We're about 36 hours away from the first kickoffs. Another 48 hours after that, Cal and Michigan State take to the field. Time to light up with Golden Bear previews and projections.

CGB (the site might be familiar to some of you) gets you off to a good start with their roundtable discussion from seven years ago about the Spartans (less stats, more dick jokes by TwistNHook). A little more recently, Hydrotech introduced you to the offensive sets the Spartans run under Dantonio, which can best be described as classically rigid and empirically boring. That this simple motion offense poured on 33 points in the Big Ten might say more about the conference than the team.

Some loser wrote about a long-ass meandering post detailing Michigan State in a way that probably left his readers more confused than they were before reading it. He does note an interesting weakness in Javon Ringer's game.

Despite the all-around talent of Javon Ringer in the open field, in short-yardage situations (especially at the goalline), he struggles just like Forsett did last year. Neither had quite the size (Forsett was a little better, although he was only slightly above the mean) to deal with the much bigger defenses in these constrained situations. Their movement predicated on openness and spreading the defense so they could power their way through the holes. The fact that their numbers dropped back to the field is a discernible weakness, and could be part of the reason why Forsett might be out of Seattle despite a spectacular preseason.

Said loser also did a preview with the Enlightened Spartan over a month or two ago, although it appears more tongue-and-cheek when you read it this time around.

The Bear Will Not Quit does seem to have criticisms about Brian Hoyer's big game ability:

If there is a "knock" against [Hoyer], aside from probably not being a guy who can take over a game, it is that the Spartans have not fared well in big games under his leadership. Most recently, in the Champs Sports bowl last season against #10 Boston College -- Michigan State's first bowl game in 4 years -- Hoyer's stat line was undesirable: 14-36 (38%), 131 yards, 2 TDs, 4 INTs, 1 fumble, 65.77 rating. The Spartans lost 24-21. His passer ratings vs the other "big" opponents last year, #5 Ohio State and #18 Michigan, both losses, were similarly low: 85.77 and 96.65, respectively. Even when he put up his best numbers last season against #24 Wisconsin on the road, the Spartans still lost. I think Hoyer will not lose the game for Michigan State, but I also do not think he can win it for them.

To be fair to Hoyer, he did not perform that badly compared to other quarterbacks against those Buckeye/Wolverine defenses from what I analyzed. You can see in the graph below that Hoyer performed only slightly below average.

The Bear Will Not Quit does have a multi-part preview going this week, check it out as it unfolds.

Okanes will have previews later this week. Just RSS his blog and you'll get your crack at them.

From Michigan mainstream sources, Pat Caputo of the Daily Tribune seems a little more pessimistic about the Spartans players than I was, especially Hoyer.

One has to be Hoyer. He was consistently outplayed by opposing quarterbacks during the final stages of close games last season. The Spartans lost several tight games. That can be good news or bad, depending on whether it was progress keeping games competitive, or a sign the Spartans lack the necessary finishing skills, particularly at QB.

Considering his situational stats, I'm wondering if Hoyer is getting a bad rap; he did bring his team back multiple times and made a game of it more often that not. Then again he probably watched all their games last season, so he probably knows more about them than I do.

Coach Dantonio is more PC about what he thinks of Cal than he was about, say, Michigan. Also some pregame chatter going both ways concerning Bears and Spartans, as both teams try to feel each other out.

On the other side, Enlightened Spartan has a decent gameday preview, and if you look at the numbers side-by-side, you can make a good case for Michigan State coming up with the road upset. Unfortunately the words betray his homerism.

Michigan State's secondary is its best in 10 years. Safety Otis Wiley hits like a ton of bricks and is a stud. MSU is also deep across the board, with lots of starting experinece out of Kendall Davis-Clark, Ashton Henderson, and Ross Weaver. And, we're not even talking about the high praise of Chris Rucker throughout all of camp. Who will MSU cover? Jeremy Ross, Michael Calvin, and LaReylle Cunningham will be Cal's wideout corps, with a combined total of 4 of 266 receptions thrown by Cal QBs last year. Big advantage to MSU here to make a game-changing play and/or lay some wood.

Hits like a ton of bricks? Lay some wood? We are F*CKED.

Of course, numbers lie all the time. Victory4MSU has a nice overview of our team, and he does indicate he'll have his own thoughts on the game this week if he returns to regularly scheduled posting.

Overall the Cal defense looks solid, not spectacular. The run defense should be very good with that linebacker trio and pass defense should be decent. The big question mark is whether the defensive line can step up the pass rush. If the line improves this year, the Bear’s defense will be a major strength.

Fair, balanced, informative, highly journalistic. By contrast, these terms can't possibly describe SpartyMSU.

From what I can read, Berkeley seems to all about the Ugliest Mascot in the WORLD, Tree Huggin, some Dope Smokin, mediocre football, and Tightwad Hill. 

Last year Cal was 7 – 6 and 3-6 (Pac Ten), they played Air Force in a Nothing Bowl… Right now, they don’t have a clue who will be behind Center to start for the Golden Bears.. Might be Oski the Bear Mascot  for all we know.

The run-on sentences are especially penetrating and backbreaking. I've always wondered what Oski would do against a 4-3. Probably fumble the ball away and start drunkenly tackling linebackers.

Add all the other previews you can find of the Bears, the Spartans, the game, etc. in the comments!