Michigan State and Javon Ringer give up a run to Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish, 23-7

When you’re a 5-foot-9, 202-pound running back and can squat 620 pounds into a deadlift, you have great leg strength and balance to keep moving when a great defensive lineman, linebacker or security tries to tackle. your.

Let me introduce Javon Ringer, Michigan State’s star running back.

After running over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 23-7 on Saturday (9-20-08) at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said, “You want to introduce your best player, and in this moment, that’s our runner.”

So Dantonio sits Ringer running 39 times against the Notre Dame defense (the Irishman knew he was coming and couldn’t stop him), and Ringer just ran and ran and ran for 201 yards and 2 touchdowns. Ringer became the first player in Michigan State history to rush for 200 yards in consecutive games.

“You can hit him and hit him and he just keeps coming back,” North Dame coach Charlie Weis lamented.

The Fighting Irish didn’t help themselves much by allowing 3 fumbles and missing 2 field goals. Well, that’s Charlie Weis’s problem.

The Spartan defense announced itself by holding Norte Dame to minus 5 yards on their first two possessions.

Michigan State led 13-0 going into the 4th quarter and then the Spartans had Ringer carry the ball on all 7 plays to cap a 77-yard drive down the field with 2:16 remaining. It’s getting easier to train at Michigan State, you just give Ringer the ball, you get yards, you keep track of the clock and you win.

Ringer leads the nation in scoring with 11 touchdowns in 4 games. He also ranks second in the nation in rushing with 699 yards, averaging 4.89 yards per carry.

Connecticut’s Donald Brown leads the nation in rushing with 716 yards in 4 games. Shun White of Navy ranks third and is averaging 10.68 yards per carry for 673 yards. White’s average will go down when Navy plays against a team with a rush defense.

So far, White has gained his yards against 1-AA Towson (a junior varsity team in 1-A competition that is allowing an average of 322 rushing yards per game), Rutgers (ranked 106th out of 119 1-A teams), Ball State (104th place) and Duke (82nd place).

Let’s see how many yards Shun White gets against TCU, Louisville, Georgia, Florida State, Kentucky, Southern California, Penn State, Alabama, Louisiana State and Utah.

You’ll actually get zero since Navy doesn’t play anyone worth talking about. His toughest game may be against Wake Forest, which ranks 33rd in run defense.

Michigan State then travels to Indiana to take on the Hoosiers, who aren’t exactly sweeping. Indiana won games against 1-AA Western Kentucky and 1-AA Murray State before hosting Ball State of the Mid-American Conference (now 4-0) and losing 45-3. Last time I checked, Indiana was in the Big Ten, but it didn’t show for its first three opponents.

Michigan State does not play against 1-AA teams. The Spartans prefer to play on their home practice field.

True, Indiana could pull off a big upset against Michigan State. Anything can happen in college football. It’s also true that Michigan State could create some new parcels at Memorial Stadium. The Spartans are more likely to leave Indiana with a 4-1 record; the score on victory will be irrelevant.

For those who know and understand Sagarin’s college football rankings, the Spartans have risen from No. 51 during the preseason to No. 30 this week. If Michigan State keeps winning, they’ll soon appear in the AP Top 25 poll.

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley