Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Deliver Strong Second Half in Win Over Indiana
10/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist
So much for the hand-wringing angst surrounding Michigan State's fast starts and nerve-wracking finishes.
On Saturday, the Spartans showed they can also win with a strong finish after a sluggish beginning, which had them falling three points behind a feisty Indiana team late in the second quarter in Bloomington.
No. 8 Michigan State not only won the 100th game of the eight-season Mark Dantonio coaching era, 56-17, it scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, which was perceived as an area of dire concern throughout the week. Oh by the way, 6-1 MSU also became bowl-eligible for the eighth straight year, extending a school record.
"We'll look forward to No. 8 next week," a theme-minded Dantonio said of the next game on the schedule, which happens to be against Michigan at Spartan Stadium.
Instead of surrendering 28 unanswered points as they did in the second half against Oregon, or allowing a 21-0 run as they did in a closer-than-it-should-have been five-point victory over Nebraska, or giving up two fourth-quarter touchdowns that allowed Purdue to hang around longer than it should have been allowed to, the Spartans blew the Hoosiers out of Memorial Stadium with a 42-0 outburst that began with two second-quarter touchdowns.
All of the sudden, the fourth quarter scoring disparity doesn't look so bad for Michigan State thanks to three scores that closed the points gap in the final stanza to a cumulative 54-49 for the season.
"We started out differently than we have in the past," said quarterback Connor Cook, who shook off some early misfires to help make Dantonio's 70-win milestone (against 30 losses) a memorable one. "Against Purdue, against Nebraska, against other teams we've faced this year, we started out hot, scoring 21 in the first quarter and all of the sudden we're up 24-3, or something like that.
"This was a different kind of pace today. We slowly got better and better as the game went on. When they were up 17-14, I think the Spartans fans in the crowd and the people back home were nervous a little bit, but all of us on the sideline knew what we were capable of.
"We weren't afraid. We knew what we were going to do and go out and get something going."
The identity of Dantonio's eighth team has yet to be officially proclaimed, but it certainly appears to be one that's able to rise to any occasion. In this case, it was a Hoosier uprising led by the nation's leading rusher and a true freshman who before a pair of untimely injuries was listed as the third-string quarterback.
After the Spartans struck first with tailback Jeremy Langford's 32-yard touchdown run, Indiana running back Tevin Coleman loosened up MSU's defense with a 65-yard run that set up a field goal, 7-3.
Cook hit tight end Josiah Price with a 10-yard scoring pass, but Hoosier wideout Shane Wynn scorched the Spartans with a 75-yard end-around, 14-10.
After a Michigan State drive ended on an interception thrown by Cook with 5:55 remaining in the first half, Coleman started Indiana's next possession with a 30-yard gain. And, 30 seconds later, new Indiana quarterback Zander Diamont, on his 19th career snap from scrimmage, scrambled for a 9-yard touchdown to make it 17-14 Indiana.
The confidence and momentum welling up on the Hoosiers' side of the field was short-lived, however. Cook got the passing attack back on track with a 67-yard pass to Price, whose catch-and-run set up Langford's 8-yard touchdown run that put MSU ahead to stay, 21-17.
Then, with 2:33 remaining in the first half, Cook completed six passes totaling 76 yards to wideouts Tony Lippett, Aaron Burbridge and Macgarrett Kings Jr., whose 14-yard twisting leap into the end zone all but put the game out of reach.
It became a foregone conclusion in the second half as the defense bowed up and offense opened up. Coleman became the first player to rush for 100 yards against MSU this season, but only 18 of his 132 yards on 15 carries came on the second half and the Spartans halted his nation-leading streak of games with a rushing touchdown at 15. Diamont completed just 5-of-15 passes for 11 yards.
Michigan State amassed a season-high 662 yards to Indiana's 224. No. 2 running back Nick Hill capped the victory with a 76-yard touchdown run that gave him a game- and career-high 178 yards on 16 rushes while Langford, with 109 yards on 21 carries, went over 100 in his 11th consecutive game against a Big Ten team.
The Spartans piled up 330 yards on the ground and Cook completed 24 of 32 passes for 332 yards, three touchdowns and one interception against his father's alma mater. Meantime, Dantonio put the fourth-quarter debate to rest by saying what difference does the number of the quarter make?
"It wasn't necessarily the fourth quarter (this time) when, as they say, the rubber hit the road," Dantonio said. "When things got tough we had to regroup and in our case today, it was in the second quarter.
"We talked about the fourth-quarter issue, but to me it was more about keeping an edge when things started to turn, and when there would be adversity how would we react? I thought we reacted extremely well at the end of the second quarter."
After all, wouldn't the Spartans be just as happy at 6-1 if they had yet to score a point in a fourth quarter?
"The bottom line is, do you win or do you lose?" Dantonio said. "We'll take 24 hours (to celebrate this win) and then go into Michigan week, which is always fun. It's important we come to play next week."
Dantonio can break a tie with Charlie Bachman, who went 70-34-10 from 1933-46, for second place on MSU's all-time coaching victory list against U-M.
"As far as the 70th victory, it represents so much to our football team because it represents longevity, which had not been here since Coach (George) Perles had come back in the eighties," said Dantonio, who expressed his gratitude to "the first (player) that made the decision to come to Michigan State in 2007, (and) that includes the guys who decided to stay when we came," and all who have followed including the members of the latest recruiting class.
"It's a group effort, and I appreciate the (assistant) coaches for staying - they've all had opportunities to leave, our administration, the backing they have given us, our athletic director, president, board of trustees, and Spartan fans in general," Dantonio said.
