Spartans Finish Strong In Victory Over Central Michigan
9/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist
EAST LANSING, Mich. â€" How many times have we been told, "It's not how you start, it's how you finish"?
And yet, even though Michigan State came on strong in the fourth quarter for the first time this season to finish off Central Michigan 30-10, the postgame mood was hardly jubilant.
The Spartans' No. 2 ranking has certainly skewed perceptions. While a 20-point decision may look impressive on the surface, the issue now seems to be that MSU should dominate from beginning to end.
To their credit, the players and coaches didn't try to argue the merits of the win on style points, but they also weren't about to apologize for a performance that extended their school record for consecutive games with at least 30 points to 12, closed out the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 4-0 record against four teams that played in bowls last season and saw some other milestones reached.
Connor Cook, who with his 27th victory tied Kirk Cousins for the most wins by a starting quarterback in school history, never felt the game was in danger of slipping away even after the Chippewas of the Mid-American Conference cut MSU's lead to 17-10 midway through the third quarter.
"We know what kind of players we have and the caliber of talent we have," Cook said. "We've been in situations like this before. We've played in big games, especially the senior class. We're all about finishing and that's the one thing that we hadn't done well this year so far.
"I thought that was very encouraging â€" by the way we handled our business in the fourth quarter and finished by putting some points up on the board."
Said defensive end Shilique Calhoun, who matched his career-high for sacks with 2.5, "You're always going to face adversity in a game, but it's just about having faith in your team and your coaches. It's basically about getting the job done and we did that today."
The Spartans got off to an encouraging enough start. Although Central Michigan opened the game by driving to the MSU 23-yard line on the strength of former local high school standout Cooper Rush's 42-yard pass to Mark Chapman, Michigan State defensive end Demetrius Cooper blocked Brian Eavey's 45-yard field-goal attempt.
On MSU's first offensive play of the game, Cook connected with wideout Macgarrett Kings Jr. for a 42-yard completion to the Chippewa 30, and five plays later tailback Madre London sliced into the end zone off left tackle for a 7-0 lead.
The Spartans' defense again bended but didn't break on Central Michigan's second possession, which ended when Calhoun blocked a 43-yard try by Eavey. It was the first time MSU blocked two kicks in the same game since Percy Snow swatted down a pair against Minnesota in 1989.
Michigan State countered with a 47-yard Michael Geiger field goal and made went three-for-three on scores-per-possession when Cook hit tight end Josiah Price with a 5-yard touchdown pass with 5:13 left in the first half.
 | "Part of that is because when they come to Spartan Stadium to play Michigan State at this point, we're going to get everybody's best shot. That's part of the deal. If you want to be up there you better expect that and play through it. I thought we did in the fourth quarter." |
But then, the Spartans were overcome by what Coach Mark Dantonio called "a lull."
With starting middle linebacker Riley Bullough watching the game on television in Coach Dantonio's locker room, while serving a first-half suspension for a targeting infraction a week earlier against Air Force, the MSU defense couldn't get off the field on third down. In the first half, the Chippewas converted six of nine third-down situations, including four times with 10 or more yards to go and held the ball for nine minutes longer than Michigan State had it.
After spending most of the first half on the sideline, Cook headed to the locker room with a 17-7 lead but only six passes, four completions and 62 yards through the air.
Hampered by an uncharacteristic number of penalties, compared to the first three games, the offense "sputtered a little bit," in the third quarter, said MSU co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner.
And when Eavey finally found the mark from 42 yards to make it a seven-point game, Dantonio said, "OK, here we go. It's going to get real interesting now, but we rallied up and played through it."
With Bullough back in action for the second half, Central Michigan converted on just one of its final six third-down plays and the Spartans found a hot back in No. 3 tailback Gerald Holmes who had a 17-yard reception to set up his 3-yard touchdown run with 8:37 remaining in the fourth quarter. He put the game out of reach five minutes later with a 6-yard TD run.
Although Dantonio again said the Spartans still haven't played their best football, he peppered the outcome with perspective.
"Part of that is because when they come to Spartan Stadium to play Michigan State at this point, we're going to get everybody's best shot," he said. "That's part of the deal. If you want to be up there you better expect that and play through it. I thought we did in the fourth quarter.
"Football teams (like Central Michigan) that stay in there, they start to believe they can do it and they start to change the momentum of the football game. Credit our football team for being able to swing it back our way and take control of the game in the fourth quarter. Nothing surprises me in this game."
What is surprising is that MSU's hold on the No. 2 spot may be doubted by the poll voters this week because of the way it didn't beat Central Michigan, while Ohio State's status as the top-ranked team wasn't seriously questioned after it had an even tougher time defeating Northern Illinois, also from the MAC, 20-13, a week earlier.
"I think we've played a tough out-of-conference schedule, probably the toughest since I've been here, when you check the records," Dantonio said. "As bad as we played on defense, they scored 10 points which is our low for the season.
"Could we have run the ball more effectively? Yes. Could we have thrown it more effectively? Yes. I thought we stopped the run pretty well â€" they had one (long) run. Could we have played better pass defense? Yes. But we did a lot of good things, too, and we won the football game going away."
Michigan State sealed the deal despite the fact starting left tackle Jack Conklin, safety RJ Williamson and Price were sidelined by injuries during the game. Furthermore, starting right tackle Kodi Kieler has been out since getting hurt in the second game against Oregon and starting cornerback Vayante Copeland suffered a season-ending injury against Oregon. Sophomore Dennis Finley played in place of Conklin during the two, sustained, game-finishing drives.
The Chippewas outgained MSU 340-324 and Cook ended up completing 11 of 19 passes for 143 yards and a touchdown. No Spartan rusher or receiver cracked the 100-yard mark but it doesn't matter, according to Kings, who had two catches for a team-high 46 yards.
"The way we finished is definitely a momentum-booster for the offense, the defense as well," he said. "It definitely picks up our offense knowing we finished the fourth quarter properly â€" running the football â€" because we emphasize that a lot. I think the offensive line did a very good job putting their heels in the ground and pushing that defensive line back. I'm very proud of Gerald, personally. He works hard, got his chance today and did well."
