12-16-2013, 05:38 PM
I graduated from the University of Michigan, so of course the below comments show bias.
* At the time I enrolled at UM, the school up north was still Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science. Hence, it's on-campus nickname, "Moo. U." Its football team had a famous and very good coach, Duffy Daugherty. In 1965 they went 10-0 behind a defense built around Bubba Smith and monster LB George Webster; but they lost the Rose Bowl to Gary Beban's UCLA. (Just as Go Blue's basketball team, led by Cazzie Russell, would lose the NCAA BB Finals to a littler but faster UCLA team.)
* In terms of academics, I'd rate the B1G and the PAC-12 as equals. The PAC-12 alone can boast elite institutions, but I'd have no problem paying the freight for a kid to attend any of each conferences top three schools. In fact, I did (Northwestern).
* Kudos to Michigan State for its long-run athletic success in football and in basketball (post-Magic), which have not been attended by scandals in academics (see: SEC) or non-sports bad behavior. Current coaches Dantonio and Izzo deserve much credit for recruiting well and wisely.
* But I am after all a UM grad. Best one-liner about MSU I ever heard, from a fellow alum: "The herd shot around the world."
Good Rose Bowl, and Fear the Tree.
* At the time I enrolled at UM, the school up north was still Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science. Hence, it's on-campus nickname, "Moo. U." Its football team had a famous and very good coach, Duffy Daugherty. In 1965 they went 10-0 behind a defense built around Bubba Smith and monster LB George Webster; but they lost the Rose Bowl to Gary Beban's UCLA. (Just as Go Blue's basketball team, led by Cazzie Russell, would lose the NCAA BB Finals to a littler but faster UCLA team.)
* In terms of academics, I'd rate the B1G and the PAC-12 as equals. The PAC-12 alone can boast elite institutions, but I'd have no problem paying the freight for a kid to attend any of each conferences top three schools. In fact, I did (Northwestern).
* Kudos to Michigan State for its long-run athletic success in football and in basketball (post-Magic), which have not been attended by scandals in academics (see: SEC) or non-sports bad behavior. Current coaches Dantonio and Izzo deserve much credit for recruiting well and wisely.
* But I am after all a UM grad. Best one-liner about MSU I ever heard, from a fellow alum: "The herd shot around the world."
Good Rose Bowl, and Fear the Tree.