Pictured here is Michigan State's mascot Sparty at last night's fête for EA Sports' NCAA Football '09. He was, at best, an incongruous presence throughout the evening.

Mascots are designed to stand out in spacious stadiums filled with thousands of people, where their cartoon heads and giant limbs are clearly visible from the upper deck. In a crowded Manhattan night club, a mascot's caterwauling charm is lost. There simply isn't enough elbow room for the wide-ranging radii of their pantomime that serves as their sole form of communication, and three times last night I turned around and found myself looking into the huge lifeless eyes and furrowed plush brow from a mere two feet away.

And I suspect it's no more comfortable for the man inside the costume. The bathroom at Marquee -- the club that hosted the party -- is typical of swanky clubs anywhere: candles on every flat surface and an attendant lording over a selection of colognes and tip basket. Since it's New York City, I wasn't particularly put off by two men's voices coming from the one stall, but when part of the conversation is "damn mascot costume" while Sparty's helmet is visible above the divider, well, that will catch a man's attention.

A minute after the conversation stopped, Sparty exited the stall -- fully plush, once again inhuman, his personal bathroom assistant in tow. He was relieved ... and so was I when he finally left.

FanHouse is counting down the 10 best, 10 worst, and 10 weirdest moments in Big Ten football history.

ABOVE: Spartan Stadium in East Lansing hosted the 1966 Game of the Century.

Any game which matches the #1-ranked team against the #2-ranked team will almost inevitably be called a 'Game of the Century.' It seems like there's a GotC every three to five years or so. But the 1966 game between Notre Dame and Michigan State was among the very few that actually managed to live up to their billing, and it's a sign of this game's signficance that it's still controversial forty-two years later.

This was a #1 v. #2 game, but it was not so clear which team was #1 and which was #2. The Spartans and the Irish were both ranked #1 in one poll and #2 in the other. Coach Duffy Daugherty's Spartans were the defending national champions. Neither team had lost. To to it all off, it was the last game of the season for the Spartans, and they knew it. Big Ten rules of the time prevented any team from playing in back-to-back Rose Bowls, and from playing in any bowl other than The Grandaddy of Them All. Notre Dame had one game left against Southern Cal, but that would be it for them as well. The Irish didn't accept any bowl bids until 1969.

So, with the two teams so evenly matched, something had to give. Right?

Note this is "disappointing," not "worst." We're not looking for the class with the absolute least potential to win D-I games but the schools that really should have done better than they did. So breathe easy, Buffalo. A further note: rankings here are all Rivals'; sometimes Scout disagrees vehemently but that's rare.

Without further adieu:

5. Texas. Perhaps a harsh assessment for Rivals' #14 class, but as the dominant power in the nation's most football-mad state Texas should never, ever have a class outside of the top ten, even when it's kind of small. Texas whiffed on the top three players in-state, all of whom ended up at hated Oklahoma. Striking out on national #1 RB Darrell Scott was the icing on a mildly crap sundae for the Longhorns.

It's not that Texas' class is bad, per se. It's actually pretty good. (You can tell by the #14 above. That's math.) But there's no school in the country with a better built-in advantage when it comes to high school talent, and there's no way Texas should strike out on four of the top five players instate.

Mack Brown will spring his revenge soon, no doubt: rumor is that the next next Vince Young, class of 2009 QB Russell Shepard, is soon to don burnt orange.

4. Michigan State. If there was ever going to be a year when Michigan State re-asserted itself as a threat to Michigan instate or to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and increasingly irritating Cincinnati around the Midwest, this would be it. Michigan suffered a humiliating series of losses and much of the state was operating under the foregone conclusion that Lloyd Carr would be retiring at year's end. When Michigan made a hire, Rich Rodriguez swept out all but one Carr assistant. Mark Dantonio's long association with Jim Tressel was supposed to give him the edge when it came to Ohio recruits.

The result? Detroit wide receiver Fred Smith and no other four-star players. Michigan State struck out on instaters Nick Perry (USC) and Mark Ingram (Alabama) late; Ingram's decision to flee is especially grating since his father was one of Michigan State's best wide receivers. Ohio linebacker Taylor Hill took an official visit to MSU and liked it so much he committed to Michigan on the way home. Hell, linebacker Yourhighness Morgan took a look at MSU and said "thanks, but I'm going to play for Florida."

Florida Atlantic.

MSU ranks 7th in the Big Ten, and this was both their new-coach-bump year and a year in which Michigan changed coaches. Michigan's little brother continues to bow down.

Tuesday was the deadline for underclassmen to declare their entry into the NFL Draft. Below, a look at the damage done across the Big Ten in the NFL Damage Report. Yes, the NFL is still interested in the occasional Big Ten player.

Ohio State
Gone	DE Vernon Gholston
Back	WR Brian Robiskie, LB James Laurinaitis, LB Marcus Freeman CB Malcolm Jenkins, OT Alex Boone
Damage	Gholston will be a major loss. The Detroit junior was a terror all year long -- if OSU hadn't busted three coverages at the wrong time he would have made an enormous impact on the national title game -- and perhaps the best defensive end in the Big Ten since Simeon Rice. OSU has a lot of talent, but guys like Gholston are rare no matter how many hyped recruits you've reeled in. But the unfortunate reality for Big Ten fans is that OSU got off easier than everyone expected. Jenkins and Laurinaitis have been projected in the top half of the first round by most draft services, but elected to return. A few likely first-day picks in Robiskie, Freeman, and Boone elected to stick around, as well. Despite the loss of Gholston OSU is a big winner here.

Michigan
Gone	WR Mario Manningham, WR Adrian Arrington, QB Ryan Mallett (transfer)
Back	DT Terrance Taylor, DE Tim Jamison
Damage	Manningham's departure was assumed from last summer, but Adrian Arrington's dynamite Citrus Bowl might have been the decisive factor in his decision to enter early; both departing leaves Michigan thin and young at wideout. Third WR Greg Mathews comes back, but he seems a steady possession type in the mold of Jason Avant, not a gamebreaker like Manningham was and Arrington was developing into. Mallett's departure will mean little to Michigan fans if Rich Rodriguez can reel in uberrecruit Terrelle Pryor. Meanwhile, a couple defensive linemen who could have gone somewhere on the first day return; Michigan brings back every contributor from a pretty decent defensive line from a year ago. They'll have to make their returns count for Michigan's defense to keep what looks like a shaky-at-best offense in games.

In 1999, Nick Saban led Michigan State to their best season since 1987, when the Spartans won the Rose Bowl under George Perles. He still got passed over by the BCS in favor of a Michigan team State had beaten earlier in the year, then bolted for MSU.

Then-RB coach Bobby Williams, a very nice man who wore his emotions on his sleeve as he paced the sideline, was named interim head coach. The players loved Bobby, and wanted him to be their coach. He was a players coach. They expressed their desire in the emotional aftermath of a thrilling 37-34 win over Florida in the Citrus Bowl. A day later, the "interim" was removed from his title.

In his third year at Michigan State, the Spartans were 3-6. His quarterback was having severe personal problems; drugs were rumored. Kids were getting kicked off the team left and right. Before the Michigan game a team captain was arrested for dragging a cop down the street with his car. After the Michigan game -- a 49-3 loss -- a reporter asked Williams if he had lost his team.

"I don't know," he said.

He was fired the next day. Morris Watts was named interim coach and was not given the full-time job after the year ended.

West Virginia fans: welcome to the future.

If the only thing I told you about Friday's Champs Sports Bowl was that Michigan State rushed for 172 yards against a Boston College defense that was giving up 68.1 yards a game, you'd probably assume that Michigan State took care of the Eagles. Then if I told you that Boston College only rushed for 27 yards of their own, you'd be convinced the Spartans won.

Unfortunately for Michigan State, quarterback Brian Hoyer also threw 4 interceptions and fumbled once as the Spartans lost 24-21. Anytime your quarterback commits 5 turnovers it's probably going to kill your team. (I would know, I'm a Bears fan.) When you only lose by three points, you know it killed your team.

Brian Hoyer knows it as well, and he feels terrible about it.

"Obviously I'm disappointed," Hoyer, a junior, said. "It was bad day to go out and have the worst day of my career. The one thing I take from it is we had a pretty good season and always fought back, even today.

"There's no way I couldn't take responsibility for the things I did. In the end, I was just trying to make a play. I'm just going to try to keep my head up because we have something forward to next year, but right now I feel terrible that the seniors had to go out with a loss in their first bowl game ever.

"It's a surprise because I definitely thought I was coming off two pretty good games (against Purdue and Penn State). In the end, it kind of came down to me forcing one or two throws. I can't think back all the way to Little League baseball that I had such a bad performance."

Despite Hoyer's performance, there are still reasons to be optimistic in East Lansing.

Happy To Be Here?

To make a long story short, Boston College spent a good portion of the season in the top ten (deservedly or not) and even made its way up to #2 before losing to Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship. The Champs Sports Bowl gets the fourth selection from the ACC. There you have it. It is worth mentioning that BC had the weakest OOC schedule in the ACC, but once again, they find themselves up against a supposedly lesser opponent, in this case the 7-5 Michigan State Spartans who managed a sparkling 3-5 in conference record. Then again, they lost those five games by a combined 28 points, never losing by more than 7, so you might want to check the spread here.

Come Here Often?

Kiiiiinda. Though this is their first time at the Champs Sports Bowl, BC will now ensure that they've made a lesser bowl game in Orlando the last three decades. In 1982, they lost to Auburn 33-26 in the Tangerine Bowl (but what we'll remember most is the laughter) and in 1993, Glenn Foley directed them to a 31-13 win over Virginia in the Carquest Bowl.

Well, maybe the Spartans are showing signs of changing things under Coach Mark Dantonio. Down 24-7 in the third quarter of their final game to Penn State, Michigan State proceeded to outscore the Nittany Lions 28-7 to take the Land Grant shelving Trophy 35-31.

Penn State lived and died with what their defense gave them. The defense was able to get 3 turnovers that the offense was able to turn into 17 points. The problem was, that the defense didn't do much else to help matters. They surrendered over 400 yards of offense. Michigan State was able to run and throw, almost at will in the second half.

Offensively Penn State was able to run the ball very effectively, but Anthony Morelli -- and stop me Penn State fans if you've read this before -- was inconsistent. Only 16-35 and 188 yards. The ABC/ESPN announcers babbled endlessly in the final minutes, as Penn State tried to drive the field, about how this would be vital for the legacy Anthony Morelli would leave behind at State College. They never got around to saying what it meant once the drive died. I'm guessing it something like, "so much potential but..."

As for Michigan State, it is a huge win. Considering the way the Spartans lost games to Iowa, Northwestern, Wisconsin and of course Michigan in the season; it's been hard to believe that the culture of second-half implosions, self-destructions and downright stupidity was going to be changed. At least not in the first season.

Beating Penn State at home in the season finale in a big comeback may turn out to be a blip, but it is hard not to think it means something more for the Spartans and their fans.

scha·den·freu·de /ˈʃɑdnˌfrɔɪdə/

–noun

satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

---

[Origin: 1890–95; < G, equiv. to Schaden harm + Freude joy]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

On This Week In Schadenfreude we explore the sputtering rage, gibbering condemnation, and resigned ennui of the college football fan who has recently undergone humiliating defeat. Because even in your darkest hour, someone else is suffering too, and probably worse than you. Unless you are a Michigan fan who has just finished watching the Appalachian State game.

I was at Spartan Stadium nervously contemplating a 24-14 Michigan deficit when our designated general-update text-messager-guy filed an odd report. His obviously garbled text message: "ND goes for it 4th and 8 on 25 stuffed going to OT."

We debated what this could possibly mean. Weis went for it on his own 25? No, that would likely have led to a Navy field goal try. Surely, not even certified super genius Charlie Weis could pass up a 42-yard field goal in favor of letting his crappy offense attempt to convert a fourth and long.

Surely ...


Oh my God. He did. (Please note that the original post above was taken down by the blog in question; it was reproduced on MGoBlog for posterity's sake.) More spleen after the jump.

A fast start was eventually followed by disaster Saturday for Michigan State.

The Spartans couldn't hold a 17-3 halftime lead in Iowa City, as the Hawkeyes rallied to take a fourth-quarter lead. Michigan State tied it late, but Iowa eventually pulled out a dramatic double-overtime win, 34-27.

Michigan State used QB Brian Hoyer to facilitate their quick start. Hoyer hit big passes to Devin Thomas and Todd Boleski on the Spartans' second possession. Jehuu Caulcrick's first of two short touchdown runs make it 7-0, Sparty. His second touchdown run came in the second quarter, one drive after Iowa had gotten on the board to make it 10-3.

Hoyer ended the first half with 142 passing yards and no turnovers. The running game, normally a dynamic part of Michigan State's offense, was held in check by Iowa's strong defensive front seven. Instead of forcing the issue, the Spartans used Hoyer to attack through the air in the first half, and Hoyer added a couple nice scrambles for first downs.

However, Iowa had an answer in the second half. Albert Young, who had a huge day, ran for two scores in the third quarter, and Iowa quickly tied the game 17-17. After a poor punt by Michigan State early in the fourth quarter, the Hawkeyes drove down into field goal range, and Daniel Murray was good from 47 yards to give Iowa their first lead. With the job Iowa's defense did on Hoyer in the second half, combined with Iowa's bad day on offense, the hope was that the field goal would hold up.

It wouldn't.