Spartans Look To Rebound Against EMU
9/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist | @GrinzOnGreen
EAST LANSING, Mich. - It's often said that nothing good ever comes from a loss.
But what if during a 20-minute stretch of an especially high-profile defeat, you were arguably the best team in America, as Michigan State was two weeks ago at Oregon? And what if you've been through this drill before and came back even stronger?
The 46-27 setback against the Ducks left MSU with a number of concerns it must resolve going into Saturday's game against Eastern Michigan in Spartan Stadium, and certainly before the Oct. 4 Big Ten opener against Nebraska, but self-doubt isn't among them, said senior offensive guard and co-captain Travis Jackson.
Nearly a year had passed since the Spartans last experienced the foul taste of defeat, a very long time considering what they accomplished during the interim - Big Ten Championship, Rose Bowl victory, 11 straight wins - but not so long ago that the lessons learned have lost relevance.
As costly as the 17-13 road loss to Notre Dame on Sept. 21, 2013, turned out to be for MSU's national aspirations in the long run, it was priceless in one very narrow, but critical, sense as a measuring stick. That defeat also came before a bye week.
"There are some similarities in the fact that in the Notre Dame game we saw that we could play well, and we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a couple times there," Jackson said. "It kind of felt like the same thing in Oregon - we saw that we can play well."
Trailing 18-7 with 10:12 remaining in the first half, Michigan State shut down the Ducks' vaunted offense and riddled its athletic defense for 20 unanswered points to lead by nine until late in the third quarter.
"It's so tough because we got on such a roll in the second quarter, came out in the third quarter and put a good early drive together," Jackson said. "It's one of those things where you do have to look at your mistakes, but you also look at what you did well. It's encouraging that we came out and played two quarters really well, but that's just not enough and it's not going to be enough any week.
"That's something we've got to fix."
In the final 20 minutes, both MSU and the Ducks found themselves at the crossroads with plays that would ultimately determine the outcome. Oregon converted; the Spartans, who linebackers coach Mike Tressel said played one of their worst defensive quarters of the Mark Dantonio head-coaching era, did not and it's been eating away at them ever since. The natural response to making a mistake is making it right as quickly as possible, so sitting idle with a bye last Saturday made for an agonizing situation.
"Having that time off was obviously nice for the body, but it's just torture for the mind when you're sitting around watching football," Jackson said. "When you're in a room full of 100 competitive guys, losing leaves a sour taste whether you're playing football or you're just sitting around with your friend playing a card game.
"There's a bunch of competitive guys here and we haven't lost in a while. So, we had to do some soul-searching and check ourselves, and there's no better way to do that than playing another game. After a loss, it kind of boosts your focus. You want to get back on the field. You want to play such a better game and show what we're really capable of."
The knack for creating a break at an opportune time or conjuring up some luck under dire circumstances, which served MSU so well throughout last season, was missing against Oregon and Dantonio doesn't want to go another game without it.
"Everything was going in the right direction," he said. "What we needed to do was be able to finish, and I don't know why we didn't finish. It had something to do with maybe them - I'm sure it did, they are a good football team. But whatever the reason is, we as a program, not as a defense, not as an offense, but we as a program, as a coaching staff, weren't able to finish that football game.
"The onus is on all of us. It doesn't go in one particular area."
Team leaders are looking foremost at areas they control.
"Momentum just kind of switched on us there, and being senior leaders, being on the Leadership Council, being captains, we've just got to be more in charge of getting the guys ready," Jackson said. "You look back at how you kind of let it get out of hand in the third and fourth quarter, and you've got to look to your leaders.
"We feel definitely really responsible for not keeping our guys up, or whatever the problem was. We've got to check on our guys and make sure they're all right and our minds are right going into this game."
Inexperience at certain positions is also being addressed, and the Spartans are looking forward to the impending return of veteran defensive linemen Damon Knox and James Kittredge from injury along with versatile offensive lineman Connor Kruse.
"Just like last year after Notre Dame, (the bye) gave us some time to sit back and reflect and understand what we need to do to achieve our goals set ahead of us," said defensive tackle Joel Heath. "I think it allowed us as a defense to see we've got some work to do. All around, fundamentally, whether it's communication or whatever, there are areas we need to clean up.
"It's given us time to regroup and understand we can be that defense we've always been. I really think it comes down to finishing, and that comes with maturity and growth. We know we have to do that."
Upon further review, senior defensive end Marcus Rush indicated that the Spartans did as much to lose the game as the Ducks did to win it.
"We took a lot out of the game," he said. "We came away knowing we're a good team. Some guys got out of position and some guys didn't do their job, so we definitely learned a lot. We'll get something out of the positive and hopefully the negative stuff doesn't affect us too much.
"Last year, we knew we were a good team after we came out with a loss against Notre Dame. We learned a lot with that game and got better each week. And, that's what Travis is talking about. We're going to get better each week. We'll step it up."
How damaging the loss to Oregon proves to be is almost impossible to gauge given the fluctuations already being seen in college football as it approaches its first playoff. Michigan State dropped all the way from No. 7 to 13th in the aftermath, but improved to No. 11 this week without playing a down.
Winning is the only solution to continued upward mobility.
"All our goals are still ahead of us," Rush said. "We just have to focus on one game at a time, hopefully going back to the Big Ten Championship and whoever knows what bowl and hopefully the playoffs.
"I don't think this one game is going to hold us back from finishing off the season the way we want."
