:<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

(That’s Tim Tebow crying after Lloyd Carr made Urban Meyer fake a heart condition and leave the SEC.)<\/p>\n

Dantonio, on the other hand, took John L Smith’s team, won the Big Ten in his fourth year, won it a total of 3 times, won the Rose Bowl, beat Michigan 8 out of the last 10 years, and went to the CFP.\u00a0 Show me a coach who has done more with less.\u00a0 Sure they got killed by Alabama, but come on, it’s Alabama.\u00a0 Also people forget that MSU’s defense was playing pretty well until the offense couldn’t stay on the field for more than 30 seconds.\u00a0 Bama punted on their first 3 possessions.\u00a0 MSU regularly beats higher ranked\/favored teams.<\/p>\n

Let’s get back to Michigan and Harbaugh for a minute.\u00a0 When is the last time Michigan beat a favored Michigan State team?\u00a0 How about a heavily favored any team? Again, I’m not anti-Harbaugh.\u00a0 I think he’ll be a good coach.\u00a0 But in some ways he’s been disappointing so far.\u00a0 He inherited gold compared to Dantonio and so far has nothing to show for it.\u00a0 14 guys went to the NFL from last years team (a school record).\u00a0 Those were all Hoke’s guys.\u00a0 Now to be fair, some of those players may not have gone to the NFL without Harbaugh’s development skills.\u00a0 And while the Sr. class was outstanding, Hoke’s later recruiting efforts (especially at O-Line) are a big part of this year’s weaknesses.\u00a0 But Hoke is not John L Smith and Harbaugh has to win the Big Ten next year just to match Dantonio.<\/p>\n

I think Harbaugh has a higher ceiling at U-M than Dantonio does at MSU.\u00a0 I just don’t think his success is a certainty.\u00a0 He hasn’t proven it yet.\u00a0 Dantonio has.\u00a0 He took a 3-9 team that lost 10 players in the off season and would have won the Big Ten had they not met an extremely angry OSU this weekend.\u00a0 U of M might have a better chance at competing for a National Championship in the next 5 years but this is a bigger unknown.\u00a0 If you told me that only one of the two was beating their rivals and going to Indy every 3 years or so I might put my money on Dantonio.\u00a0 At the very least, based on results and performance, MSU fans have more to feel good about than U-M fans…<\/p>\n

Well, at least they did a week ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well… I was thinking about writing this post last week… and after this weekend it will hold much less water.\u00a0 So thanks a lot MSU.\u00a0 You ruined my post.\u00a0 Also sorry… I may have jinxed you guys by planning this post for the past week.\u00a0 —hears yelling State fans through the computer–\u00a0Hey calm down!, I … <\/p>\n

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