Spartans Bounce Back, Dominate EMU
9/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist | @GrinzOnGreen
EAST LANSING, Mich. - A 59-point margin of victory may appear to be the dietary equivalent of empty calories, but Michigan State derived plenty of sustenance from Saturday's domination of Eastern Michigan.
The entries in the record book from the 73-14 blowout at Spartan Stadium must be acknowledged, but they aren't nearly as important as the number of players who entered the game - an unheard-of 63 by halftime and a symbolic 74 when it was all said and done.
Michigan State's 49 points before intermission were the most by the Spartans in an opening half in the post-WWII era. MSU piled up more total points on only two other occasions: a 76-14 wipeout of Northwestern in 1989 and a 75-0 scorching of Arizona in 1949.
Those numbers are just so much sugar in the long run. What mattered was an offensive line exceeding its goal of 200 rushing yards per game with a massive 336-yard effort and third-string tailback Delton Williams breaking out with a career-high 103 yards and three touchdowns on 10 carries.
In the first two quarters, the MSU defense didn't allow an Eagle first down and gave up just 1 yard of total offense (15 passing, minus-14 rushing). Even though defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi substituted liberally, the Spartans still allowed just 20 rushing yards and 115 through the air along with two hard-to-stomach passing touchdowns that will keep the secondary from getting fat and sassy. Special teams came up with two of the six turnovers collected by Michigan State.
Starting quarterback Connor Cook found value in being disappointed with completing 5-of-6 passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns because he knew he could have done better, but coach Mark Dantonio liked the way many of his inexperienced backups got to bulk up their skinny resumes.
"I thought our guys came out an executed very, very well," Dantonio said. "In the second half, we played a lot of young players and usually when you can do that there's going to be growth. We're always looking for growth on this football team and trying to establish ourselves.
"I looked out there one time and across the board on our defense, I think we had seven red-shirt or true freshmen playing. So, it was a positive. There are some things we need to correct, but not many."
Back-up quarterbacks Damion Terry and Tyler O'Connor both took snaps in the first half, which was a rare luxury. Terry started a seven-play, 68-yard scoring drive that ended on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Cook to wideout Tony Lippett for a 28-0 lead late in the first quarter. O'Connor made the score 35-0 with his first career touchdown pass, a 33-yarder to wideout AJ Troup, early in the second quarter and completed 4-of-5 throws for 58 yards and in interception.
"I think any time you put people in pressure situations you're going to see how they perform a little bit more clearly," Dantonio said. "Who got touches out there and what did they do with their opportunities?
"We need to be trying to hit on all cylinders as we're going forward. I think we need to use all of our guys. The only way they get better is really by playing in the game. I don't care what the score is, games are different than practice. There's just a higher responsibility."
If all the Spartans got out of the game was a good feeling to replace the misery that lingered from the 46-27 loss at Oregon for two weeks, it would have been enough. But, MSU came away with much more than that.
"I know all of us were stressing from the bye week and we just wanted to get back out there, especially coming off a loss because you hang over it and think about it a lot," said Terry, who went 5-for-8 for 19 yards and rushed three times for 17 yards. "I think the team came out and we played really good on offense and defense as a whole.
"We can scrimmage all we want, but there's something different about being out there during the game. A lot of young guys got out there in the first half going against their first-team (defense), and that's really big for us because with experience we get that comfort level. It's big."
Williams entered the game with five carries and 3 yards so far this season and came out with "confidence," he said. "I'm happy my coaches gave me the opportunity. It just felt good to be back out there, be able to contribute to my team so my coaches can know when it's time to put in a younger guy, they can put me in and know they can count on me."
Williams plowed in for a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter, a 7-yarder in the fourth and became MSU's first 100-yard rusher of the season with an 80-yard sprint up the middle with 6:05 remaining.
"I don't want to be one of those guys who they might be thinking about putting in but don't want to because they don't have trust in me," he said. "I want to earn trust so later down the road if they do need me they can put me in."
O'Connor also should be better prepared in case his number is called in an emergency.
"It's huge," O'Connor said of the experience. "(Quarterbacks coach Brad) Salem preaches the value in reps and the importance of learning as much as you can from each snap. It was great to get snaps at the end of the first quarter and then put together a great drive in the second quarter with the (first offense).
"There's nothing like getting live reps. Today was a lot of fun, and I thought I played pretty well. It was exciting to lead the ones to a score. AJ was my (preseason) camp roommate, so it was a lot of fun connecting with him for my first career touchdown pass. I'll always remember that throw."
Even though Cook is firmly established as the No. 1 quarterback, he got more than a restful afternoon out of the game.
He benefitted from feeling "that I should have been perfect," Cook said. "I was disappointed that I wasn't. That one incompletion I had to (Aaron) Burbridge, I kind of messed up our timing a little bit. Then the one third down I had, the play kind of broke down and I tried to scramble a little bit and got my feet caught up underneath me.
"The two run plays in the second quarter, I think I need to stick my foot in the ground and if it isn't open I need to scramble and get 8 yards on a play like that. Those are areas I need to work on."
Fifty-two of Eastern Michigan's 135 yards came on two scoring passes, including one of 43 yards against a blown assignment. Starting strong safety RJ Williamson said the lessons learned against the Eagles will pay off under more difficult circumstances in the future.
"It didn't look very competitive but you can still work on your technique and tackling because you can never be a good-enough tackler," Williamson said. "Working on the little things like: sticking to your man, staying with assignments and helping other guys out at certain positions if they don't see something.
"We just wanted to play Spartan defense. The Oregon game, we didn't show that. The first half we did, but in the second half, they came out and did whatever they wanted to do to us. I think we took it upon ourselves to say this is not the Spartan way to play defense and let's go out today and take care of business."
Even though the Spartans were heavily favored going into the game, the only way they could reconcile the defeat at Oregon was with their performance, and it had to be convincing, according to Brandon Clemons, who played on the offensive and defensive lines.
"We knew we were still good, but we still had to prove ourselves after that loss," he said. "We weren't sure how people were going to think about us as far as what are we going to do and were we going to show up in the second half even though we were up 49-0.
"So I felt we had a lot to prove to ourselves and anyone who doubted us by saying, `Here we go, another Michigan State team.' We weren't playing Oregon, but Eastern still played hard. They were still playing every single down, and we just did what we had to do. Our results showed that pretty good."
