Turns out I still feel pretty much the same as immediately after the loss.
Minnesota is the worst team MSU has lost to, or will lose to, this year. This is a bad, bad loss. This is likely Dantonio's first bad loss as head coach at MSU. MN is not a good football team. While you are busy trying to name one player not named Weber or Decker I'll quickly point out that it doesn't matter.
Of course had I described the loss immediately after the game I would have used (fine, did use) different wording. The idea is the same. There is one notable player on the MN team and he did not play last weekend.
Watching the game live the calls looked suspect. Watching them on replay they didn't look much better. Again, for at least the second time this season, you shouldn't be in a close game with a team like this. CMU is the same scenario and to some degree MSU had the ND game handed to them. CMU and MN had terrible calls and terrible reviews but calls shouldn't make the difference when you play these two teams.
The new TCF Bank Stadium is nice, the location is closer to campus, and the weather was clear. However, tailgating occurs at the State Fairgrounds and tailgaters are bussed in 8-10 minutes to the stadium. It would be like MSU offering tailgating only in commuter lot.
The fans were less than courteous...we were in the more alum less student area and saw dozens of people booing, laughing, and yelling through injury timeouts. Students will be students, but these were 30+ year olds. Minnesota nice my ass. Stay classy.
Also, every facet of the game is a financial transaction. Touchdowns are "6 more point IN THE BANK." A rough estimate for use of the word BANK!!! (not to be confused with bank) would require scientific notation. IN THE BANK!!!! 1. Clever, 2. Not at all annoying, 3. Corporate Whoring say what?
Finally, and the last of my rants, the announcement was made multiple times that the game was "a sellout." I guess they were referencing the actual fans and use of IN THE BANK for TCF Bank Stadium rather than ticket sales. There were more than patches of empty space. The place only holds 50,800 but there were at least 5,000 empty seats in large blocks with remaining empty seats scattered throughout the sections.The biggest problem MSU had was defending the pass, if you can call them passes. At the game it looked too easy. Watching replays it was the same scenario every score. Lobs to WR's. Live it looked like there was too much air under each throw. It worked out brilliantly, at least against Marcus Hyde, who was picked on 90% of the time in his backup role. Every long pass was a jump ball, with the exception of a catch-fall-fumble-or-did-he-?-no-was-not-down-IN THE BANK!! Every result the same, TD MN.
I still have no idea why people are obsessed with K.Nichol. It seems more like the Lions fan* mentality than logic based. The guy behind us wanted Nichol to come in when Cousins didn't stretch during pregame to his liking. He of course did not reference any stretching stats or historical stretching trends, he is just a Nichol guy.
The highlight of the weekend was post game. As the reveling students/fans of MN gophered around the stadium after a rare win, with Halloween in the air, they got a little aggressive. Believe it or not -- scouts honor -- we did not say a word, did not taunt or harass anyone, and headed for our bus back to the ultimate tailgate parking lot somewhere east of Howell, MI. MN kids weren't having it and starting to yell, circle around, and become excessively gophery. Then it happened. The least likely candidate of our group took his foamy, fluffy, MSU labeled seat cushion and played whack a gopher.
I missed it. I probably would have died laughing had I seen it, but by the time I knew what was going on it had escalated. I was a peace maker. Things settled and we were on our way. Only later did I learn of the seat-cushion-upside-the-head move that was employed.
Think hard. Is there anything more degrading? Seriously. It is like being hit with licorice only on some level worse.**From what I was told it was placed upside the back of said gopher's head and wasn't really all that hard. It sounded as if it would best be described as a corrective smack upside the head. With a fluffy seat cushion. Sort of like the 10 years later version of holding a smaller person back with a palm to the forehead.
The added humor is that this kid was probably 21, 22 and had a whole group of friends. We were not exactly rolling in big numbers. The guy was big enough to do something, or at least try to, and instead takes his seat cushion warning and backpedals yelling. Son, you were just hit in the head in a manner that was not physically injurious but without question was extremely embarrassing. Perhaps in context, considering this may have been the least embarrassing thing to happen to you that day, I should give you a pass. However, I hope your friends make you relive that moment for years. You need to have some self respect. Instead you were put in timeout and said "mm, mohkay." The loss faded away and I laughed as hard and long as I have in a long, long time.
*see: the backup QB is the most popular player on the team
** worse than licorice because it was still warm and only recently retrieved from below his backside
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