Gallery: Football vs. Michiga...
The State News
U-M tight end Carson Butler (85) fends off senior defensive end Jonal Saint-Dic as running back Mike Hart of the Wolverines runs with the ball Saturday at Spartan Stadium.
The State News
U-M safety Jamar Adams breaks up a pass to senior tight end Kellen Davis during Saturday’s game at Spartan Stadium.
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Ringer drafted by Titans in 5th round; Hoyer signs with Patriots
Spring game full of positive, negative plays
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MSU football signs contracts to play Alabama, West Virginia
Ringer drafted by Titans in 5th round; Hoyer signs with Patriots
Spring game full of positive, negative plays
White squeaks by Green in overtime
Spring game full of positive, negative plays
White squeaks by Green in overtime
M-barrassing
They don’t understand it, either. Another Saturday and another win just out of reach for the Spartan football team, this one more painful than the rest because it came at the hands of their biggest rival. Following the game, junior quarterback Brian Hoyer was at a loss for words. He doesn’t know why his team keeps coming so close, only to fall short.
“We’re down 14-3 at halftime, we come out and play hard as hell, we play our asses off,” Hoyer said, his eyes glazed over after losing 28-24 to Michigan. “Sometimes, I guess things aren’t meant to go your way.”
It was their sixth straight loss to the Wolverines. It was their fifth loss of the season — all by seven or fewer points.
“It hurts really bad and that’s something we’re going to have to deal with,” senior running back Jehuu Caulcrick said, his last shot at defeating the Wolverines killed when U-M scored two late fourth-quarter touchdowns.
In the first half, it looked like the game might be a Maize and Blue blowout.
After MSU scored a field goal on its first drive, the Spartans failed to get a single first down on their next five possessions.
Hoyer missed two potential touchdown passes; the first was overthrown to senior tight end Kellen Davis, and the second fell short of junior wide receiver Devin Thomas.
“When I threw it, I’m like, ‘All right, it’s a touchdown,’” Hoyer said.
“If the wind got it I’m not sure, but the only thing on my mind was just don’t overthrow him.”
Despite combining for only 28 yards in the first half, Caulcrick and junior running back Javon Ringer came out firing on all cylinders for the final two quarters.
“For whatever reason, we caught fire emotionally and our running backs found creases,” head coach Mark Dantonio said.
Ringer had one run at the end of the third quarter that literally turned the game around for the Spartans.
When the ball was handed off to him, Ringer knew his team needed something big. He ran to the left sideline, right into the arms of a tackler, but wrenched himself out.
“Thank God, somehow, I was able to snatch out of it,” said Ringer, who finished with 128 yards on 15 carries. “I turned around, cut back and saw open field, and I just ran as hard as I could with the energy I had left.”
He followed blocks all the way to the other sideline, streaking 72 yards to the U-M 5-yard line. On the next play, Hoyer threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Davis, and the Spartans took the lead, 17-14.
Caulcrick would bull-rush the Spartans to a touchdown on their next drive, giving them a 24-14 lead with just under eight minutes left.
Eight minutes until the Spartans’ past failures came back to haunt them.
U-M mounted a comeback behind quarterback Chad Henne with an onslaught of mid-ranged passes to wide receivers Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington.
On the first drive, Henne threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Greg Mathews, followed by a 31-yard bomb to Manningham in the end zone on their next drive.
Early in the week, Dantonio asked his team how long they will “bow down” to U-M, but after the game, he found himself being asked a similar question.
“No, I don’t think we bowed down,” Dantonio said. “We just didn’t get it done at the end of the game for whatever reason.”
Like Hoyer, Ringer struggled to come up with an answer for what is missing from this Spartan football team. He couldn’t put his finger on why so many wins this year have fallen just out of reach.
But Ringer said he still feels like this team is different than the one that imploded last season. The players aren’t pointing fingers and turning on each other, they aren’t getting blown out and giving up, he said.
“We feel like we can win every game,” Ringer said. “That’s the mentality we had going into this game and all the way to the end.”
Published on Sunday, November 4, 2007
Comments
mike
11/04/07 @ 10:22pm
at least the lions are doing good :
Same Old
11/04/07 @ 10:53pm
Same team every year “open big then fall to pieces in conference play”, same story every game “came so close, but so far from the win”. Our football team is a joke, stop predicting them to win, any idiot can see we’re not going to a bowl game this year, or next…
Anyone else ready for March Madness???
gim
11/05/07 @ 1:52am
Jon, this is what about I’m talking about. Good job. Sorry it’s about a loss though…
TrueSpartan
11/05/07 @ 2:34am
M-Barrasing is completly WRONG!! How dare we call our selves Spartans. Our team might have lost a great game but they still played GREAT!! Instead of talking about how bad they were and highlighting all their mistakes we need to remember the unity we shared on the field. We are one really means something and win or lose thats what mattered GREAT JOB SPARTANS!!!
SpartanAlum07
11/05/07 @ 6:10am
I am not one to blame anyone, but why was the defense style changed for a second time in the second half when we already stopped them so many times? I guess this is a good question for Narduzzi and Dantonio.
MSUAlum2001
11/05/07 @ 7:07am
Amen SpartanAlum07! I’ve been asking that question all weekend, and still can’t find a good answer. Just goes to show you again, the “Prevent” defense only prevents you from winning.
Brian
11/05/07 @ 7:47am
So typical. This game reminded me on a smaller scale of the Insight Bowl last year (Texas Tech v. Minnesota). After stopping Texas Tech’s passing game in the first half when no one thought they would, Minnesota stopped the blitz entirely and only rushed three for the entire second half, allowing TT to make the biggest comeback in bowl history. With the exception of OSU, Big Ten teams have no idea what it takes to win on major level, or how to deal with packages they aren’t use to seeing. They consistently change game plans once they have a lead, which always set the stage for big momentum shifts. I’m so tired of Spartan football.
Rob
11/05/07 @ 7:58am
I couldn’t agree more. Why in the world do you abandon a defensive scheme that has worked basically since early in the second quarter to go to a prevent defense that historically (at least at State) does not work? I respect these coaches and feel they need time (years) to get the job done, but c’mon people. Have you paid NO attention to Spartan football the last 20 years to realize we have a hard enough time closing out games without regressing into a failed defensive scheme?! Go Green
seenitallb4
11/05/07 @ 8:03am
Grow up True Spartan, M-Barrassing is completely RIGHT! Unfortunately the catch-phrase doesn’t capture the complete humiliation you should be feeling if your really are a “True Spartan”. Four self-inflicted debacles in the last five weeks is the only consistency this heartless and gutless team can muster. Effort – D minus, Play-calling – F, Coaching – F. Who was it that said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? If it wasn’t for Ringer and Caulcrick, we’d be 0-10!
MSU ALUMN
11/05/07 @ 8:23am
“How do you stop a Spartan from masturbating? Paint a U of M logo on their **** and they’ll never beat it again!” That was just one of many annoying text messages I received on game day from Michigan fans. It’s amazing how old acquaintances that you haven’t spoken to in years come out of the woodwork when they have an opportunity to brag. Up by two scores late in the 4th quarter I was waiting ever so patiently for the Spartan victory to become final so I could reply to these idiots with my “scoreboard” response. Unfortunately that moment never came and my phone was turned off… I’ll put this behind me just like all the rest of the heartbreaking close losses, but at what point is this football team going to realize that moral victories count for nothing? Like my elementary school teacher always use to tell me, “close only counts in hand grenades and horse shoes”.
song
11/05/07 @ 8:36am
Will someone please explain why all of our passing plays were sniffed out and therefore had their DB’s right on the plays while our DB’s seemd like 5 yards away from their passing routes? Their passings routes were very similar over and over and yet there were only several plays where our DB’s were right on it to make the catch difficult. Either our plays callings are being snuffed out by predictable calls or maybe Tom Brady gave Lloyd Carr a trick to pick up opponent’s play signals from Belichick’s system. I would like to think latter is true but not many would agree I am sure. On where our DB’s are not in a plays is either because UM play callings are creative as not to be predictable or our defensive coaches are guessing wrong or simply our DB’s are slow. When we had 10 point lead with 8 minutes to go, the first thing that creeped up in my mind was Ohhh Noooo now we are going to give them short passes on out of bounds passes and ther are going to march right down and score touch down in 2and haft minutes and we are going to play conservatively offensive and three and out and punt and Oh my God…. And that is exactly what unfolded in the waning minutes and this sentiment flowed all among us the fans who were sitting in the stands. Incredible how a coach can not feel that and try at least to change play callings to prevent that from happening. I feel for the players that played their heart out all for the loss that at least in my mind was largely due to incompetent play callings by the coachs. I would like to ask a question to the each respective coordinators a question: what are you guys afraid of ? And to coach MD: do you have a power to over ride some of the play selections when you feel your gut feeling tells you something and if you do have that privilige then why don’t you do it? I just hope that coaching staff learns very much from this years experience and take their skill level to another notch these two remaining games and beyond. Go State!!
CHRWD
11/05/07 @ 9:23am
Hey, did anyone else watching on TV see Chad Henne’s face-plant into the tunnel while running off of the field after the game?? It basically made the loss totally worth it for me. HAHAHAHA, Chad Henne will ALWAYS rhyme with D-Bag!!!
Wolverine Fan
11/05/07 @ 9:31am
THE SPARTANS HAVE NOTHING TO HANG THEIR HEADS OVER...THEY PLAYED A GREAT GAME...PERIOD!!
ALUM05
11/05/07 @ 9:38am
CHRWD, I did see that. However the rest of the game was exactly the same one I have witnessed over the last 5 years. It is not some much the defensive scheme that bothers me but the blatent late hit by Davis-Clark. Also that lucky bounce the ball took on the strip from Mallet. I think that it is simply a break down of discipline, as always. A couple of bad throws/drops by the offense made it all the worse. I want to be and stay a Spartan loyal but it is difficult sometimes. What is basiclly breaks down to is poor discipline and poor execution. That is what I saw. I am sick of say there is always next year.
itsme
11/05/07 @ 9:52am
Good title, but I still love watching their games…. never a dull moment…. one of these games…. one of these games….. the end will show their spirit.
Kickinitoldschool
11/05/07 @ 11:04am
the fact is, State played a very good if not excellent game, particularly in the second half, while Michigan basically stunk it up until the final 10 minutes or so, and Michigan still won, which indicates to me that the Wolverines are the superior team
Bleed Green
11/05/07 @ 11:06am
That’s really classy, CHRWD.
David
11/05/07 @ 11:10am
Stupid penalties and prevent defense—can the the Doctor shelf both of those and beat Purdon’t and the 2nd Land Grant University?
jon6707
11/05/07 @ 11:20am
Classy? Who the hell wants classy? This isn’t school. It isn’t church. It’s SPORTS!
Andy
11/05/07 @ 12:25pm
I fail to see how a 28-24 heartbreaker qualifies for a headline equivalent to Embarassing. How? Had our Spartans lost 28-3, or 49-3 or 119-0, then you could lead with that headline.
Try again. Great effort but we’re just struggling to get over the hump. The time will come, sooner than we think…
J. brew
11/05/07 @ 2:26pm
If anything, the Spartans embarrassed UM in the second half, but we couldn’t handle the pressure. It simply comes down to that. We had PLENTY of time and timeouts to comeback and win, especially at home. But State could not handle the pressure. We have been in too many situations like this where confidence in themselves is key, and we just don’t have that when it comes at the end of the game and we are under pressure to pull off the win.
It was a great game to watch in the second half, but the higher the excitement for the possible win, the harder the fall. That was true Saturday. Go State!
Krocker
11/05/07 @ 2:27pm
The score itself is not embarrassing, the way it came about was embarrassing. Once again having the game won, only to crap in their pants. These guys don’t know how to win, period. I wish they did, and I think they will, but they don’t now and that is embarrassing. There are only so many ways you can giftwrap a game for an opponent and we’ve pretty much used them all this year — bad coaching, bad playcalling, bad play, stupid penalties, bad clock management, etc, etc. I would say the Spartants are the joke of the country again, collapsing in games and seasons, but nobody even cares about this program anymore — we are Ole Miss or Baylor, watchable only because of the teams we are playing.
Andy
11/05/07 @ 3:14pm
This part is what should be written as embarassing. Mike Hart’s attitude, arrogance and penchant for being a punk: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071105/UPDATE/711050440/1132/SPORTS0202
lol
11/05/07 @ 3:16pm
it is time for spartans to realize that our football team simply sucks! its a simple fact
They should stop spending so much damn money on the stadium while this team can’t even win on their own field.
Matt
11/05/07 @ 3:23pm
Andy, whats wrong with what Mike Hart said?
I personally agree, state is UofM’s little brother. We get our butts kicked EVERY YEAR, they don’t even try, we do, and we still lose. Face facts, we have won an average of 3 out of 10 games against them for the past 100 years. MSU will NEVER EVER EVER EVER equal UofM or OSU or ND in football. Thats life.
Atleast we got hotter girls ;)
Rob
11/05/07 @ 4:23pm
I hope that Hart is enjoying his college career considering he won’t have one in the NFL just like Tyrone Wheatly and Tim Biakatuka.
Sparticus
11/05/07 @ 4:31pm
I believe in Coach D. He will learn and we will improve. He always faces up to facts, and never even slaps his face in public.
Meanwhile hockey rules!!!
Victoria
11/05/07 @ 4:40pm
Run Antonio! Run fast!!! Get out of dodge while you still can!!
Frustrated Alumni and parent! grrr
blue boy
11/05/07 @ 5:27pm
Mike Hart is right! You are the little brothers. As a matter of fact, judging from your whining, you are the BABY brother!
Mike hart can say anything he wants! he has beaten you 4 years in a row (two on one leg). He has gained over 700 yards against you and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, you will NEVER be able to make him eat his words!!! That IS rivalry! By the way, who said that MSU out-played Michigan? The game I saw? Michigan played the first 2 quarters, While MSU did nothing) Then SPARTY, the STEROID MUPPET, played the 3rd and half of the 4th and Michigan took over the rest.
In short: CRY BABY,CRY.... GO BLUE!!!!
blue Boy
11/05/07 @ 5:42pm
You are so right, Rob. Hart will not have a stellar NFL career. certainly NOT like: Sedric Irvin, Tony Mandarich, Drew Stanton, Charles Rogers or Tom Brady… Oh, wait! That lat one is OURS and he is OK, don’t you think?
CRY BABY, CRY.. this is SOOOOOOOOOOOO sweet
GO BLUE!!!!
blue boy
11/05/07 @ 5:45pm
VICTORIA?
You are an ALUMNA (not an alumni… alumni is the plural form)
Don’t you ever learn?
Go BLUE
MichiganMaestro
11/05/07 @ 6:04pm
It’s interesting that while all the focus is about Mike Hart’s “little brother” comments, no one mentions all the trash talk that’s been coming from MSU. For weeks, we’ve been hearing about the Appalachian State game from the Spartans. Comments by fans, comments by players, in the press in Lansing, on the websites and blogs. And all over East Lansing, seeing the “At least we didn’t lose to Appalachian State” t-shirts. TV cameras picked them up at every MSU game all fall, and there were a ton of them on Saturday. The shirts weren’t in ASU’s colors – they were green and white. And while ASU came in to A2 and kicked our butts (we don’t deny that for a second), no one likes to have it thrown in their face. You can’t honestly expect “big brother” to endure all that taunting from “little brother” without a little verbal payback when little brother falls on his face – again.
And for the record, while MSU players are whining about how we got all the supposed breaks in the game, and that MSU had the game and then blew it, we admitted that ASU and Oregon just plain outplayed us. Yes, MSU’s running game was really impressive in the 3rd quarter and 1st half of the 4th quarter, but we owned you in the first half. And at the end – hear me clearly now – you didn’t give away the game. We took it, because we’re Michigan. We’re not snobs, we’re just better than you.
Dave
11/06/07 @ 10:43am
I admit MSU played a terrific 3rd quarter and the start of the 4th, but Michigan outplayed MSU to start and, more importantly, to END the game.
As MSU learned against Notre Dame last year, you have to FINISH what you start.
Maybe MSU will improve under Dantonio – that remains to be seen. First seasons under a new coach are not a good indicator.
But for now, one word: SCOREBOARD!
See y’all next year.
Michigan Maestro sucks
11/06/07 @ 3:01pm
Stop copy and pasting on our website. Say something that is insightful, not this crap….over and over and over.
CHKYRSLF
11/06/07 @ 5:49pm
MICHIGAN STATE FOOTBALL:
Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory Since 2001, when a clock mishap prevented their demise.
When is this school going to understand that it will never have a consistently successful football program? Stick to Basketball.
MichiganEECS
11/07/07 @ 7:41am
I really don’t understand what all this fuzz is about. Com’on, having a great football team isn’t going to get you a job…
eh
11/08/07 @ 12:30pm
MichiganEECS, You must know personally…that having a great football team doesnt get you a job.
UofM Fan (slient MSU fan)
11/09/07 @ 1:37am
I bleed maize and blue and I have to say that was a fun game to watch. I was pulling for Michigan until they took the lead. Then I wanted MSU to win to spice up the instate rivalry a bit. I think both programs need to be re-invented. Neither can compete successfully on the national level.
My brother is a huge MSU fan. I haven’t spoken to him since halftime of the game. I want to call him but I know he needs t. However, when Michigan lost to APP ST and Oregon he wasted no time in calling me and rubbing it in. I know now he must feel embarrassed because his team lost to the team that lost to a Division II school. O the irony!