Spartans Prepared To Manage Lofty Expectations

Sept. 2, 2015

By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist | @GrinzOnGreen

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- No moment or opponent, in actual size or reputation, will be too big for Michigan State this season.

With 20 seniors on Friday's opening-day roster and four seasons' worth of experiences ranging from heady highs to crushing lows -- though few in number -- the Spartans are prepared for whatever they may face any time, any place, beginning with Western Michigan in Kalamazoo.

That's been the message since Mark Dantonio pronounced MSU game-ready, not at the close of this just completed preseason camp but back in April during spring practice.

The fifth-year players have been a part of come-from-behind victories in the 2013 Big Ten Championship Game against No. 2 Ohio State and four consecutive bowls, including the Rose and the Cotton. Michigan State saw its championship hopes derailed last season by the Buckeyes, only to rise back up and beat Maryland, Rutgers and Penn State to earn a trip to Dallas, where it stunned Baylor -- an inaugural College Football Playoff hopeful going into selection Sunday -- with a 21-0 fourth quarter en route to a stunning 42-41 victory.

As the program heads into its ninth season under Dantonio, these Spartans are comfortable in their own skin. The only team in the nation to win a BCS game during the 2013 season and a New Year's Six game last season, these Spartans are unfazed by being No. 5 when they face the Broncos. If anything, they think it may be a little low but wouldn't feel any differently if they were No. 25.

Whatever stars the Spartans used to have in their eyes going into each new experience have dimmed long ago, beginning with the 2011 season which ended with the 33-30 triple-overtime win against Georgia in the Outback Bowl, according to fifth-year senior offensive guard Donavon Clark.

"As the years progressed, we made our name for ourselves," he said. "Going to the Outback Bowl, going to the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl (where MSU defeated current No. 2 TCU), and then increasing that by going to the Rose Bowl and then the Cotton Bowl last year, we've come to the point in this program where (success) is expected and we need to keep reaching higher."

It may be easier to list the big stages MSU hasn't performed on, although stage fright will be the least of the Spartans' worries if they get there.

"We know that if we can go to the Rose Bowl, we can certainly go to a playoff game and then to the National Championship," Clark said. "At the same time, we have to continue to treat every game like it's our last game.

"We still expect more of ourselves and know we can do better."

Michigan State hasn't always been the better team, but it's safe to say that it has never come out flat or overconfident in any of the 106 games under Dantonio, whether it followed a deflating loss or a spectacular win.

Some coaches motivate their team with a fear of failure, but Dantonio tries to keep things positive by having the players fixate on what's immediately in front of it.

"Our football team has always done a great job in terms of focusing on the present, focusing on the moment," Dantonio said. "Our focus is entirely on Western. It has been here since probably late last week. We're looking forward to the moment. I'm not concerned about that at all. We have a pretty mature football team in terms of a lot of fifth-year seniors, things of that nature. We also have a short memory."

Or, depending on the situation, "a long memory," he added.

After all, a standard has been set at MSU, which if reached again this season would make Dantonio the first Big Ten coach in history to preside over five 11-win campaigns in a six-year period.

"As far as the expectations, the most important expectations are the expectations we have as a program on the inside," he said. "There's a lot of talk because of our record, things of that nature, the last couple years, but we will get as our works deserve."

It's the kind of approach that allows the Spartans to call last year's 11-2 performance a success and a disappointment in the same breath. MSU has won 11 or more games in four of the last five seasons, but the Spartans also fell short of their ultimate championship goals.

They aren't about to stop being driven now, and are undaunted by the national presumption they will perform at an extremely high level and be tagged as a disappointment if they don't.

Fourth-year junior middle linebacker Riley Bullough, who will also line up as a kick returner, and the rest of the Spartans need only look at what they've done in the recent past to realize how they stack up on the national scale.

"We understand the amount of pressure that's surrounding us," Bullough said. "But let's be honest, we thrive on that. We want to be in the big games playing against the best teams. That's when we play our best ball.

"Going into the season, expectations are high, and as a team, a coaching staff and us together, we know what kind of players we have, we know the potential of this team and that's what's giving us the confidence going into this season and the big games we're going to have. We expect to be one of the top teams in the country -- that's how we prepare each week, that's how we prepared during the offseason and I think that's going to help our mindset."

The Spartans have been conditioned to be colorblind when it comes to the opponent's uniform and uncomprehending of its school name, nickname, insignia, location or mascot. In other words, when they peer across the line of scrimmage at Western Michigan, they might as well be looking at Baylor, Stanford, TCU, Georgia or Michigan.

"I think we're more ready because we know the talent we have and the level of competition we can play with," said fifth-year senior defensive tackle Joel Heath. "Being there at those points in time two and three years ago, when we've been through adversity and losses, and even the wins, we know what to expect going into this season and why there are high expectations for us."

For want of a better term, this season has been shaping up as a payoff year since 2013.

Going into his third season as MSU's starting quarterback, Connor Cook has provided uncommon stability, durability and productivity at that position. However, he's down to his final year of eligibility as are some of the most impactful contributors in program history, such as All-Americans (center) Jack Allen and (defensive end) Shilique Calhoun. And, depending on the circumstances, fourth-year junior offensive tackle Jack Conklin, projected as a potential first-round NFL Draft pick after last season, could opt to leave school early.

Judging from the overall balance of experience and youth on the depth chart, and the caliber of the recruiting classes joining MSU this fall and next, it's hardly a now-or-never situation.

However, junior wideout R.J. Shelton recognizes that this would be a good time for every player to leave everything he has on the field in every game.

"We're humble," Shelton said. "We know we have to work each and every day, not take any day lightly and worry about the present not the future. We embrace the challenge of the spotlight by making sure we do what we need to do each and every day, making sure we don't waste a day.

"And, don't be enamored at being the No. 5 team because we know in college football anything can happen."