Spartans 'Trending Up' Heading Into November Stretch Run
10/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State's 8-0 start came at a hefty price in terms of lost productivity.
The Spartans have missed a total of 32 starting assignments due to injury from the team that lined up on opening day of preseason camp.
The quality of the talent, ability and experience that has been absent is striking. Fifth-year senior linebacker Ed Davis, a preseason All-Big Ten selection, sustained a season-ending injury in camp with a torn ACL. Cornerback Vayante Copeland, who was off to an all-conference start, was lost for the season to a neck injury suffered in the second game against Oregon.
Fifth-year senior safety RJ Williamson was also positioning himself for all-league honors before going down for possibly the rest of the regular season in the fifth game. Price, one MSU's most dangerous receiving options at tight end, sat out the Purdue and Rutgers games.
And, preseason All-American offensive linemen Jack Conklin and Jack Allen sat out a total of four entire games and parts of four others.
It's no wonder Coach Mark Dantonio stopped just short of telling the entire team to stay in bed all week going into Saturday's bye.
The players are lifting weights and doing condition drills under the watchful eye of strength and conditioning coach Ken Mannie, but unlike the previous eight seasons under Dantonio, they will not hit each other during the off week.
They won't even put on helmets and shoulder pads.
"We've been going since August," Dantonio said. "We've had no bye, no downtime, and I just think that after eight games, we've done what we needed to do. It's not perfect, but we are 8-0 right now. We need to heal up. We need to sort of get fresh. We need to look forward. We don't need to look forward to a grind -- we need to look forward to the next opportunities and the next challenge.
"It's not like our guys won't be working. They'll be working a couple hours a day. But I think that the pounding and the hitting is going to be nonexistent. We're going to make it into next week without a guy getting a shoulder (injury) or something of that nature, hopefully, unless they drop a weight on their foot or something, which has happened."
Despite springing a few leaks here and there from the physical and mental toll, the good ship Spartan has returned safely to port ranked No. 6 by the Associated Press and No. 5 in the coaches' poll. They are still in the hunt for a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game and the College Football Playoff heading into the conference homestretch with games against Nebraska (Nov. 7), Maryland (Nov. 14), No. 1 Ohio State (Nov. 21) and Penn State (Nov. 28).
The story of how the Spartans have not only stayed afloat but maintained their contender status is told in key statistical areas.
They lead the Big Ten in third-down conversions at 50 percent, are first in turnover margin at plus-1.25, boast a league-low 39 penalty yards per game, are second only to the Buckeyes in scoring with 33.4 points per game, and are fourth in time-of-possession at 32:58.
Furthermore, quarterback and reigning conference Co-Offensive Player of the Week Connor Cook, who threw for a career-high 398 yards in last Saturday's 52-26 win over Indiana, is second with 258.8 passing yards per game and has a league-best 17 touchdown passes. With just two interceptions thrown, Cook is tied with Penn State's Christian Hackenberg for the fewest pick-offs among conference passing leaders and he is third in passing efficiency (146.4).
Cook's favorite target, wideout Aaron Burbridge, leads the lead with 103.8 receiving yards per game and is tied for first with 52 catches.
How much better MSU would be at full strength is anybody's guess, but the offensive linemen are looking forward to finding out what the Spartans can do with a full complement of blockers. Allen is expected to be back at center against the Cornhuskers and Conklin and starting right tackle Kodi Kieler continue to mend their ailments.
"It couldn't have come at a better time," Conklin said of the bye. "We are beat up, but we're getting healthy. Hopefully, we'll have everybody back for the Nebraska game. With the depth we've created because of the injuries, we're going to have that nine-to-10 man rotation back that we've had in the past years.
 | "We don't have to look behind right now because there's nothing back there that we have to regret. We can just look forward, and I think that's positive." |
"That's exciting. Those young guys have stepped up in a time of need and were able to get the job done and get those wins, putting us in the place of being 8-0."
One of the areas that needs shoring up is the rushing attack, which is 10th in the Big Ten with 155 yards per game, down 80 yards from last season when Michigan State was fifth.
"We've gone eight weeks straight constantly practicing and I think a week off will really do us a lot of good," said Benny McGowan, who has filled in at guard and center. "It will help us recover and we'll be able to come back strong for November, which as we all know, is a very important part of the season." Dantonio is 21-6 in Michigan State's regular season games played in November and 7-1--10-1 including postseason games --after Nov. 1 in the last two seasons.
The running game could get a boost if tailback Madre London is back to full strength. London leads MSU with 66.5 rushing yards per game, but has missed the last two games.
It's said that iron sharpens iron, and one of the benefits of suffering a rash of injuries is the way MSU has been forced to get younger players ready ahead of schedule and demand second- and third-team players to rise to the occasion against the best MSU's opponents have to offer in game conditions.
Two true freshmen, Grayson Miller and Khari Willis, have started at the safety positions in the last two games against Michigan and Indiana, offensive linemen David Beedle and Brandon Clemons have played important minutes and Delton Williams has returned to the running back rotation.
"It gives us a lot of different ways to go about things, and I think that's a positive," Dantonio said. "A redshirt freshman won't be stressed out when he goes in there for the first time because he'll have had that luxury of having game experience. Like I say -- I don't think I've ever come in here and complained about our issues injury-wise -- in the end it should make us a better football team overall. It should allow players to move forward and be more comfortable with game experience.
"There's a good mixture of older players and young players, so there's the newness of players who haven't played before that are starting to play a little bit, and they bring a little bit of a different excitement. There's the older players now really going into their last month of football, and our seniors saying, `OK, I've got four more games to play, and the chips on the table have gotten quite large now. What am I going to be able to do to finish the job?'
"So there's an excitement to that, as well."
Through it all, the Spartans hope they are stronger for weathering the storm of injuries and are healthy enough to peak and finally play their best football -- Dantonio has said that still hasn't happened -- when it counts the most.
"I feel good about our football team," Dantonio said. "Somehow, someway, we've got guys that at times play extremely well and other guys need to play a little bit better, but that's the nature of college football when you look around the country. We sort of lean on each other..., (and) there's a positive attitude, and I'm sure next week when we come back and we start practicing, there's going to be even newer conviction."
Michigan State is also one of only three Big Ten in control of its own destiny.
"There's going to be a buzz because we've been off and we're looking forward," Dantonio said. "We don't have to look behind right now because there's nothing back there that we have to regret. We can just look forward, and I think that's positive.
"I think right now we're trending up."
