College Football - The Train Has Left the Station, and Michigan State Missed the Departure

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

When the train was ready to pull out of the station this year at East Lansing, the Michigan State University Spartans had a chance to enjoy every stop on their way to an unbeaten season.

They could have run the table at the pool hall. They could have had a scenic and exciting journey, rising right up to become one of the elite teams in the country. In addition to the usual stops on the journey, the Spartans had two of their three biggest hurdles—Michigan and Iowa—at home, and did not even have to face Ohio State because of the Big Ten scheduling rotation.

So much for perfect journeys.

When the train pulled out of the station this year, Michigan State missed the departure for the second stop. After blowing away a Division 1-AA Montana State team 44-3 in their opener at home, there must have been a lot of chest pounding because the Spartans laid an egg against their next opponent at home—Central Michigan.

The 1-A Chippewas from the mid-level Mid American Conference, apparently only slightly less accomplished than teams from the mighty Big Ten, came to East Lansing to win. The Spartans showed up, but did not convince anyone that they were ready for the season they should have had. A lack of focus, attitude and execution did them in, 29-27.

Starting the season at 1-1, they did little to straighten themselves out as they lost away games at Notre Dame 33-30 and Wisconsin 38-30 to slip to 1-3.

After beating Michigan at home 26-20 in overtime, they took care of Illinois 24-14 and Northwestern 24-14, bringing their record to 4-3.

When the now 9-0 Iowa Hawkeyes came to town, the Spartans could have won but lost 15-13, and they compounded their problems by giving up 42 points to Minnesota on the road and losing by 8, 42-34. So the Michigan State Spartans now sit at a humble 4-5, probably wondering what hit them.

Next up is Western Michigan at home. The Broncos are another powerhouse team from Michigan with a 4-5 mark.

The Broncos are most certainly to be feared since they have beaten such illustrious teams as 151st-ranked, 1-AA Hofstra, 145th-ranked Miami of Ohio, 125th-ranked Toledo, and 110th-ranked Buffalo. The Broncos are ranked 112th among 120 major college programs.

Despite the tremendous odds against themselves, the Spartans just might be able to beat the Broncos and even their record to 5-5. Should they do so, they just might have a shot at becoming bowl eligible at Purdue, or at home against an 8-1 Penn State team that plans on using them for fodder.

So what really went wrong at Michigan State this year? Well, one thing is that coach Mark Dantonio wanted two good quarterbacks and got them in Kirk Cousins and Keith Nichol, who are both sophomores. Unfortunately, Dantonio could not make up his mind who was better quarterback so he rotated them—generally a bad mistake.

Dantonio did not put his total confidence in either player and thus denied one of them the opportunity to become the leader on offense. Think of Tim Tebow of the Florida Gators, or Jake Locker of the Washington Huskies.

When a team rotates quarterbacks and the team wins every game, it is still not the best situation, but it can work. The minute a team starts losing, something Michigan State has done a lot of this year, it does not work.

Name me one top team nationally that rotates quarterbacks. Name me one national championship team, any one, that has rotated quarterbacks.

The problem is the players, not actually meaning to, begin to polarize their loyalty. They begin to point fingers and lay blame. When a team loses, all players can be criticized for their play, so they manufacture excuses for not performing up to their potential.

Here is my message to Dantonio and Michigan State: Pick one of the two, back him, put your confidence in him, play him only until he succeeds or fails after several games. Do not dump him too soon or neither quarterback will get the experience they need to develop their leadership talent.

In the meantime, would it be such a bad thing if you crushed Western Michigan and Purdue and became bowl eligible? Maybe there is not a bowl game that would want the Spartans this year, but let's find out.

(Disclaimer: Ed Bagley is a 1966 graduate of Michigan State University who was there when the Spartans had their back-to-back National Championship teams under Duffy Daugherty in 1965 and 1966.)