Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins is a very accomplished player. He re-wrote much of the Spartans record book for passing, and winning. So he has a lot of room to talk.
Tonight’s inaugural Big Ten Championship game in Indianapolis was an instant classic. It featured a lot of scoring and lead changes, and came down to the wire. Unfortunately for MSU it was decided on two questionable calls that went against them, and they lost their lead in the final minutes.
We know college football is a very emotional game, and this was an extraordinarily emotional loss for State. And Cousins had some interesting things to say in postgame.
Cousins was cool about the referees; his first bone to pick was with the league/system. Here’s what he said after the game:
Reporter: “Is there a part of you that wishes this game didn’t have to have been played?”
Cousins: “I know people like to make money, and it’s about money and this game brought in whatever number of millions of dollars for the Big Ten conference, upwards of 20 million, someone’s getting that money, not me, but someone’s getting that money.”
Obviously, he has some very valid points and reasons to be upset. In a similar vein, Cousins’ bitter rival, the Michigan Wolverines, could now get an at large BCS bid, instead of the Spartans- even though MSU both won the division ahead of Michigan and beat them head to head. And it’s not unprecedented either.
In 1999, both Michigan and Michigan State finished 9-2, with State winning the head-to-head meeting. Yet UM went to the BCS (Orange Bowl) and the Spartans were relegated to the Citrus Bowl. History will likely repeat itself today.
Reporter: There’s talk that Michigan now gets into the BCS, you want to make a case for state? Do you need to make a case for State?
Cousins: “Michigan sat home tonight on the couch and watched us, we played our hearts out, you saw it. I don’t see how you get punished for playing, and someone else gets to sit on the couch and get what they want. If this is the way the system is, I guess it’s a broken system.”
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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