Spartans' 1-3 record misleading

“The Spartans are better than their record, for whatever that’s worth.” Hooey. If they are better than their record, then their record would be 4-0. I’m not jumping off the bandwagon, but let’s not kid ourselves. The defense stinks and we all know it. Let’s turn up the heat this week in practice and skin some wolverines this Saturday! No more excuses!

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts what a wonderful Christmas it would be.

Guy, 1-3 is 1-3.

What is wrong with the defensive backfield..How do people get that wide-open..Obviously these guys do not know the scheme..better keep it simple..follow the KISS method when in doubt because if you do not know what you are doing..you cannot play with fire..Get it right..

I keep asking myself, how stupid can people be?

People need to put things in context. MD gave MSU 2 winning seasons in his first two years. Eventually, MSU had to fall a little because the experience of those two first years wasn’t going to last forever. Now MD is really creating his program and developing his players. In his first two years, he adjusted a little to those upperclassmen from JLS era because those players were brought in to the program to satisfy the spread offense of JLS.

Everybody has seen our offense and it is one that will be tremendous in 2 or 3 years.

The defense is really the problem. MSU has scored but it hasn’t stopped anyone.

Maturity and leadership will get us out of this one.

I still expect a .500 above season.

IN MD WE TRUST.

You know, it’s happy-talk/kool-aid drinker’s columns like these that turned me off to the State News… Last year, the SN broke from this and had a student/guy (can’t recall his name) who was hard-nosed and critical of the team;
and it was refreshing…

The Chris Vannini’s with their ‘Rah-rah, let’s rally around the team’ crap doesn’t help anybody. Nobody’s talking crazy like firing Dantonio (he was just extended by the Trustees last year, so he’s not going anywhere —- nor should he be)… But we need a critical assessment of what’s wrong with this team; regardless, Chris, of what expectations were for the team (and expectations matter little now), obviously there are serious problems that have manifested in this program over decades, that we thought MD had eradicated, but have resurfaced, disturbingly again: stuff like: poor tackling, undisciplined play, stupid penalties and guys constantly out of position…

Chris, we need hard-nosed assessment of what’s going on with the team — stuff that you and your staff should be reporting (so I don’t have to constantly go to the Freep, DetNews or sometimes LSJ to get). So can the pom-pom stuff, please…

No one’s interested in your fantasy how to save the season because, with these serious issues (in addition to the coach hurting things with his 2-headed QB nonsense when Kirk Counsins should be the man and MD’s only serving to undercut the kid’s confidence), the season can’t and won’t be saved… You should seriously focus on the problems that can and must be fixed for next year and beyond.

Based on the previous comments I am “beating a dead horse”, but after viewing the game in Madison I just want to state the obvious and reiterate that MSU’s pass coverage is downright terrible. Put us up against a team with two or more decent receiver options and a QB with a good arm and they will take us to the cleaners if we don’t clean up our act. The 38-30 score in no way reflects the pace of the Madison game. Let’s not forget the three interceptions that may as well have been delivered with a bowtie wrapped around them.

If they were better than their record, they would have this thing straightened up by the 4th game. “Waiting for it to gel” and the 5th game against UM is next, ain’t gonna cut it. Shuffling around players the week before UM is a little too late.

How about we get a QB who isn’t afraid to run for a 1st down with 5 yards of open field in front of him? Or one who will take a sack setting the team up for a field goal instead of thworing an INT to lose it.

One comment in last week’s game made me sick to my stomach – Cousins was quoted as saying he’s an executive making executive decisions.

Cousins – we don’t need an executive – that’s the coach’s job. We need a worker, and after four games you don’t appear to have what it takes. You have thrown a few good balls and many bad ones and you don’t appear to have the cajones, judging from your habit of doing anything to avoid being hit.

Throwing away the ND game on a “please don’t hit me” pass and listening to the ESPN team try to explain your fear of running with the ball confirms a few things about Dantonio’s QB decisions for the rest of the season.

SN readers – go ahead and slam me, but I’m saying what you are all thinking. MSU can’t settle for this.

I don’t care if the team is the best 1-3 team out there. Even if success were gauged by how well you played the game, MSU fails on that count as well. Yes, they’ve played well in spots during the last three games, but have also made John L Smith era type mistakes in each of their losses, be it penalties or turnovers or whatever.

Three things:
1. Don’t schedule another Football Championship Subdivision team again. It does nothing to prepare your team for what is to come, and in fact, is an insult to ticket paying fans who want to see a real game.
2. Figure out who your QB is and go with him. It has to hurt the team to be switching QB’s by quarter (let alone by series). The team needs to develop a game flow with a consistent quarterback. If you want to switch QBs, do it by game, however, to me Cousins has demonstrated at least an edge over Nichols.
3. If we are going to win games, the defense will need to step up. We need more quarterback pressure, better tackling, and the defensive backs need to understand that MSU’s environmental initiative is not directed toward them — they should not be allowing “green space” between them and their coverage assignments!

I haven’t given up on this season yet, but with a few more lackluster performances like we’ve seen I may be focusing my planning on what to serve at my tailgate during gametime.

I love when people say they are better than there record. If they were, they would be winning and not losing. They are what there record says they are. Mr. Vannin, this is a flaw.

If I were Dantonio, next week I would hold open tryouts. No position except for place kicker would be safe.

No position held maintained by a current player. Each one would be cut and their scholorship rescinded.

Cousins would have to make a choice – grow a pair and play like a Big 10 QB, or go play powder puff with the Chi Ho’s.

You may say – “but a new team couldn’t learn the system”. But this team doesn’t know the system either…

The most disturbing aspect so far is that we see no improvement week to week but regression. Does not bode well for any kind of winning record. How could we have been so diluted that this tam was going to have a break out year. I’m completely baffled.

Look at Cincinnati this year. Brian Kelly is winning with Dantonio’s team. MD built that team. The Bearcats will be a BCS contender this year; keep that in mind as we deal with this season and give MD time and patience.

To me its very interesting how not that many people have commented here. It’s probably a sign that at least they are showing discretion considering this week’s game magnitude.

In addition to our less-than-stellar defense, I think it’s worth noting that our offensive playcalling is suspect at best.
I think Treadwell needs to go…maybe Narduzzi, too. I like Dantonio a lot, but his staff is not cutting it.

As much as it pains me to say, if Forcier and D. Robinson can put the hostile crowd out of their minds, they will torch us…bad…because our defense certainly isn’t going to be intimidating…our secondary couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn…

The team has to win half its remaining games to get to six wins. Based on the performances so far, that will not be easy.
My suggestion at this point is to worry less about victories this year, and concentrate instead on developing your talent for next season. You may need to cut back the playing time of some seniors in favor of getting some time for younger ones.

Same. Old. Spartans.

‘Nuff said.

1-3 is 1-3… quit comparing State to Michigan.. it is a sign of inferiority.. State is State.. let them wish to be like State, THEN and oly THEN we will be equal