Ouch.

Deep down, you might have seen this coming, but admit it: this morning you could talk yourself into the idea that our teams might rise to the occasion. Michigan State could out-punch Penn State to win a share of the Big Ten title, and Michigan could salvage its season with a win in a throw-out-the-records game with Ohio State.

But . . . not so much. First 42-7 in Columbus. Then 49-18 in Happy Valley.

College football: Ohio State 42, Michigan 7. This stings Wolverine fans more than it surprises them. Ever since the Buckeyes hit their stride in the second half of their game against Wisconsin in early October, only Penn State has beaten them—and, really, the Nittany Lions are the only team that’s given them a game in that span. And you knew Jim Tressel would save something special for Michigan when the Wolverines visited the Horseshoe.

Sure enough, that’s how it played out. In fact, it could have been worse: Terrelle Pryor, the Buckeyes phenom freshman quarterback, was just 5-for-13 passing and ineffective as a rusher. That’s good because it helped Ohio State from running up the score, and also because it keeps Michigan fans from wondering what this year would have been like if Pryor had chosen Maize and Blue instead.

Now, mercifully, it’s over. Rich Rodriguez’ disastrous first season is in the books, and there are reasons to think things will be better next fall: the arrival of a well-regarded recruiting class full of athletes who fit the spread offense; the players’ experience with Rodriguez’ system, and Rodriguez’ experience with the other Big Ten teams; and another year for Rodriguez’ vaunted strength and conditioning program to manifest itself in stronger, faster players.

But this season goes down as a dramatic failure: Michigan isn’t going bowling for the first time in a generation, and in fact would need to double its win total to gain bowl eligibility. The defense was inexplicably porous, considering it didn’t have to deal with the same difficulties as the offense, namely attrition and a radically different new scheme.

If Rich Rodriguez is able to build a powerhouse in Ann Arbor after this atrocious start, we can nickname him the Anti-Weis. But at the end of this 3-9 season, the only thing certain is that he’ll enter next season as the first Michigan football coach in my lifetime whose job is in legitimate danger.

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College football: Penn State 49, Michigan State 18. Mark Dantonio, in contrast, is probably about to get a raise and a contract extension despite not beating a consensus ranked team while at Michigan State. (Northwestern this season and Penn State last season were ranked in some polls but not the AP Poll). And he deserves the love he’s getting, considering the depths from which Michigan State has risen (see my recent multi-part Dantonio treatise for details). But these blowouts against elite teams are getting old.

As with Michigan’s game, it wasn’t surprising that MSU lost today, just disappointing. Technically, both MSU and PSU were teams with one conference loss playing for a share of the Big Ten title. But Penn State is an elite team worthy of a BCS slot and a trip to the Rose Bowl, and Michigan State is a team on the rise that still has some serious weaknesses. And those weaknesses were all evident today.

On defense, MSU surrendered 557 yards and allowed Penn State to turn third-and-very-long situations into huge gains so routinely that I found myself hoping for more third-and shorts. As MSU focused on limiting Evan Royster and the Penn State running game, it opened the door for a career game from Nittany Lions quarterback Daryll Clark, who passed for 341 yards and four scores. And Royster still averaged 6.6 yards a carry.

(Among the defensive atrocities was a long TD pass from backup PSU QB Pat Devlin to Deon Butler in the fourth quarter with Penn State leading 42-7. I’m guessing the deep ball didn’t sit well with Dantonio and had something to do with the back-to-back, celebration-delaying timeouts he called in the game’s final seconds.)

On offense, Michigan State’s line was again was pushed around by an elite defensive front. It couldn’t open holes for Javon Ringer (17 carries, 42 yards, 1 TD), whose Heisman campaign now feels like a strange novelty from another era. And it couldn’t protect Brian Hoyer, who was either sacked or pressured on just about every obvious passing down (and some that weren’t obvious) early in the game.

Speaking of Hoyer . . .

We need to appreciate this guy in a Doug Collins, gets-the-team-to-the-next-level-but-maybe-not-the-mountaintop kind of way. To that end, Mitch Albom has a nice line in his post-game column:

“And maybe, years from now, these seniors will view themselves as MSU’s bridge between average and great.”

But this was definitely not a mountaintop game for Hoyer. When the Spartans fell behind he looked rattled, then threw a scandalous pick late in the first half just as State was finally moving the ball. It was the latest in a string of lackluster performances on the big stage from Hoyer: first against Boston College in last year’s Champs Sports Bowl, and then against Ohio State this year. It didn’t help when, in a repeat of the Ohio State game, freshman Kirk Cousins relieved Hoyer and immediately led the Spartans to a touchdown. (Cousins is now 28-for-38 for 274 yards, two TDs and an interception on the season, and figures to give highly regarded transfer Keith Nichol serious competition for the starting QB job next season. In fact, don’t be surprised if fans start chanting Cousins’ name during MSU’s bowl game if Hoyer struggles.)

But MSU’s season is not over, and the Spartans figure to have one more crack at a ranked team, this time on New Year’s Day. The legacy of this 9-3 team is assured, but there’s a gaping hole on its resume—and State will have to recover mentally and physically from a serious beating today if it intends to fill in that gap.

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