[terry]

An important disclaimer on the MSU stats is that they average their lackluster offense of early season (294 yards Vs Purdue) with the quite decent one at the end (438 yards against Ohio St).

Like Stanford, Michigan State had its ups and downs on offense during the season, with the latter part of the season generally being better. Yes, it's true that MSU gained 438 yards against Ohio State in the conference championship game. But a week earlier, MSU gained just 324 yards and scored just 14 points against Minnesota. Those last two games average out to 381 yards per game -- almost exactly MSU's overall season average.

Stanford averaged 468 yards of offense in its last two games.

[terry]

An important disclaimer on the MSU stats is that they average their lackluster offense of early season (294 yards Vs Purdue) with the quite decent one at the end (438 yards against Ohio St).

Like Stanford, Michigan State had its ups and downs on offense during the season, with the latter part of the season generally being better. Yes, it's true that MSU gained 438 yards against Ohio State in the conference championship game. But a week earlier, MSU gained just 324 yards and scored just 14 points against Minnesota. Those last two games average out to 381 yards per game -- almost exactly MSU's overall season average.

Stanford averaged 468 yards of offense in its last two games.