I, for one, love when expectations change. And a 6-0 start will do that to a team.
I love not having to click into ESPN’s website to find the coverage on our game, since we are sitting on the top bar on the front page, with the rest of the best teams in the country.
I love being near the beginning of all bottom-line tickers on all the sports channels.
But with the #11 ranking comes higher expectations. You aren’t allowed to lose to teams like Illinois on Homecoming weekend. Of course, it’s never that simple, though. Michigan State took on surprising Illinois Saturday at Spartan Stadium on a beautiful mid-October afternoon in East Lansing.
MSU's defense kept the Spartans in the game
Michigan State was expected to win but Spartan fans everywhere knew that it was not even close to a “gimme” game. Coming into the game, the Fighting Illini had only lost two teams – and both of them were undefeated. Ron Zook’s team just got done dismantling Joe Paterno’s Nittany Lions last week and were riding a wave of confidence heading into Spartan country. The Spartans had just come off wins over two top 20 teams and lost one of their top cornerbacks to suspension… the opportunity for a letdown was rearing its ugly head. Coach Dantonio was absolutely correct when he said at this week’s press conference that this game would be a test of his team’s maturity.
It was probably good that I decided to watch this game at home with my boys. That first half would have driven me nuts had I been there in person. The game started off bad as we were stopped after only 1 first down on our initial possession. Illinois took the ball and promptly marched 66 yards down the field on 13 plays, taking 5:42 off the clock and putting 3 points on the board. Fortunately, the Spartan defense stiffened at the 4-yard line – I didn’t know it then but that was the closest that the Illini would get to the goal line FOR THE REST OF THE GAME.
Down 3-0, we got the ball back and again only achieved 1 first down before we had to punt. The running game just wasn’t there and QB Kirk Cousins was being rushed time and time again. He got lucky on a few plays to not turn the ball over but things weren’t looking good until senior punter Aaron Bates booted a 60-yard punt, pinning the Illini at their 1-yard line. After the shortest penalty in all of sports, a 0 yard false start, Illinois ripped off 4 straight first downs. That’s why that 60-yard punt was so huge – they were still only at the MSU 41-yard line at that point. The first quarter ended with MSU down 3-0 and Illinois dominating… and driving.
The second quarter started off MUCH better for the defense. On the 2nd play of the quarter, on 3rd&7 from the MSU 35-yard line, Illinois’s QB Scheelhaasse’s pass was intercepted by Marcus Hyde at the MSU26, who returned it 30 yards to the Illinois 44. Spartans everywhere were hoping that this was the spark that the offense needed to get into gear. We would be disappointed.
The first play looked nice: a 9-yard pass play to Keshawn Martin. But it was followed by an Edwin Baker rush for no yards on 2nd down, and a complete pass from Cousins to Linthicum for no yards on 3rd down. Offensive coordinator Don Treadwell, on the field, and Coach Mark Dantonio, in the press box, decided to go for it on 4th&1. Cousins muffed the snap and ended up turning the ball over on downs at Illinois’ 39-yard line. I wouldn’t have minded a 52-yard field goal attempt there, especially since we were going from south to north, and all of the kickoffs had been in flying through the endzone in that direction. In fact, I think the first 5 field goals and the first TD all occurred in that end zone, and therefore, all the kickoffs went that way as well.
After the 4 & out for MSU’s offense, MSU’s defense forced a 3 & out and the offense got the ball back on their 38-yard line with 10:14 to go. We drove 43 yards down to the 19-yard line and Dan Conroy kicked a 37-yard field goal. Of those 43 yards on that drive, 41 of them came from 2 Cousins’ passes: 20 yards and 21 yards, both of them to Mark Dell. Not feeling great at this point, I was nonetheless happy that at least the game was tied.
Illinois got the ball back with 6:47 to go in the half and MSU’s defense bent but didn’t break, allowing 3 first downs but forcing a punt from MSU’s 44-yard line. To be completely honest, I didn’t understand why the coaching staff didn’t take a timeout with 1:20 left, instead of allowing Illinois to let the clock run out. Then the punt occurred, and I was grateful that the coaching staff was smarter than I am. Keshawn Martin completely muffed the punt and Illinois recovered at the 15-yard line. Inexplicably, the Illinois coaching staff ran the ball once, never used their timeout and settled for a 33-yard field goal to end the half. I had no idea that that was going to be the last time the Illini would score in the game. Going into the half down 6-3 instead of 10-3 is much better, especially since Illinois was going to get the ball to begin the 2nd half.
Since I was on tape delay because I had watched my son’s soccer game that morning, I was still 30 minutes behind live and was able to fast forward through halftime – the benefit in this case was that I didn’t have to dwell for 20 minutes on how poorly our offense was playing.
MSU's defense came up huge
The 2nd half started off with Illinois on offense. On 3rd&7 from the Illinois 38-yard line, Scheelhaasse’s pass was intercepted by Johnny Adams at the 47-yard line and returned 31 yards all the way to the Illinois 16. Of course our running game was non-existent still, and Cousins 2 incomplete passes set up yet another Conroy field goal – this one from 34 yards out. You gotta love the stats on this drive: 4 plays, -1 yards, 0:52 off the clock – after starting on the 16-yard line.
On the next possession, the defense held Illinois to a 3 & out and Martin was able to catch the punt this time.
Defense? Check.
Special teams? Check.
Offense? FINALLY… check!
Cousins connected with Linthicum for 14 yards, then Treadwell dialed up 2 effective running plays: both of them involving Martin – one for 12 yards and one for 3 yards. On the next play, BJ Cunningham broke free in the secondary and Cousins lofted a great pass, hitting him in-stride for a 48-yard touchdown. Conroy was able to kick a ball worth one point instead of three… finally. A 13-6 lead never felt so good.
On the next Illinois drive, the Illini decided to test the MSU secondary in general, and true freshman Darqueze Dennard in particular. The pass burned Dennard for 39 yards but DD forced the fumble and followed the play, ending up with the recovery as well. As a result, Cousins took over on the MSU 17-yard line and led a 10 play, 68-yard drive that took 4:35 off the clock and resulted in the 3rd Conroy field goal of the day – this time a 32-yarder with 1:57 left in the 3rd quarter. This made the game a 2 possession game, with MSU up 16-6. The important thing to me was that this was the first drive where the Spartans were able to move the ball, with 39 yards passing, 14 yards rushing, and 15 yards in penalties… a somewhat balanced attack – or at least a start to one.
The next Illinois possession resulted in another 3 & out. I LOVE THAT.
For MSU’s offense, the running game really moved forward on the next possession, allowing the Spartans to take another four and a half minutes off the clock and put 3 more points on the scoreboard, when the MSU coaching staff wisely decided to take the points instead of going for it on 4th & goal at the 1. There was no need to give the Illini any possible motivation if they had stopped us; plus our running game still wasn’t instilling much confidence. A 19-6 lead conjured up all sorts of 2 touchdown scenarios in my head. Things that could have happened in years past. Things that I didn’t want to happen this year. I was nervous about it at Michigan. I was nervous about it in this game. Fortunately, these are not those Same Ol’ Spartans and they didn’t rest on their lead.
After the defense gave up a couple of first downs, Trenton Robinson intercepted the 3rd Scheelhaasse pass of the day, and the 4th Illini turnover overall. The defense gave the ball back to the offense on the 42-yard line with 7:41 left in the game and the only question that I was wondering was how much time would be on the clock when Illinois got the ball back.
The answer: 2:29 after MSU used up 5:12 on their next drive. That drive consisted of one 15-yard pass by Cousins to Cunningham and 7 runs: 5 by Baker for 7, 2, 2, 2 and 2 yards, 1 by Nichol for 13 and the touchdown-scoring, sideline-tight-roping, game-sealing 15-yard TD run by the best MSU running back on the field today: Larry Caper. Caper ended the day as the team’s leading rusher with 37 yards on 7 carries. He tacked on 12 yards on a single reception as well.
Illinois got the ball back and the MSU defense made a goal to keep them out of the end zone. 11 plays and 47 yards later, they were successful as the game ended on 3rd & goal from the 24-yard line. On that last drive alone, William Gholston and Jerel Worthy split a sack, as did Strayhorn and Max Bullough. It was a great ending to a great defensive performance by Pat Narduzzi’s side of the ball.
MSU ended up with 93 yards rushing, the vast majority of it in the 2nd half – specifically in the 4th quarter. MSU ran off 23 unanswered points after their muffed punt to end the 1st half. The defense accumulated more turnovers (4) than it allowed in points (3). This game had it all, emotionally speaking: a little anxiety in the first half, followed by a halftime “pep-talk” and an absolutely dominating 2nd half performance on all sides of the ball. It had Gerard Butler hanging on the sidelines with Tom Izzo. It had a standing ovation for Dantonio as he made his way to the sideline with a couple minutes left in the game.
It had an interesting quote from Illinois head coach Ron Zook: “That’s a good football team and without looking at the tape, to me, that is the best team we have played to date.” They lost to undefeated Ohio State and Missouri.
Most importantly, it had a result that met newly-raised green and white expectations. That shows maturity. And that’s what this Spartan loved the most.
Last thought: Another thing that is exciting as a Spartan fan is the fact that I can set my DVR to record the BCS rankings announcements tomorrow night, knowing that my team will actually be in them.
Actual last thought: I’ve got to get my family to Evanston next week.
This article Spartans show ‘maturity’, soundly defeat the Illini appeared first on isportsweb by David Harns