Spartans stumble, lose to Irish
33-30 loss ends streak of six straight in South Bend, sends Spartans to 1-2
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South Bend, Ind. — Kirk Cousins walked off the field at Notre Dame Stadium surrounded by a frenzied mob, a blank expression on his face.
Just minutes earlier, the sophomore quarterback was driving his team down the field in search of a potential game-tying field goal or game-winning touchdown.
Down three points and with the ball at the Notre Dame 18-yard line and about one minute to play, Cousins was hurried out of the pocket. Throwing on the run, his pass across the middle was intercepted by Notre Dame’s Kyle McCarthy, ending the rally and dropping the Spartans to 1-2 with a 33-30 loss.
“I made a poor decision, made a costly error,” Cousins said. “I needed to throw the ball away, take a sack, anything. … It was a major mistake and I have to learn from it and we have to bounce back.”
But Dantonio remained supportive of his young quarterback, who threw for 302 yards on the day.
Gallery: MSU v. Notre Dame ...
“We’re not getting down the field without Kirk Cousins,” Dantonio said. “He did an outstanding job. No one feels worse than he does about this. He will rise again. He will rise up.”
Following last week’s stunning loss to Central Michigan, the Spartans looked shell-shocked in the early going.
On Saturday, after MSU went three-and-out on its opening drive, Notre Dame marched down the field in four plays. Quarterback Jimmy Clausen found tight end Kyle Rudolph wide-open on the left sideline. He scampered 52 yards before going out of bounds. Two plays later, running back Armando Allen found the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation.
The Spartans offense would bounce back with a 12-play drive that saw senior kicker Brett Swenson nail a 42-yard try to cut the lead to 7-3.
But Notre Dame’s offense would not be stopped, as Clausen again marched his team down the field with ease, hitting receiver Michael Floyd for a 22-yard touchdown. The five-play drive went 2:12.
Swenson would miss a 51-yard field goal on MSU’s next possession and Clausen would continue riding high. At the end of the first quarter, Clausen was 9-for-9 for 128 yards and the Fighting Irish never handed the ball to a running back.
But when the teams changed sides of the field to start the second quarter, the tide of the game changed, as well.
On the fifth play of the quarter, Clausen went down with a toe injury and the Irish punted two plays later. He missed a long third down play but returned.
“He wasn’t full speed the rest of the way,” Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis said.
Sophomore quarterback Keith Nichol took over at quarterback for MSU and, aided by two Notre Dame personal fouls, drove the team 50 yards in three plays. Then, after Weis called a timeout to presumably calm his team down, MSU went into its book of tricks, as sophomore receiver Keshawn Martin took a reverse and found senior receiver Blair White open down the right sideline for a 30-yard touchdown.
With the momentum shifting, Dantonio called for an onside kick. Swenson hit it perfectly, as the ball hit barely past the 40-yard line and was recovered by MSU.
Now down three points, MSU looked to tie or take the lead, but redshirt freshman running back Caulton Ray fumbled on a screen pass and Notre Dame recovered.
“We left plays on the field,” Dantonio said. “We can’t do that against a good football team.”
Notre Dame tacked on a field goal, but MSU bounced right back with a 81-yard drive culminated in freshman running back Larry Caper’s first career touchdown, a 1-yard plunge, giving the Spartans a 17-16 lead heading into halftime.
The Irish came out firing in the second half, scoring on their first two drives, a touchdown and a field goal, to take a 26-17 lead.
Weis said he told his team it needed to score on its first possession of the half.
“We flipped the momentum back in our favor,” he said.
But MSU did bounce back, as Caper scored his second touchdown of the game late in the third quarter. Swenson’s extra point, however, was blocked, making it 26-23.
After forcing a punt and backed by a 55-yard gain on third down, Cousins found White two plays later for a 17-yard touchdown, giving MSU a 30-26 lead with 9:33 to play.
One of the game’s most crucial plays came later in the quarter as junior cornerback Chris L. Rucker missed a wide-open interception attempt.
Notre Dame receiver Golden Tate broke off a route and Clausen threw the ball deep. With no one around him, Rucker timed the ball poorly and it went off his hands and harmlessly out of bounds.
The Irish would take the lead for good five plays later on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Clausen to Tate.
MSU had chances on the final drive. Cousins had Caper wide open in the end zone but overthrew him.
“In that situation, you don’t really want to throw a ball up and lob it up for grabs,” Cousins said. “I didn’t realize how open he was, so I tried to lead him and I overled him. Really, he was a last-second thought and when the defense did what it did, I kind of reacted and overthrew it.”
After Cousins’ interception and the Spartans out of timeouts, Notre Dame took a knee twice to end the game.
“That’s not the way we wanted it to end,” White said. “We’ll continue to go and practice hard everyday on the two minute drill. We’ll learn from it, but you can’t expect guys to be perfect all the time.”
Commentary
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ChipMan
(09/19/09 7:51pm)Report
EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!
MSU chocks two games in a row! Football program in turmoil! Doubts casted over the ability of Mark Dumb-antonio to lead! John L. Smith can no longer be used as a scapegoat! Resurrection of MSU football a farce! Fans were misled and tricked to believe they were contenders when they were pretenders!
Matt Bell
(09/19/09 8:34pm)Report
we fought hard and fell short on a SERIOUSLY boneheaded play (and play call) at the end of the game.
On the upside, we played a lot more penalty-free than last week.
But did we tackle ANYONE the first time we hit them?
And can we PLEASE learn how to stop an 8-yard pass to the flats????
Calm down
(09/19/09 8:43pm)Report
I hope Kirk Cousins doesn’t take too much heat for this came considering he played wonderfully for four quarters in his first big-time game of his career. Yes, he made a mistake at the end, but what more can you ask of a sophomore?
If you want to find fault in anybody, look at the front four that couldn’t get pressure without help from linebackers blitzing. And when the Spartans didn’t blitz, the secondary really struggled (Trenton Robinson should be in the doghouse and Chris L. Rucker dropped a gimme pick.)
Cousins didn’t lose this game. Dantonio or Treadwell didn’t lose this game. It was just about no push on the front four and poor tackling in the secondary.
So Tired!!
(09/19/09 9:06pm)Report
WE SUCK!!! End of story. Another year of the same old crap. We’ll be lucky to win two more games this year. When does basketball start? I’m ready to watch a team that actually wants to win and proves it.
Spartypants
(09/19/09 11:24pm)Report
This was a good loss as far as I am concerned. Last week was not. This week, they played almost penalty-free football, showed discipline and acted like adults. This week it was a pleasure to watch them. No they didn’t win, but there is more to the college game than winning and this week they showed that.
spartan
(09/19/09 11:49pm)Report
I feel bad for all these people jumping off the bandwagon. It says a lot about how little informed people are.
First of all, we have to recognize that the team played much better and the offense was more effective. On the other hand, the defense is still a work-in-progress. The lack of open-space tackles was one of the things that cost us the game. Still, the coaches made much better decisions and, frankly, we must recognize that the game was lost in the last play; without taking merit to Cousins and, also, MSU had a several opportunities (interception in open space and TD at the end of the game). But whatever, they played better.
Now, lets put the game in context. MSU’s roster is very young with more than 77% of the team being either FR or SOPH’s. This is a reality we have to live with since JLS regularly filled the roster with JUCO transfers which made a huge gap between underclassmen and upperclassmen. Dantonio is rebuilding that area with much better recruiting. This gap has caused that several current starters are inexperienced since they are FR, RS FR or RS SOPH. So after today’s game, many players have only 3 career starts. Examples of this are essential positions as QB, RB and several more on the O and D sides. Last year we were spoiled by Ringer but remember he was a JUCO transfer and had plenty of experience. So, don’t worry about it because eventually experience will catch up with talent and these players will amaze us.
Second, in the first two years MD and his staff have been able to put on good-to-great winning seasons that many people didn’t expect. They have competed and have changed the atmosphere of the program around involving former players and using our history to refocus the program into the future. Personally, I think this year will be the worst year because MSU has to cover the lack of experienced players with very young ones, as I just explained before. Still, I see them finish the season with a winning record. Mark Dantonio and his staff is backed up by the MSU administration, financial supporters of the program, former Spartan players, hundred of thousands of alumni, thousands of students, and thousands of intelligent fans. The fact that people around start throwing things in the air will not change a thing regarding how the program is evolving and rebuilding into a great one that will bring us memories similar to those of the 50’s and 60’s. A statement of that are the players that have committed to be part of MSU football. So, if you feel angry we don’t care. This program is heading forward and its most important supporters will never leave.
Finally, to top it off, go back to history and search for the first couple of seasons of the greatest coaches in any sport and you will see that it’s never easy, it’s never perfect but they all raise eventually. In fact, go and look up Izzo’s first couple of season’s at MSU. They were not even good and barely average. So, as much as we like Izzo, if you don’t have confidence in MSU football and just look for comfort in basketball, well, you are a hypocrite. Yes, Izzo captured a National Championship but, in contrast with Dantonio’s transition, Heathcote retired and that made a better transition for Izzo. Furthermore, look at MSU’s basketball loss last year against NW or USC’s lost today against a worst-than-mediocre U of Washington team. That’s a statement that even the best fail to execute.
MSU football will raise to the occasion and MD and his staff will bring the hardware, including the crystal ball, back to East Lansing. But if you are not able to wait, well… we don’t care.
GO GREEN! GO WHITE!
MSUAlum
(09/19/09 11:51pm)Report
There is no good loss. Dantonio lost this game when he decided to forfeit 14 points to “watch” Nichols progress. Cousins is a far better QB but the team remains in search of direction and a leader. How stupid to be playing around with QBs at this point. The team totally lost its momentum, field position and ultimately the game when the game was turned over to Nichols – again.
lol
(09/20/09 12:23am)Report
how many more games this team will have to lose before people realize that this team sucks big time?!…This is exactly why I’ve never supported Spartan football in my 4 years in MSU, I didn’t want to waste my time.
Randy Larscheid
(09/20/09 1:03am)Report
As much as I don’t like Dantonio, this game wasn’t a bad loss. Cousins is a keeper for sure!! This kid can play. ND had a TD taken away early on so we shouldn’t gripe too much. Lots of missed opportunities on defense. Wish Cousins connected on that wide open end zone play just before the interception. No credit to Dantonio. Cousins kept us in this game.
Julius Holmes
(09/20/09 1:54am)Report
SUCKY LOSSS
I do agree with “Spartan” though. Our team is very young and inexperienced. So its understandable. Kirk Cousins played well…and larry caper more than impressed me. Its good to see people from the west side of the state handling business.
As long as we get a bowl game and win it, ill be satisfied.
Joshua Vincent
(09/20/09 2:19am)Report
I’m all about progress, not perfection and it is great to see the Spartan’s progress!
Crappy that we lost, but we did play better!
ZT
(09/20/09 4:03am)Report
Defense was awful as usual. Clasuen was hurt, their WR was out so they ran it and we couldn’t stop it. Other than 1 or 2 long passes, most their stuff was underneath. As mentioned though, no one can tackle and 2-3 yard gains turned into 8-12.
Also not sure if it is the line or what, but I have not seen 1 “big play” out of any RB yet.
Tim
(09/20/09 9:02am)Report
Timmy wrong. Timmy say ND blowout. Timmy sorry. Timmy say we humiliated…Timmy wrong.
Facts:
MSU played better this game.
In position to win game at the end.
Missed opportunities (missed pick, missed TD throw to wide open Caper, not taking sack and allowing Swensen to work his magic) sealed fate.
Running game better, but still not good.
Outcome:
Cousins should be named starting QB. Better field sense.
Secondary remains achilles heal, aided by weak down 4 on D. Secondary needs the LB’s in support but can’t due to weak rush
Let’s focus on Wisconsin and the start of Big Ten play. Maybe we can get a few wins down the road if we continue to improve incrementally.
But please, Treadwell, can we go for the first downs instead of 20 yd. pass attempts on 3rd and long?
PS: Glad B-Ball time is near. MSU now fully a basketball school; football weak, weak, second fiddle.
Contract extension was criminal…not deserved…should be returned until merit proven with consistency.
Spartan Pete
(09/20/09 9:54am)Report
Obviously this will be a growing year. With virtually no senior leadership and a roster full of inexperience, this team will take its lumps this year. With set backs like this, this reminds me of 98 going to 99 and 07 to 08. It may take a year, but we cannot have the Michigan mindset that we have to win every game. Be real. I know we want to be the caliber of OSU and PSU, remember, those schools earlier in the decade we not as good because of young personal and look where they are now. Give this time, we are going in the right direction…
Joshua Vincent
(09/20/09 11:26am)Report
I’m so sick of immediate expectation levels of the highest caliber. We are still building and the trash talk about MSU and Dantonio is GRAND BS. If you’re a turn coat Spartan fan, kiss my ass. If you’re hating on Coach D and his staff, do the same. We are strong and getting stronger, so to that I must say:
GO GREEN
GO WHITE
GO SPARTANS!!!
GO IRISH
(09/20/09 11:52am)Report
WOOT! GO IRISH!!
lol
(09/20/09 12:10pm)Report
To: Joshua Vincent,
We’ve been building for the last 10 years and still no success, sure lets spend another 10 years building so we can actually not let the other team score right at the end…second game in a row.
Fact: MSU needs to cut down on funding this bloody team, invest in something else. MSU football is hopeless
TRUE SPARTAN
(09/20/09 12:50pm)Report
All of you “fans” jumping off ship should be embarrassed of yourselves. You are a horrible representation of yourself and this university and there’s no need for you to be on any blogs taking shots at the institution you claim to support. Anybody who actually has any clue about MSU football knows that we HAVE made a LOT of progress since Dantonio came to town. We were in a NEW YEARS DAY BOWL LAST YEAR!!! and a very good bowl two years ago. Saying no progress has been made proves how unintelligent you are. Please stop being a poor representation of MY University. He is a good coach that teaches solid fundamental football and more importantly instills great values in these young men, unlike certain other football coaches in the state. These kids are STUDENT athletes and are playing a game. Have some perspective. They are doing there best and will still be an 8-4 team, going 6-2 in the big ten. If you don’t think that’s a successful year, then apparently last year wasn’t successful (go check our BIG 10 record). So please, either be a real fan and support the team or stop posing and embarrassing yourselves and the university.
Since I actually am a real fan and am passionate about MSU football I saved up money so I could make the trip to ND. Our team played much better than last week but still came up just short. We have a lot of room for improvement but some positives should be taken away from the game compared to last week.
COUSINS needs to be the undisputed starte and play the whole game. The offense moves with him on the field and the only time all field it hasn’t was when the recievers dropped passes. I’m sure Nichol is a great athlete but he hasn’t proven anything at QB. He cant make easy throws and doesn’t have the leadership qualities that cousins has and it shows when hes on the field. We need to run a no huddle offense more often because we have had great success with it. Cousins made one bad choice in three games this season and it came at the worst possible time. But in fairness, we dropped an EASY interception that could of won it, fumbled earlier in the game, allowed them BLOCK a PAT, missed a FG of the post, and also robbed cousins of a few more series to march down the field. Bottom line is our DB’s need to step it up a lot, and the rest of the team needs to play more consistently. To all of you posers jumping off ship, I aks you one thing. What would you be saying if we were 3-0? We are one bad bounce in each game away from 3-0. Think about it.
Considering that we didn’t have luck on our side and missed some opportunites we are 1-2, but the Big ten season hasn’t begun, and we didn’t have national title aspirations to start the season so non-conference losses truly are less important. On a last note, I just want to remind all of you that are jumping ship that you better not be cheering with the team during there times of success, because you played no role in supporting them when they needed it most. We can still have a great big ten season and go to a great bowl game because of our success in conference.
Good Luck Spartans!!!!!!
re
(09/20/09 12:57pm)Report
This is simple. Go back and check the first couple of seasons of MSU’s king, Tom Izzo. You will see that they were barely average and, in his case, the transition was great because Heathcote retired and he left the job for Izzo. On the other hand, Dantonio is doing a remarkable job of fixing the disaster others created. These are: lack of good and continuous recruiting; lack of recognition of MSU’s greats, lack of team identity, lack of direction for the program…
The people that criticize MD and his staff (who will be the same cheering for him when we win the Big Ten and the National Championship) really don’t care about the program. The people that care about it by buying tickets, giving money to the program, and just the people that are confident in his job is the only people MSU football needs. On the other hand, the people that criticize him all the time, that set very low standards for the program, that do not recognize the job many people are doing for Spartan football… they don’t matter.
TRUE SPARTAN
(09/20/09 1:10pm)Report
And by the way, anybody who recommends we stop funding the spartan football team is extremely uneducated. The football team is the reason why we have all of our other sports teams. Football brings in enough money to fund itself and 90% of the other programs. So, if you want to stop funding the football team then go ahead and kiss our basketball program goodbye also.
David Calkins
(09/20/09 1:20pm)Report
Go Green!
RS3
(09/20/09 1:26pm)Report
GO WHITE!
Joesph
(09/20/09 1:56pm)Report
Same old sparties. lol.
What was that? Pride comes before the fall? haha.
Go BLUE! State will finish 1-11.
@ lib
(09/20/09 3:07pm)Report
spartan- fyi, javon ringer was NOT a juco transfer. def. watched him when he was a true freshman. you could be confused with devin “i’m a piece of shit” thomas- he was a juco transfer.
lol- we have been building since 2007. when you hire a new coach, especially one that runs a completely different offense than the predecessor, you start the building. you don’t care, though, you are just a loser who watches anime on saturday mornings at their single dorm room in brody.
would love to see the big man put ALL of his faith in Captain Kirk. disheartening that they still think nichol is going to be “the guy”. Kirk’s teammates want him starting, the fans want him starting and he’s a much better QB. it’s very frustrating to see everyone else behind the QB, except the coach. dantonio is a smart man… maybe he’ll figure it out this week.
these posts were upsetting. i hate bandwagon state fans almost as much as i hate wal-mart wolverines.
Darko
(09/20/09 4:12pm)Report
Some idiot here said he has never supported the football program in his four years at MSU.
Let that sink in. This MORON does not support his OWN SCHOOL because they have been a frustrating team to watch.
What a waste of air. Worst type of fan.
I wouldn’t mind if he got injured badly. Like, I would laugh if he fell down some stairs and couldn’t walk again.