MSU faces tough games after loss
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Keith Nichol walks across Spartan Stadium on Saturday after losing 29-28 to Central Michigan.
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Chris Vannini
Two games into a season filled with high expectations, the MSU football team already is at a crossroads.
Following a heartbreaking 29-27 loss to Central Michigan on Saturday, MSU must prepare to travel to Notre Dame and Wisconsin for two of the season’s toughest road games in a two-week span.
Then they’ll return to Spartan Stadium to play Michigan, which looks as if it has turned the corner under head coach Rich Rodriguez. After that, the Spartans travel to Champaign, Ill., to take on an explosive Illinois offense similar to the one they saw out of Central Michigan.
The bottom line is that things aren’t getting any easier for the Spartans, which looked undisciplined and sluggish this weekend.
“We did have some penalties that cost us,” sophomore quarterback Kirk Cousins said. “Our program has prided itself on being disciplined and we can’t expect to win a lot of football games if we’re not going to be disciplined.”
The lack of discipline might have cost the Spartans the game Saturday when an offsides call with eight seconds remaining nullified a field goal attempt that was blocked by the Spartans. The Spartans had eight penalties for 81 yards, with pass interference and late hits occurring most often and hurting the Spartans most.
“Usually, in a loss, there is a lack of discipline and focus,” junior linebacker Eric Gordon said. “We knew what we wanted to do, but we didn’t execute it as well as we should have.”
With a tough stretch of games coming up, the Spartans need to shape up or they could come out of this stretch with a record of 3-3 — or even 2-4 — with the bulk of the Big Ten schedule remaining.
The team captains — Cousins, junior linebacker Greg Jones, senior wide receiver Blair White and senior cornerback Ross Weaver — need to get the team on the same page and ready for this stretch of games. For starters, they called a players-only meeting for Sunday afternoon in an attempt to bring the team together.
“We’re going to find out what kind of football team we have now and leadership is going to be huge,” Cousins said. “We just need to circle the wagons, make sure no one is pointing fingers, make sure we’re all on the same page and we’re going to get this corrected.”
The Spartans better correct their mistakes, because if they come out of this four-game stretch with a .500 record or worse, many fans who believe head coach Mark Dantonio has turned the corner with this program might start to jump ship.
“As I said when I first started, you find out about people when you get to this point,” Dantonio said after Saturday’s game.
With U-M’s football team on the rise and MSU losing to an in-state Mid-American Conference school, all the ground gained last year by this program might quickly disappear if the Spartans don’t turn it around.
The time is now for the Spartans. Will they come back from this tough loss, take a seventh straight victory in South Bend, Ind., and play at their top level for the rest of the season? Or will they buckle under the high expectations, as so many Spartan teams have in the past?
The Spartans need a Tim Tebow moment. Last season, after an upset loss to Mississippi, the Florida quarterback vowed that no team would work harder the rest of the season than the Gators. His team responded to their leader’s call and didn’t lose for the rest of the season en route to the national championship.
Players have praised Cousins’ ability to be a leader — his election as the second sophomore captain in school history is proof — and his leadership will be put to the test this weekend in a hostile environment. I expect Cousins to take the majority — if not all — of the snaps under center this weekend. This offense needs to show consistency and it starts with consistent players in the game.
The Spartans have one week to improve and make sure they don’t join the long list of Spartan teams that haven’t lived up to expectations.
Commentary
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Joshua Vincent
(09/14/09 12:04am)Report
Go Green!
Go White!
Go SPARTANS!
Joesph
(09/14/09 2:02am)Report
The Sparties will go 1 and 11.
You know what they say, “Pride comes before the fall” and all. lol.
Go BLUE!
MUCK
(09/14/09 4:07am)Report
Appalachian State…
Then Toledo….
At lest MSU never had that happen.
Go BLOW.
Jason B
(09/14/09 8:13am)Report
Joseph, you’re a loser. Why is a Michigan fan reading and posting on MSU’s student paper? Get a life.
Other than that, I think Cousins proved he should be the QB. Nichols didn’t look as good to me in this game. A lot of passes off the mark. Hopefully the team gets ready for Notre Dame and continues the win streak in South Bend.
Rick
(09/14/09 9:35am)Report
I have to question Cousins’ judgement and intellect when he said how MSU prides itself on being a disciplined team – being a fan of MSU football for close to a decade now I can say that this statement is pretty much the opposite of the truth. Discipline has always been MSU’s downfall.
Lets hope that changes…
Brett
(09/14/09 11:02am)Report
State had too many penalties throughout the game. What was the final count?
Cousins
(09/14/09 11:37am)Report
I don’t want to see Cousins on the bench anymore this season.
Mike
(09/14/09 11:49am)Report
Did anyone else notice the CMU center moved the ball before the snap, and that’s what pulled the MSu guys offsides?
Townsend
(09/14/09 12:21pm)Report
I’m sticking w/ Dantonio … at least for now. He seems like a smart, disciplined guy who was turning things around… For whatever reason, things got away from him/us, and we reverted to our same gremilins: lack of intelligence/execution on Defense and total airhead stupidity making dumb penalties — and if you notice, the penalties started coming quicker toward the game’s end…
… For whatever reason, this team has gained a culture of playing to LOSE close games. CMU blew one opportunity after the next to take the lead, but we kept making dumb plays, esp penalties and on D, that kept CMU in play… They even made a foolish 2-pt conversion try that failed w/ less than 1 min, and remained behind BUT STILL BEAT US. (this is shades of the infamous MSU game several years ago when MSU returned a kickoff to take the lead against Northwestern with seconds left, only to allow NW a huge long pass play, on their very next play, to set up a game-winning FG… MSU HISTORICALLY PLAYS TO LOSE, and we’ve got to have Dantonio break us of this JLS/Perles crap.
And for all the hoopla over CMU and their vaunted QB/spread offense, the fact is, just 1 week before, Arizona, a mid-level PAC-10 team, held them to a mere 6 points…
btw: was it just me, or did it (on TV, at least) seem like there were more CMU fans in the stands than most Big 10 opposing teams… I don’t care how improved the MAC is, CMU is STILL a MAC school; we’re supposed to be a team on the way up — maybe even seeking that elusive BSC Bowl, and yet, at the most inopportune time, reverted back to our old tricks..
like I said, though, I like Mark.D. and am sticking w/ him… for now.
Sparty Winehouse
(09/14/09 1:32pm)Report
Yeah Muck
“At lest MSU never had that happen.”
GREAT POINT! I forget… When was the last time MSU was ranked in the top 5 and playing a sub-division football team?
Smoke Green! Blow White!
Nittany Lion Fan
(09/14/09 2:18pm)Report
Tough loss for the Spartans and it pretty much ruined my day too. I was fully anticipating two unbeaten PSU & MSU squads to face off in a ripper in East Lansing in November.
Hang tough. The season is young. Go Green!
Tom
(09/14/09 2:49pm)Report
This is the first year I can remember since my freshman year at State in 1998 that I have no hope for our team. I live in TX so I didn’t get to see the first game, but against CMU we looked like crap. Defense is the worst I’ve ever seen in a MSU team.
And Nichols would have started last week at OU had he not been a quitter.
Matt
(09/14/09 2:58pm)Report
Coach Dantonio needs to choose a starting Quarterback (Cousins)and play them the whole game. Notice both Quarterbacks were having trouble with the location on their passes on Saturday. Could be do to inconsistant playing time. You are the coach, make the choice and lets move on. The two quarterback system rarely works.
Joshua Vincent
(09/14/09 5:04pm)Report
Tom, I cannot believe you say that. Do you NOT remember when it was Bobby and John L coaching? There was no cohesiveness to the team then.
We all slip, it’s to bad when we slipped on Saturday we fell. Our guys will be out there next Saturday to show what we’ve got.
Keep on keeping on Spartans! Prove to the “same old Spartan fans” that you are NOT the Same Old Spartans anymore!
tom 2
(09/14/09 7:09pm)Report
Tom above, seriously? MSU has more hope now than any team since 2000 besides last year. One loss means very little in football and it’d mean even less if college went to playoffs like every other level. One loss can actually make a team better, lets see if that’s what happens at MSU
weasel
(09/14/09 7:57pm)Report
Joseph, consider yourself fortunate that we’re not coming down to AA. Lefevour & Co. would smack you around too.
And Spartys, keep your chins up. You’ll be fine, and considering how weak the Big 10 is, you’ll probably find yourselves in a good bowl game. Good game and FIRE UP CHIPS!
Glory
(09/14/09 9:55pm)Report
1 loss. Big deal. We were 1-1 at this point last year. We lost to a talented team with a first day draft pick at QB. Switch the jerseys from CMU to Cal and no one cares. Cousins earned the starting job. NO MORE 2 QBS! At OSU Pryor beat out 2007 All Big 10 First Team Beackman and then played almost every snap for the whole year. It needs to happen now. AND NARDUZZI NEEDS TO GET HIS HEAD OUT OF HIS ASS AND STOP PLAYING PREVENT D. ALL PREVENT D DOES IS PREVENT YOUR TEAM FROM WINNING. 1-1. Big deal. We played a quality opponent with an offense simiar to IL UM and PSU. It was good practice. Let the scUM and CMU fans have their 29-27 shirt. I want one that says “MSU: 2009 Big 10 Champs”!
Optimist
(09/14/09 10:11pm)Report
Hey Vaninni. Enough doom and gloom. Learn to spin in a positive way. It was 1 non-conference game. Who cares.