Football Flirtin'

The table was set--salad forks, real forks, butter knives, steak knives, the whole works. Fresh bottle of red, bread rolls steaming under a quadruple quilted napkin, you could almost taste it. All we needed was the two teams to show up for their 'big date'. Even though Northwestern and Michigan State aren't the flashiest of Big 10 foes, they would have made for an interesting tryst. Both teams would seemingly be heading into the game undefeated with some definite flaws still exposed. Perhaps Northwestern's side of the date had a receding hairline (leading rushing back is a guy named Arby Fields at 160 yards??? Sounds like he should be opening for Big & Rich) and didn't exactly have the most steady of jobs (haven't won a bowl game since the Rose Bowl in 1949, and haven't won the Big 10 since 2000). On the other side of the innumerable text conversations that potential couples now go through before their first date is Michigan St., a modest woman who recently proved herself to be hotter than her best friend (MSU whoops on Michigan last week)the last time you saw her out after a gin mottled happy-hour. But, she hasn't really been in the 'dating pool' recently herself, and just two weeks ago you only were speaking with her to get an in with her roommate who was seemed to be more attractive (Michigan) before she started an unwarranted crying tirade around midnight and took a cab home from the party (Michigan looked terrible last week). It could have been a magical date. Dinner, drinks, more drinks, grind session, more drinks, cab ride home,late night make out, invite upstairs ;). That's how first dates always go right? Well, not for me, and not this one either.

Instead, Northwestern had to crash the party and showed up noticeably inebriated at home against Purdue last week with spilled beer painting the collar of their shirt and sweating like he just ran a 5K. Northwestern had quickly burst into the top 25 after starting from humble beginnings. Nobody expected much of them at the beginning of the season, but they escaped @ Vanderbilt in week 1, then beat up on ISU, Rice, Central Michigan and Minnesota to find themselves at 5-0, needing only a home win versus a Purdue team who had already lost to Toledo earlier this season to place themselves in a date with undefeated Michigan St., and national television. Dan Persa had been a magician thus far and had Heisman numbers (1,663 yds., 173.27 QB rating, 10 TDS) but didn't get any looks like his conference foe Denard Robinson because he plays for a school with more Fields Medal winners than NFL players.

On the other side of the ball, Sparty has used some trickery to stay undefeated and look to be a competitor who nobody thought would hang around heading into the thick of the Big 10 title race. The only thing that worries me about Sparty is that they can't channel the motivation stemming from their coaches heart attack all season long like some bizarro Lou Brown from Major League incident. It's a great storyline, and it looks like MSU will coast into Kinnick Stadium on October 30th toting an undefeated record and will surely give Iowa a test. Either way, it would have been a dream date for Northwestern to match up with the undefeated Spartans. Thanks to Purdue being the grenade that had to drag home a vulnerable, half in the bag Wildcat team last Saturday, I guess we'll never know.

As for Pick of the Day, the Pulse Man is up against the ropes again after yet another loss as his record is crab-walking its way back to .500. For tomorrow, he likes Kansas St. taking down in-state rival Kansas in Lawrence Thursday night at (-150). Purple power.

Pick of the Day: Kansas St. @ Kansas- K-STATE(-150)

Now I'm done. Rack me

Frost

Record:(23-19-0)