20th Anniversary Celebration: 1987 Big Ten Championship Football Team
9/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 8, 2007
It was a season no Spartan will ever forget. Bobby McAllister ran as often as he passed. Lorenzo White ran till he nearly passed out. And MSU's "Gang Green" defense passed test after test from October on, allowing just 78 points in its last nine games. What other team could have beaten USC twice on holidays in less than four months? What team could have picked off seven Michigan passes and held Ohio State to 2 yards rushing? What team could have been outscored 62-11 in back-to-back losses in September, only to go unbeaten the rest of the way? Only George Perles' undisputed Big Ten and Rose Bowl champs, the last MSU team to wear those tags. Twenty years later, we'll bask in that glory for 12 weeks with game-by-game recaps and analysis. Longtime Michigan State beat writer and columnist Jack Ebling, now at 1320 WILS radio, will lead the tour the tour down Memory Lane, as he did in his first of five books, Spartan Champions, produced and edited in 1988 by Bruce McCristal.
By Jack Ebling, Online Columnist
Even now, it's tough to explain the events of Sept. 19, 1987, in Notre Dame Stadium - a night that was weird in every way.
Michigan State and Notre Dame were 1-0 after impressive wins. The 17th-ranked Spartans were rested and seemingly ready, 12 days after beating USC, 27-13. And the seventh-ranked Fighting Irish were smiling after the previous week's 27-6 triumph at Michigan.
Most of the hype ignored the teams and their long-standing rivalry, however. It dealt with the game within a game, a battle for Heisman Trophy front-runner status.
That's the way it was billed on ESPN's national telecast and in reams of newspaper stories. Actually, the award had been Brown's to lose since late summer, when he was dubbed the nation's best player in every publication except Mad magazine and Good Housekeeping.
Brown was seen as a touchdown machine on receptions, rushes and kick returns. But MSU coach George Perles was confident his team could keep No. 81 contained. After all, punter Greg Montgomery had netted 48.2 yards per kick in the opener.
Perles was just as concerned with the scrambles of Irish quarterback Terry Andrysiak, a player he'd recruited heavily in 1984.
"His mom even had a green-and-white cake when we visited," Perles said of the former Michigan All-Stater. "But his dad went to Notre Dame, and we lost Terry at the end. I always knew he'd be a good player."
The former Allen Park Cabrini High star had completed 11-of-15 passes for 137 yards, including an ad-lib TD toss to a leaping Brown, against the Wolverines.
Notre Dame had played error-free on Sept. 12, while using seven takeaways to hand Michigan its worst home loss since 1969.
"The key to our season is the Michigan game," Brown had said before the season. "If we can beat them, we'll be 8-0 going into the Alabama game." He was overlooking MSU, Purdue, Pitt, Air Force, Southern Cal and Boston College, a major mistake in the minds of the Spartans.
"Notre Dame capitalized on Michigan's mistakes," said defensive tackle Travis Davis, foreshadowing a similar path to victory over the Wolverines. "Some of the things they did against Michigan won't work against us."
Some of the things the Spartans had done in their opener wouldn't work, either. Quarterback Bobby McAllister's rollout keepers were Exhibit A. Yet, Perles was sure his team could improve on its Labor Day performance.
"I've never been involved in a perfect game, and our opener wasn't one of them," he said. "Your greatest improvement comes between the first and second games. That's what we have to shoot for."
Perles was also shooting for his third win in five tries against the Irish. Lou Holtz, in his second year at Notre Dame, was 0-4 against the Spartans, counting losses at North Carolina State and Minnesota.
The lineups reflected those coaching roots. Perles, who'd coached games for just two teams since 1967, had 14 starters from Michigan. Holtz, who'd been in six spots since 1971, had regulars from 15 states.
There was a state of shock from the opening kickoff in Notre Dame Stadium, which held the school's 72nd straight sellout crowd of 59.075, pre-expansion.
The Irish grabbed a 2-0 lead on a bizarre opening kickoff. MSU deep man Blake Ezor caught the kick inside the 1, took a half-step back into the end zone and kneeled for what he thought would be a touchback.
"I told Blake when he's in the field of play, he has to run it," Perles said with sympathy. "He's a great kid. He made a mistake. He'll learn from it."
Ezor did exactly that and broke open the Big Ten title showdown with Indiana with a 90-yard runback to start the second half eight weeks later. But that fact was no consolation in mid-September.
"My mistake hurt us real bad," Ezor said after the pain had subsided. "It just set the momentum for the whole game."
It didn't determine the outcome in a 23-point Notre Dame win. But it did give the hosts the lead with 15:00 still showing on the game clock. That was the first time a team had scored without any time off the clock.
Moments later, after Montgomery's free kick from his 20, the Irish went ahead 5-0 on Ted Gradel's 27-yeard field goal, following three third-down completions by Andrysiak.
The Spartans netted just 1 yard on their next two possessions - 136 less than Brown had on a pair of Heisman-worthy punt returns late in the first quarter.
The first, a 71-yarder, split the pursuit, swung smoothly down the right sideline and left safety Todd Krumm grasping at air. The second, covering 66 yards, came four plays and 2:01 later, when Brown raced left and put a world-class move on Montgomery.
"I don't know where there's a dance tonight, but that's the only place you'll see moves like those," Holtz said.
"We didn't expect to get two punt returns for scores," Brown said. "We were only looking to get one. But we knew Montgomery would outkick his coverage. And that's what he did."
Perles saw it a bit differently, especially on the second kick, preferring to credit Brown's brilliance instead of blaming his players' effort.
"We had people there to cover him but missed the tackles," Perles said. "There's a great correlation between a great return and great returner. And he's bigger and faster than Lynn Swann was at Pittsburgh. That Brown's a man! When he's running in the open field, he reminds me of O.J. (Simpson). He creates a draft when he goes by you."
With a 19-0 lead, the Irish quickly turned up the heat. Notre Dame's defense seldom let White turn upfield and chased McAllister halfway to Kalamazoo.
The fifth of eight Irish sacks, a 2-yard loss in the hands of tackle Jeff Kunz, was his team's second safety of the night and made the score a more conventional 21-0.
When the Spartans continued to sputter, Gradel's second field goal, a 38-yarder, made it 24-0 with :08 left in the half.
Nothing improved for MSU in the third quarter when a blindside sack by linebacker Cedric Figaro jarred the ball from McAllister at his 13. Linebacker Flash Gordon recovered to set up a 4-yard scoring smash by fullback Anthony Johnson.
The Spartans lost two chances to score when McAllister fumbled to linebacker Ned Bolcar at the Notre Dame 4, then threw an interception to Bolcar at the 8. But Perles stuck with his No. 1 quarterback, a move that would pay huge dividends later in the season.
"I kept talking to him on the sidelines," Perles said. "I said, `Don't worry, I'm not going to hook you! We're going to get on the board, go for two and try to get an onside kick to get the ball back again."
That was exactly what happened with 1:06 left. MSU avoided a shutout on a 57-yard post pattern to split end Andre Rison, who'd scorched cornerback D'Juan Francisco. A two-point lob to flanker Bernard Wilson completed the scoring.
"It was an unusual game," Perles said. "Normally, the kids would be dragging. But the defensive guys weren't tired at all. Some of them played very well."
The Irish had just 280 yards in total offense and 15 first downs. But a 4-0 edge in takeaways, 59 yards in sacks and 25 points on special teams and defense made the difference.
"We didn't make the big mistakes that would kill us, but we didn't move the ball too well, either," Andrysiak said. "That really bothers me. We can't be waiting for Tim to return a punt or a kickoff. We have to make things happen ourselves."
"This is not `The Tim Brown Show,'" Holtz said, though no one believed him. "This football team has a lot of things going for it."
The Spartans had some decent passing numbers - 208 yards from McAllister and five grabs for 137 yards from Rison. But White was held to 51 yards in 19 carries, and MSU was saddled with its worst loss in the series since 1979.
"What happened happened," Perles said. "We can't change it. And right now, next Saturday can't come quick enough. We've regrouped and don't have anyone with his head down. We know we've made mistakes. The better team that night won."
That's not necessarily the same as being the better team over 12 football games, as Holtz was the first to realize.
"We've played two good games against Big Ten teams and had some good things happen to us," Holtz said of an 11-0 edge in turnovers. "But I think great teams are defined on Jan. 1."
If that's the case, the scoreboard in the shadow of .the Golden Dome was lying. The losing team that night would wind up 9-2-1, finishing with a nine-game unbeaten streak and a Rose Bowl victory. The winning team would stagger home with an 8-4 mark, including three straight setbacks.
Brown did capture the Heisman in December, with White finishing fourth a second time. But the greatest offensive player in MSU history wouldn't swap seasons.
GAME 2 MSU 0 0 0 8 - 8
ND 19 5 7 0 - 31
SEPT. 19, 1987 - NOTRE DAME, IND.
NOTRE DAME 31, MICHIGAN STATE 8
Attendance: 59,075 (sellout)
MSU ND First downs 13 15 Rushes-yards 36-98 50-168 Passing yards 208 112 Total offense 296 280 Passing 10-18-2 10-19-0 Fumbles-lost 4-2 1-0 Penalties-yards 4-24 5-45 Time of possession 26:45 33:15
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
ND - Safety, Ezor kneels in end zone, 15:00
ND - Gradel 27 FG, 4:08
ND - Brown 71 punt return (Gradel kick), 2:14
ND - Brown 66 punt return (Gradel kick), 0:13
2nd Quarter
ND - Safety, McAllister trapped in end zone, 3:37
ND - Gradel 37 FG, 0:08
3rd Quarter
ND - Johnson 3 run (Gradel kick), 10:40
4th Quarter
MSU - Rison 57 pass from McAllister (Langeloh kick), 1:06
Individual Stats
RUSHING - MSU: White 19-51. ND: Green 17-46, Rice 2-28, Andrysiak 9-22.
PASSING - MSU: McAllister 10-18-2-208. ND: Andrysiak 9-17-0-105.
RECEIVING - MSU: Rison 5-137, Bouyer 2-28. ND: Brown 4-72, Green 3-30.