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MSU football hopes to see big improvements Saturday

September 7, 2011
	<p>Junior running back Edwin Baker tries to shake Penguins safety Jeremy Edwards as he nears the endzone. The Spartans defeated Youngstown State, 28-6, Friday night at Spartan Stadium. </p>

Junior running back Edwin Baker tries to shake Penguins safety Jeremy Edwards as he nears the endzone. The Spartans defeated Youngstown State, 28-6, Friday night at Spartan Stadium.

Photo by Josh Radtke | The State News

Senior guard Joel Foreman said Tuesday contrary to popular belief, the greatest amount of learning for the No. 17 MSU football team won’t come from training camp but will come between game one and game two.

Although there were about 30 practices heading into the season opener, and there will be only about five leading up to Florida Atlantic, Foreman said you can’t discount what playing in an actual game does for a team.

MSU head coach Mark Dantonio backed his captain up at his press conference Tuesday. He said the experience from game one will be invaluable going forward.

“The teaching tool is (showing the players) these are the things we did wrong, here’s the things we can easily correct (and) here’s the things that are more difficult to correct,” Dantonio said.

Most issues need only a quick fix, Dantonio said. However, there were two areas of concern where he wants big improvements.

“We have to start a little faster,” Dantonio said. “We started slow on defense because they had an 11-play series (to open the game) … and then the first series, we came out offensively and didn’t play well.”

The other, Dantonio said, would be eliminating the unforced errors the Spartans had against Youngstown State, especially on special teams.

“(Senior wide receiver) Keshawn (Martin) has caught, I don’t know, 70 punts, 100 punts, in game situations,” he said. “He won’t drop (another) punt. That’s not him. And then we have to be 100 percent successful on the holder and the snap on the kicks.”

  • One catch away*
    Senior wide receiver B.J. Cunningham is in a position to break the all-time receptions record at MSU. He needs only one catch to surpass former record holder Matt Trannon.

With at least one catch in 35 consecutive games, the only questions remaining are when will he break the record and how big the celebration will be?

Cunningham said he would love to get the catch out of the way early in the game.

“I’ll give (the ball) to the ref and celebrate with my teammates or something,” he said. “Nothing (is) planned.”

If NCAA rules allow it, Cunningham did make it known he would like to keep the ball and take it home.

Remembering 9/11
The Spartans will play one day before the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 and will take the field with the tragic day on their minds.

Senior quarterback Kirk Cousins put the day in perspective.

“Sporting events serve as a way to stop, press pause and remember what took place and look back and really be thankful for what we have and the sacrifices made to give us those freedoms,” Cousins said.

After practice Tuesday, Cousins shared his own story from the day two planes crashed into the World Trade Center and said it really hit home for him when he found out about it while in class

It was an especially troubling time, because his mother, a flight attendant for more than 30 years, had been in the air on a United Airlines flight, and his father was at an airport, as well. Thankfully for Cousins, he quickly found out both were safe.

“(My mom) was friends with some of the people who were killed on 9/11,” Cousins said. “It is a tough thing to swallow, and it will be a day of remembrance, that’s for sure.”

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