Spartan Defense Gets Back to Form, Shuts Down Maryland

Nov. 14, 2015

By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist

EAST LANSING, Mich. â€" The Michigan State defense reclaimed its identity in Saturday's 24-7 victory against Maryland in Spartan Stadium.

And whoever it was that showed up in its place seven days earlier in the 39-38 loss at Nebraska has been banished forever by co-defensive coordinator Harlon Barnett.

"Coach Barnett has been telling us every week that we need to get back to what we used to be," said outside linebacker Jon Reschke, who got seven tackles and two quarterback hurries from MSU's aggressive blitzing scheme against the Terrapins. "We need to reintroduce ourselves as a new Spartan Dawg defense, or what we're about to be."

Giving up a season-low seven points, forcing five turnovers and holding Maryland to 289 yards â€" the second-lowest total allowed this year â€" a week after giving up a season-high 499 yards is merely the start, however.

"We need really prove that we can get back to that, and I think it's going to happen near the end of the season leading hopefully into these next five games," said Reschke, who is visualizing the last two regular-season games, the Big Ten title game, and a pair of College Football Playoff matchups. Anybody expecting Michigan State's disappointment from the gut-wrenching loss in Lincoln to linger was mistaken.

"We had high energy, guys celebrating after beating up the scout team, just giving everything they've got in practice," Reschke said. "We needed to bounce back. It's in our nature to come back stronger than ever after a tough lost. (After) the one-point loss to Nebraska, we knew we had one choice, and that was to come out and play well."

The No. 14 Spartans' timing couldn't be better if they are indeed on the verge of playing their best football of the season.

Next Saturday, Michigan State (9-1, 5-1 Big Ten) visits No. 2 Ohio State (10-0, 6-0) in a game that has been a topic of national conversation since the end of last season. The winner will be the frontrunner to represent the East Division in the Big Ten Championship going into the final weekend of the regular season.

Against Maryland, the Dawgs picked up the slack for the offense which had to replace quarterback Connor Cook for an extended amount of time due to injury for the first time in his three seasons as the starter.

While Dantonio had made a pregame executive decision -- known only to him -- to play backup Tyler O'Connor for an experience-producing series in the first quarter, an injury to Cook's passing arm kept him on the sidelines for the entire second half as a precaution. Cook said he could have played if necessary and expects to be fully healthy to face his home-state rival.

The MSU rushing attack also rounded back into form that was sorely missing in the late stages against Nebraska, grinding out 99 of its 141 yards after halftime, but the defense carried the day.

Junior middle linebacker Riley Bullough put his experience as a running back a couple seasons ago to good use when he returned his second interception of the season, and the fourth of his career, 44 yards for the touchdown that broke a 7-7 tie with 2:07 remaining in the first half.

Maryland converted just four of 16 third-down situations and one of three times it went for it on fourth down. Safety Montae Nicholson backed up his talk from earlier in the week, when he said he had put the early-season struggles that cost him his starting job, by leading MSU with a career-high nine tackles and picking off his third pass of the season to end the Terps' final drive.

Despite missing starting tackle Joel Heath, because of an injury sustained against Nebraska, the Spartans came back from failing to sack Cornhusker quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. by trapping Terps quarterback Perry Hills three times. Defensive tackle Malik McDowell, who shared one of those sacks, had a career-best eight tackles including 4.5 for loss.

Barnett's much-maligned secondary allowed 182 yards on 17-for-36 passing (47.2 percent) and the defensive front atoned for the way it played against the Cornhuskers, who ran for 179 yards and three touchdowns, by holding Maryland to 107.

"Last week, as you could see, we weren't getting a good rush and you see what happened," McDowell said. "We didn't get a sack last game and they almost rushed for 200 yards. That's just something we don't allow as a D-line. We take the rushing yards upon ourselves. We ain't played good as a defense and we ain't played our regular game, so we just had to improve and move onto the next.

"We're relentless players. We go out there like some dogs and just won't stop. We've played hard; we just didn't get the job done. Little stuff -- not wiping the extra gap, going in the wrong gap â€" is what hurt us. Last week was probably our best practice ever since I've be at this school. Everybody was just on point because after taking a loss like that, we had to come back harder than what we were doing before."

The same, if not more, will be expected of the Spartans this week in practice because at 2-8 overall and 0-6 in the Big Ten, Maryland's value as a confidence-booster has to be kept in proper context. Ohio State leads the league in scoring offense and is second in total offense while the Terps are 12th and 13th, respectively.

"I thought our football team played extremely well on defense -- pressuring the quarterback," Dantonio said. "(Maryland) had a little over 100 yards rushing, but five turnovers, two fourth-down stops. I thought we played well on that side of the ball. We needed to have a football game like that to sort of set the stage for this next week and keep playing well coming out of the football game.

"That was a focus. We came out and finished. We take that into the (Ohio State) game. We need to continue to be that team."

Nicholson claimed only a measure of redemption for himself and the defense.

"I think I played pretty well today, a lot better than I have previously, just making some minor adjustments and getting better," he said. "We're starting to finally click. That's what we've been working for, and what we've been working for is finally paying off.

"In my opinion, as a whole we have a long way to go to play our best football. Because of last week and because of this upcoming week, we wanted to establish ourselves as a defense. We haven't been playing the way we should and today was just the start to putting us where we need to be."

Last season, a 49-37 loss to Ohio State prevented the Spartans from getting to the conference final. It took the MSU defense 10 games to get off to a good start, and McDowell said it isn't about to stop now.

"I'm real excited," he said. "I've been looking forward to it all year, to be truthful."