Ringer's big game spurs MSU to victory

After the MSU football team defeated Notre Dame 23-7 on Saturday, the trailer behind the north endzone of Spartan Stadium where postgame interviews are held started filling up.

One by one, members of MSU’s offensive line took the stage before senior running back Javon Ringer finally entered and stood at the podium.

“Like I said before, I can do nothing without these guys standing next to me,” said Ringer, who rushed for 201 yards and two touchdowns on 39 carries. “It was a great team win and we were very, very dominant up front on both sides of the ball.”

With the help of his offensive live, Ringer continued his spectacular senior season, becoming the first-ever MSU running back to have back-to-back 200-yard games.

On the other side of the ball, MSU’s defense — which had just three sacks through its first three games — applied plenty of pressure on Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen, sacking the sophomore three times and knocking him down countless others.

After junior kicker Brett Swenson put the Spartans (3-1) up 3-0 on a 45-yard field goal less than four minutes into the game, MSU’s defense pressured Clausen into making costly mistakes.

With the Fighting Irish on MSU’s 24-yard line, Clausen looked into the endzone for Duval Kamara. Senior strong safety Otis Wiley came over to make a play on the under-thrown ball, taking it from Kamara as the two fell to the ground. After originally being ruled incomplete, the call was reversed after video showed Wiley got a foot down inbounds.

Other Notre Dame mistakes followed as Irish kicker Brandon Walker missed a 51-yard field goal and Clausen was picked off by Wiley for a second time to give the Spartans the ball with 7:53 remaining in the first half.

“We just (had) to take what they (gave) us,” said Clausen, who has thrown two interceptions in each of Notre Dame’s first three games. “They were coming from all over the place — corners, safeties. The front four are pretty good and you have to give those guys credit. They’re a really good team.”

After the Spartans fumbled following Wiley’s first interception, the Spartans were able to capitalize on his second — converting on fourth down on the Notre Dame 13-yard line and getting a pass interference call on Irish strong safety Kyle McCarthy on another third down — before Ringer scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give MSU a 10-0 lead heading into halftime.

“We were physical and we were playing with emotion from the very beginning and if you can do that from the start, it carries out through the whole game,” said junior middle linebacker Adam Decker, who recorded eight tackles. “That’s why we were able to stop the run and limit their points and we were playing with a little swagger and emotion.”

The Spartans extended their lead to 13-0 on a 26-yard field goal by Swenson in the third quarter before Notre Dame scored on the first play of the fourth quarter by way of a 26-yard touchdown pass from Clausen to Floyd that narrowed the margin to 13-7.

MSU handed the ball off to Ringer several times on its next series, running 5:35 off the clock before Swenson drilled a 23-yard field goal to extend MSU’s lead to 16-7 with nine minutes remaining.

After Notre Dame missed another field goal, MSU rattled off 77 yards — all courtesy of Ringer — to score another touchdown and put the game out of reach.

“Javon Ringer had an outstanding game and we blocked very well at the point of attack,” said MSU head coach Mark Dantonio. “The thing that was impressive to me was toward the end of the game when we knew we had to run the football … we were able to run the football and if you can do that you’ve done a great job up front.”

After the game, MSU defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi made a push for Ringer to garner Heisman Trophy consideration, while offensive coordinator Don Treadwell called Ringer a “special” player.

Aside from the physical tools that have helped Ringer rush for 699 yards and 11 touchdowns through four games, redshirt freshman left guard Joel Foreman said he wasn’t too surprised the senior captain brought his offensive line, fullbacks and tight ends out to the podium with him.

Actions like that is why the Foreman loves to block for him.

“It’s an honor to block for someone like Javon Ringer,” Foreman said. “He really epitomizes a leader and he really epitomizes a teammate so it’s cool when you get to say ‘I block for Javon Ringer,’ because he’s a good guy — not just a great athlete — he’s a great guy too.”

The Spartans will begin Big Ten play Sept. 27 in Bloomington, Ind. against the Hoosiers.