 Scott DochtermanI'm originally from Burlington, and I'm a 1997 Western Illinois University graduate. I've worked in Burlington, Muscatine, Fort Dodge and [...] |
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Michigan State keeps goals high, focus low
Wisconsin's Montee Ball (28) gets wrapped up by Michigan State's Max Bullough (40) during the inaugural B1G Ten Championship game Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)
CHICAGO — If life was fair, Michigan State would have earned back-to-back Rose Bowl trips.
The Spartans posted the Big Ten’s best record (14-2) over the last two seasons. In 2010, Michigan State tied Wisconsin and Ohio State for the Big Ten title but lost the Rose Bowl spot to Wisconsin because of a tiebreaker. Michigan State beat Wisconsin head-to-head and didn’t play Ohio State, which lost to Wisconsin. But the Spartans were relegated to the Capital One Bowl, outside of the BCS.
Last year, the Spartans were the only Big Ten team with a 7-1 record. Michigan State beat Wisconsin again, but in the Big Ten’s inaugural season with divisional play, the teams faced off in a championship game. Wisconsin edged the Spartans 42-39. Instead of moving into the Big Ten’s second BCS bowl slot, the Spartans fell to the Outback Bowl.
“I think we’re in a position of contention,” Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio said. “We always are. I think we are moving along. When you talk about where we wanted to go when we first came here, what we wanted to try to accomplish, we said we want to build a foundation. We keep trying to build a foundation to try to get to that Rose Bowl. We’re not there yet. We haven’t made it there yet, but that’s our goal.”
Michigan State’s foundation unquestionably is defense. The Spartans ranked first in Big Ten total defense, run defense and second in pass defense. Michigan State also led in sacks and opponents’ third-down conversions. Michigan State ranked in the top 20 nationally in seven categories, including sixth in total defense. The Spartans return five defenders that were named to either the Big Ten’s first- or second-team defense last year.
“It’s not something where we can just throw our hat out there and do it again this year,” said linebacker Max Bullough, a returning second-team all-Big Ten selection. “It’s not about doing what we did last year again. It’s about starting from scratch, and we have the same guys so we can do it again. But we just need to understand what it took to get there and do it again.”
Michigan State linebacker Denicos Allen knocks Iowa quarterback James Vanderberg out of bounds during the first half at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City on Satiurday, October 12, 2011. (Cliff Jette/SourceMedia Group)
Michigan State’s defense has established an aggressive, hard-hitting reputation. At times the Spartans have went too far, as judged by defensive end William Gholston’s one-game suspension for unsportsmanlike hits on Michigan QB Denard Robinson last year. But the approach has worked in shutting down high-voltage players like Robinson.
“The word I like to use is relentless,” Bullough said. “I think that’s a very good word in describing our defense. Bad things are going to happen. Teams are going to score; it’s just the way college football is. If you can get past those things and play good in any situation and maybe they have a 60-yard run and they’re down a the 10-yard line, can you say, ‘All right, let’s stop them here. It’s a field goal here, it’s not a touchdown.’ Those are the things that make a great defense.”
All three linebackers return, including junior Denicos Allen, who finished second in the Big Ten with 11 sacks. Allen and Bullough were second-team all-Big Ten selections, and fellow linebacker Chris Norman was named honorable mention. The Spartans bring back first-team all-Big Ten cornerback Johnny Adams and second-team safety Isaiah Lewis, who had four interceptions. Cornerback Darqueze Dennard also earned honorable mention honors. The key returnee is Gholston, a 6-foot-7, 278-pound beast at defensive end. He had 16 tackles for loss last year. He forms perhaps the nation’s best defensive end combination with Marcus Rush.
Bullough said the key is to play physical on every down. That’s been a focus this offseason for the defense and it’s been preached by defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi. It’s a philosophy championed by Dantonio and why the program has shed its inconsistent label under his tutelage.
“He’s done it the right way,” Bullough said. “A lot of coaches will come in and try to change it right away and get a recruiting class and start all the freshmen. But Coach D has done it the right way with building the program with character and leading from the top, which I think is most important. You may not have seen the most success right away the first year or two, but I think for the long haul Coach D has brought Michigan State back to where it belongs.”
Michigan State’s top goal remains the Rose Bowl, where the the Spartans have not competed since 1988. But Dantonio’s focus is on the micro approach, which has taken the Spartans to bowl games in five straight seasons.
“We have to be keep working, we have to keep our eyes on the prize and we have to do it segment-by-segment, game-to-game,” Dantonio said. “If you get too far ahead of yourself, I think you’re destined for failure, to be honest with you. I think you have to look at what’s your next job at hand, your next task”
MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS
- Division: Legends
- 2011 record: 11-3, 7-1
- Returning offensive starters (5): RB Le’Veon Bell, C Travis Jackson, RG Chris McDonald, RT Fou Fonoti, LT Dan France
- Returning defensive starters (8): DE William Gholston, DE Marcus Rush, LB Denicos Allen, LB Max Bullough, LB Chris Norman, CB Johnny Adams, CB Darqueze Dennard, S Isaiah Lewis
- Key losses: QB Kirk Cousins, DT Jerel Worthy, WR Keshawn Martin, WR B.J. Cunningham, TE Brian Linthicum, FS Trenton Robinson
- 2011 review: Michigan State earned its second consecutive title last year, clinching the Legends Division outright. In three consecutive weeks the Spartans earned wins against Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin. Michigan State also ended a seven-game road losing streak at Iowa, dating to 1989. The Spartans were a running-into-the-kicker penalty away from possibly winning the inaugural Big Ten title game, but rallied to beat Georgia in the Outback Bowl.
- 2012 schedule: A31 Boise State; S8 at Central Michigan; S15 Notre Dame; S22 Eastern Michigan; S29 Ohio State; O6 at Indiana; O13 Iowa; O20 at Michigan; O27 at Wisconsin; N3 Nebraska; N17 Northwestern; N24 at Minnesota
- Key stretch: Michigan State faces a brutal four-game stretch with Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska in consecutive weeks. Back-to-back road games against Michigan and Wisconsin will be particularly difficult.
- Trap game: Northwestern. If Michigan State survives its four-stretch with its title hopes in sight, the tendency to overlook Northwestern is obvious. But Northwestern has earned at least one major upset every season under Pat Fitzgerald.
- Glass half-full: Michigan State had the league’s top defense and returns just about every key starter that ranked fourth in yards allowed nationally. Junior RB Le’Veon Bell nearly ran for 1,000 yard last year as a sophomore and has four O-linemen returning.
- Glass half-empty: Sparty must replace three-year starting QB Kirk Cousins and three playmakers at WR. If Maxwell struggles, the Spartans could have problems breaking through in back-to-back road games at Michigan and Wisconsin plus dangerous league home games against Ohio State, Iowa, Nebraska and Northwestern.
- Quotable: “We’ve got unfinished business in terms of getting to the Rose Bowl. We’ve not been able to accomplish that yet. So that continues to be our goal.” — Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio
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It wouldn’t bother me a’tall if MSU lost every game they played for the rest of Dantonio’s time up there. They are dirty, classless and character-free from the top-down, give or take the occasional (overrated) Kirk Cousins.
@ Mike Miller, and I suppose you know Dantonio, his staff and the players that you speak so negatively about personally? Doubt it….to make a broad statement like that about a group of people that you don’t know shows what a “character-free, classless” guy you are.#ChrisNormansMom – #10, Outside Linebacker, Michigan State Spartans; #GO GREEN
Don’t just go by what I say – watch films and the dirty play over the years. Talk to other schools about Dantonio’s crew’s recruiting methods – recruiting is competitive but they make SEC schools almost look “clean” in comparison. Look at all the thugs they’ve had over the years – their guys FOUGHT THEIR OWN FANS in a dorm a few years ago! Heck, Dantonio himself has even been known to pick a guy up from jail and stick him in the lineup the following Saturday.
Yes, class and character abound around that East Lansing football program!
Talk about a pot calling the kettle black.
A UI supporter complaining about ANY other school’s law issues surrounding its athletes is the definition of irony.
Keep the blinders on and the kool-aid replenished. All is beyond reproach in IC.
Jay:
Thanks for joining Captain Obvious. It’s good of you to focus in on a single issue of the overall theme of my original post. I truly have blinders on when it comes to Iowa’s legal shortcomings – absolutely!
Actually, what IS clear is that your sole purpose is to criticize anyone/anything about Iowa, regardless of context or relevance. Kudos to you on your self-righteousness!
We shall agree to disagree. As the mother of a current MSU football player, who personally experienced Dantonio and his staff’s recruiting process, I have absolutely no complaints about anything that occurred during my son’s recruitment or since he has been at MSU. As far as “fighting their fans”…how many times do brawls take place on college campuses? I would guess quite often. There was a dispute between a football player and a member of a fraternity the night before over the player’s girlfriend. The member of the fraternity is the one who threw the first punch, vowing to get “his frat” to come after said player. It escalated the next night at a function sponsored by the same fraternity. No one had a gun, no one was seriously injured. It was a fight over a girl, where both parties “called in backup” from their perspective organizations! Again, how often does that happen on college campuses??? Dantonio picking up a player from jail and allowing him to play speaks to his concern for his players’ futures and his willingness to give second and yes, sometimes, third chances. But since he knows these kids sometimes better than their own families, I will leave that to him. He also has demonstrated that he knows when it is time to cut somebody loose, i.e. – those directly involved in the brawl were dismissed from the team. But since you know everything, carry on with your unfounded opinions, because at the end of the day, your opinion doesn’t matter. Despite how offensive it is to parents like myself who have put a lot into raising quality young men, who keep their noses clean and have never been in any trouble – on or off the field- and are simply trying to do their best to fulfill their obligations to play to best of their ability and help their team win games. Although there have been a few bad apples in the bunch, as is the case with any group or organization, the majority of the 105 guys on MSU’s roster are about nothing more than what I stated in the previous sentence. #Proud Parent of MSU OLB Chris Norman; #GO GREEN
Yes, we’ll have to agree to disagree about MSU.