Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Dominate, Then Find 'A Way to Win'
10/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist | @GrinzOnGreen
EAST LANSING, Mich. - There's no question, Michigan State left a bunch of style points on the field.
What should have been a comfortable Big Ten-opening victory against Nebraska morphed into 27-22 cliffhanger that Spartan cornerback Trae Waynes finally secured by intercepting a Tommy Armstrong Jr. pass 17 yards from the MSU goal line with 30 seconds remaining shortly after midnight as Saturday gave way to Sunday morning.
It was a close call, to be sure. Outside linebacker Riley Bullough couldn't help but notice the numb feeling in the locker room afterward, as if the 10th-ranked Spartans had just made it across a rickety bridge that was rapidly falling away behind them.
"Huge sigh of relief," Bullough said.
But then offensive line coach Mark Staten reminded the team that instead of dwelling on what didn't happen, it should celebrate what did by avoiding the carnage that swept up fellow Top-10 teams Oregon, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and UCLA - each of which is going into its next game off a loss.
"It was quiet until Coach Staten came in and was like, `A win is a win,' " Bullough said. "So then everyone went crazy, and it was good from there because we weren't sure what the coaches were going to say.
"It's true, a win is a win. Nebraska's a great team and we're glad we came out with a W. Coach D (head coach Mark Dantonio) always says they all count one, and we got 1-0 tonight."
It was a curious game that had the words, "hope you're paying attention national poll voters," resting on the tip of the Spartans' tongues with a 24-point lead on the 19th-ranked and undefeated team with under 13 minutes to play.
But then, the Cornhuskers made a bid at respectability when Ameer Abdullah, the nation's second-leading rusher who had put in a solid bid for the Heisman Trophy through Nebraska's first five games, capped a 43-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with 12:49 remaining.
Nebraska made things interesting its next drive, which was aided by a pass-interference penalty on Waynes in the end zone, and ended on Abdullah's 1-yard touchdown. And it got downright harrowing after Cornhusker returner De'Mornay Pierson-El returned a 43-yard Mike Sadler punt 62 yards to the end zone with 3:22 to go.
It stayed that way even after MSU snuffed out Abdullah's two-point conversion run because Michael Geiger's 36-yard field-goal try bounced off the goal post, and Armstrong just barely missed on a long pass into an end zone before Waynes put an end to the madness.
Who knows what sense the pollster will make out of all the mayhem that best college football this weekend? The Spartans are just grateful they are able to say they are 4-1 overall, 1-0 in the Big Ten, and still pretty much in one piece after being shaken up by an odd set of circumstances.
Realistically, the game could have turned in a completely totally different direction. While in the process of sacking Armstrong in the third quarter, MSU defensive end Marcus Rush, who turned in possibly the finest performance of his career, knocked the ball loose. Bullough scooped up the loose ball and almost certainly would have scored a touchdown, but the officials blew the play dead and ruled it an incomplete pass.
The Spartans got the ball at the Nebraska 15-yard line after a replay review, but instead of leading 27-0 and on the verge of igniting a blowout, they settled for a 27-yard Geiger field goal.
In the fourth quarter, the Cornhuskers' comeback bid would have been cut short if Michigan State free safety Kurtis Drummond hadn't let an Armstrong pass slip through his hands for what almost certainly would have been a pick-six and into the hands of wideout Jordan Westercamp for a 41-yard completion. Instead of being ahead 34-9, MSU soon found itself up only 27-16.
"They had been running that same route concept a lot throughout the game and it was just play-recognition," Drummond said. "I just didn't look the ball in completely. That's a mistake I shouldn't make."
Even 30-22 would have not only iced the game but looked a lot nicer, but Geiger bonked the field goal.
"It could have snowballed for us, but in the long run, we're going to have to make those plays is what it comes down to," Bullough said. "And we will. But, I think we're happy with the way we played for the most part."
A keen observer will note that the Spartan defense, which had difficulty stopping the Nebraska running attack in previous seasons, limited it to 47 yards, its lowest total in seven years. The Spartans held Abdullah to 45 yards, 122 below his average. Abdullah added just 22 receiving yards as his nation-leading streak of games with 100 yards from scrimmage ended at 18.
The score shouldn't have been as close as it was, but withstanding what would have been the biggest comeback in Nebraska history is better than being the victim of it, according to Drummond.
"You just see how we handled adversity," said Drummond. "You understand that games aren't going to go perfect and things are going to go up and down. It's really about how you handle adversity. I guess this shows the type of toughness we have when it goes down like that, but we also realize that we have to play more consistently and better for all 60 minutes.
"I would say we were already a humble team, so I don't really know if you can say it humbled us. But, it showed we can handle adversity."
Quarterback Connor Cook, who was disappointed with completing just 11 of 29 passes for204 yards, one touchdown and one interception, said "a lesson to be learned for me as a player is to never be comfortable, to keep piling up the points and every time you're out there on the field have that tenacity and attitude to put the ball in end zone every single time."
Dantonio knows as much as anybody in coaching that statements made in October never tell the whole story, and may not even be relevant in January. After all, he was Ohio State's defensive coordinator in 2002 when all the Buckeyes did is survive a series of close calls along the way to winning the national championship.
"You're looking for an identity throughout the year and you move forward," he said. "Last year, we developed one as we went forward. This year, we had the Oregon game (a 46-27 loss) and the other three were blowouts.
"Tonight was 27-3 and we were in control of that football game. I'm just glad I'm not sitting here talking about how it slipped away. I do think you develop an identity in how you play and how you finish. Somehow, some way, we finished. Our guys are more ticked off than unconfident or lacking effort. We found a way to win and that's the important thing.
"Football's a crazy game."
