Sparty Series Primer

Cats fans should be rooting for the Big Ten's Heisman hope to beat Iowa this weekend (photo courtesy Detroit Free Press)


Last season I dealved into each of the Cats' Big Ten opponents and ranked the recent series. When you look at Sparty, you have the winner of the most entertaining opponent, by far, in terms of the craziness that has happened. As you know by my Wildcataganda! the Cats are 5-4 against Sparty since 1995 and 4-2 in this decade. However, disspelling the myth among East Lansing's elite that the Cats equal status is a recent phenomenon, the Cats are nearly deadlocked at 6-7 in head-to-head since 1990. We have quite a way until the October 11 kickoff, but it is time to start building momentum towards the special event that is a 2:30 pm CT ESPN2 game. Finally, a true gameday atmosphere to build towards(As a quick sidenote, I've received several emails from students who are detailing their efforts to get the word out for a Purple Haze (aka NU version of Insert Home Team Color Here-Out (think Whiteout at Penn State) invasion for the game. Much more on this later in the week).

So, at the risk of redundancy, I've offered up a brief history of the most exciting series the Cats have to offer excluding our trophy-game friends downstate:

2007 (A) Northwestern 48 MSU 41 (OT)
CJ Bacher earns Big Ten Player of the Week honors for an eye-popping 520-yard, 5 TD passing day as the Sutton-less Cats were part of an electric day featuring 1100 yards of total offense.

2006 (H) MSU 41 Northwestern 38
In CJ Bacher's first career start, the Cats slipped into the dark age record book by surrendering a 38-3 lead in the third quarter quicker than you could say "Nick Roach". As soon as our star LB broke his leg, our team's spirit broke in what is an alltime NCAA record for biggest comeback. The only solace for Cats fans? The chest-painted "Fire John L. Smith" guys left before the 4th quarter.

2005 (A) Northwestern 49 (#22) MSU 14
A statement game for Baz and Sutton as the Cats feasted on the shell-shocked Spartans. Tyrell's first game against Sparty netted 109 yards rushing on 21 carries along with 47 rec yards and 2 TDs. I'll forever remember Tom Izzo on the air pleading with fans to respect Northwestern as they tried to fill time in this laugher. I'll also never forget Drew Stanton's cheap shot helmet-to-knee hit on Brendan Smith after he picked off a pass in the end zone. The Cats continued an odd trend of beating a ranked Sparty team (#22) which then landed them in the Top 25 (#21).

2002 (A) MSU 39 NU 24
The Cats were flat in the Big Ten opener of the last non-6 win+ season for Randy Walker. From a Cats perspective the game was uneventful.

2001 (H) (#16) Northwestern 27 MSU 26
An ESPN Instant Classic featuring a special memory as this was the first NU game I ever attended with my wife. The final 4:42 featured, in this order, an MSU PR for a TD, a 4-minute NU TD drive, an MSU KOR for a TD on the next play and then a Victory Right (a la Minnesota) from Zak Kustok to Jon Schweigardt to setup the game-winning FG by David Wasilewski. The Cats, ranked #16 moved up to #14 and soon thereafter imploded in the most disappointing season in the past 20 years.

2000 (A) Northwestern 37 (#18) MSU 17
Zak Attack and Damien sent a message to Spartyville by again upsetting a ranked MSU team en route to transforming the win into a top 25 ranking (#22). This game had letdown city written all over it as just the week before the Cats stunned #7 Wisconsin in the 2 OT thriller. Get this - it marks the only time since 1971 the Cats beat ranked opponents in back-to-back weeks.

1999 (H) (#17) MSU 34 Northwestern 0
The Cats were brutal and Sparty was spectacular as Northwestern fell to the third straight top 20 Big Ten opponent. The Cats went two years without a TD against Sparty. Who knew Randy Walker was one year away from a Big Ten title with this team?

1998 (A) MSU 29 Northwestern 5
Uggh. A Halloween massacre in Barnett's final tilt with Sparty. 'Nuff said.

1997 (H) Northwestern 19 (#15) MSU 17
Anwaan Jones sent the fans rushing on to Ryan Field as he blocked the potential game-winning kick. My favorite quote was then Sparty head coach, Nick Saban, when he responded to a question about his team's mentality - "I don't think our players were guilty of overlooking Northwestern because we didn't come out flat". The fact that we were back-to-back Big Ten champs and still getting the "overlooked" treatment is laughable.

1994 (H) MSU 35 Northwestern 17
The final installment of the series in the "dark ages" was no contest as Steve Schnur had yet to emerge from the Tim Hughes/Steve Schnur experiment in what would become the most accomplished QB career in NU history. This marks the only time since 1990 that either team has won three straight.

1993 (A) MSU 31 Northwestern 29
The Cats lose yet another close one, but this time it got ugly. I don't remember how or why it happened but I specifically remember Dave Eanet sounding frightened as NU players went into the stands and were swinging punches. Thank God there was no TV or You Tube in the day or this one could've been the Sparty-Cats' Ron Artest moment.

1992 (H) MSU 27 Northwestern 26
I vividly remember this Halloween game in Barnett's rookie season at NU. I was sitting in the student section and as Valensizi's game-winning kick sailed way above the left goal post, we started charging the field to - you got it - lake the posts. I stopped dead in my tracks as the refs looked at each other, kept looking and almost in a game of chicken, one finally gave the "no good" sign. We were crushed. Obviously we had no angle on the kick, but some RTVF student had been rolling tape on the game under the goal post and in the days of the primitive spot shadow it was impossible to tell if it was good or not. I remember saying that a winning program gets that call - and we were not at that time.

1991 (A) Northwestern 16 MSU 13
Francis Peay's final victory at NU came on the heels of the infamous Purple Pants upset of #17 Illini. Mark Benson was his usual clutch self in a win that sent Spartyville running for cover.

So there you have it. You've got to love the trend of the Cats being unranked and beating a ranked Sparty to move in to the Top 25. Now you have all the motivation to root for MSU to pound Iowa this weekend and gain a Top 25 ranking so we can can go a perfect 3-for-3 in that category this decade. Go Sparty!