Michigan State losing grip on its season
Things were out of control last Saturday at Spartan Stadium, and Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio wasn’t sure there was a way out for the Spartans.
The Spartans trailed Northwestern by three points late in the fourth quarter, and despite two possessions that could have resulted in at least a tie, MSU completely botched things, eventually allowing a Wildcats touchdown that put the game out of reach.
“You felt like it was just getting fouled up,” Dantonio said.
A day later, the disappointment had not faded and Dantonio said the feeling of something being off came well before the fourth quarter.
“My feeling at halftime, as we went in the locker room and I was trailing the football team coming into the locker room, it was flat,” Dantonio said. “I don’t understand why we would be flat, but I thought the team, in general, was flat and we addressed that in the locker room. The players addressed that, the older players addressed it.
“I thought we came out in the third quarter and played extremely well.”
For that 15-minute stretch, the Spartans (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) looked like they were turning things around, taking the lead after two straight Felton Davis touchdowns. But as quickly as things seemed OK, they went the wrong direction as Northwestern went back ahead in the final seconds of the third quarter and the Spartans couldn’t muster any offense in the fourth.
It led to plenty of frustration, hardly limited to Dantonio, who said he spent Saturday night and Sunday morning “depressed” before meeting with his staff. The players felt it, too, and they seemed to understand that with games the next two weeks against Penn State and Michigan, the season is on the brink.
“You’ve got to bounce back quick,” junior linebacker Joe Bachie said.
“You’ve got to challenge certain people. Leaders on this team, if you really want to lead, you’re gonna get challenged this week and I’m going to let them know that. When Monday comes, people are gonna be challenged. If you don’t want to lead and don’t want to go win, get out of the locker room.
“We don’t have many people like that, I don’t think at all, but we’ve got to make sure everybody is on board and we’re going in one direction together.”
Added senior wide receiver Felton Davis:
“We’ve got to find our passing, who we are. That’s the main thing. Once we do that and we bring back that Spartan Dawg mentality and that killer mindset, that we won’t let anybody off the hook. That’s what we’ve got to find again.”
Finding it again won’t be easy as Michigan State travels this week to Penn State before hosting Michigan the following week.
The injuries also continue to pile up as fifth-year senior guard David Beedle was the latest to go down, suffering an arm injury that will keep him out about a month. He joins the likes of sophomore wide receiver Cody White (hand) and senior running back LJ Scott (ankle) who have missed extensive time.
While White will be out at least another month, Scott has missed the last three games but has been in uniform each time, only to remain on the sidelines.
“He’s making that decision based on how he feels, his cutting ability, etc,” Dantonio said. “He’s close. He needs to make that decision. It’s not fair for me to sit there and say, ‘You need to play.’ I think that is every individual player’s decision to make.
“I think he’s close, but I don’t think he feels he can cut as successfully as he usually does, so he makes that decision and I’m ok with whatever he needs to do. At some point, he’ll be ready to play.”
