Spartans Look to 'Regroup' After Falling to No. 11 Badgers

Sept. 24, 2016

By Steve Grinczel, MSUSpartans.com Online Columnist

EAST LANSING, Mich. â€" It didn't come to the forefront during the dog days of August in preseason camp.

There were no obvious signs of it after a lackluster season-opening 15-point win against Furman. Holding on for a 36-28 win at Notre Dame provided some glimpses, which might not have been considered fleeting had eighth-ranked Michigan State maintained, or expanded, a 29-point, second-half lead.

However, head coach Mark Dantonio's wait to see the true character makeup of the 2016 Spartans may come to an end this week, although his preference would have been to see its identity emerge after a gut-wrenching come-from-behind victory instead of Saturday's lopsided 30-6 Big Ten-opening loss against No. 11 Wisconsin at Spartan Stadium.

"I've said all along, we're still developing an identity of who we are," Dantonio said. "Sadly, it went in a different direction today but that's when we find out who our leaders are. We're going to be defined by how we handle our problems.

"I don't think there's any question about that."

Just about everything that could go wrong for the Spartans did go wrong in their first loss at home since falling to Ohio State on Nov. 8, 2014.

First, fifth-year senior middle linebacker, co-captain and emotional leader Riley Bullough went out for the coin flip in a warm-up suit and did not play due to an undisclosed health issue.

Then, after redshirt freshman defensive tackle Raequan Williams punched the ball out Badger quarterback Alex Hornibrook's hand and sixth-year senior defensive tackle Kevin Williams recovered the fumble at the Wisconsin 47-yard line, MSU's great field position was degraded by a false-start penalty. Seven plays netted just 16 yards and instead of taking full advantage of the turnover, the Spartans settled for a 48-yard Michael Geiger field goal and a 3-0 lead.

With Hornibrook, a redshirt freshman making his first career start at the controls, Wisconsin answered with a touchdown on its ensuing drive which covered 65 yards in 16 plays. On two occasions, Hornibrook passed for first downs while facing third-and-10, and the Badgers converted twice while facing fourth-and-1 with runs into the line.

Michigan State quarterback Tyler O'Connor, meantime, was experiencing a much different fate in his third start of the season and fourth of his career. He threw an interception from MSU's 30-yard line, which Wisconsin turned into its second touchdown for a 13-3 lead -- the only consolation being that kicker Andrew Endicott shanked the extra point.

The Spartan offense showed signs of storming back, moving from its own 15 to the Badgers' 22, but the drive stalled on an incomplete pass, a completion by O'Connor to wideout Monty Madaris that actually lost a yard, and another incompletion.

Geiger made it 13-6 with a 40-yarder, and that actually wasn't a bad place for Michigan State to be in at the start of the second half until…

Spartan free safety Demetrious Cox couldn't find the handle on the ball for an interception he very likely would have run back for the tying touchdown.

"My hands and receiver's hand were on it and I should have been more aggressive," Cox said. "He kind of yanked it out at the last second. I would have loved to hit the sideline, and I would have gone to the house for sure. That could have been a game-changer."

Then, after forcing Wisconsin to end its first possession of the third quarter with a punt to only the 50-yard line, MSU was back in great position to tie the game. However, tailback LJ Scott was forced to part ways with the ball by Badger strong safety D'Cota Dixon and free safety Leo Musso scooped up the loose ball and scored on a 66-yard return for a 20-6 advantage.

The lead ballooned to 23-6 after Wisconsin converted on third-and-8 to set up an Endicott field goal and the snowball was fully formed and getting bigger with each revolution when Michigan State punter Jake Hartbarger couldn't handle a high snap and covered the ball at his own 5. Wisconsin running back Corey Clement ran it into the end zone for the game's final score on the next play.

Michigan State's next drive ended on O'Connor's second interception. And early in the fourth quarter, when MSU still had a glimmer of hope after forcing Wisconsin to punt on fourth-and-4, the Badgers instead picked up a vital first down when punter Anthony Lotti's foot came down on the helmet of Grayson Miller, whose face was planted in the turf. Lotti fell down and Miller was penalized 5 yards for running into the kicker.

There were penalty flags thrown against Wisconsin that were later picked up and disregarded, a rare tripping penalty called against the Spartans which led to a second-and-34 situation, an incompletion on fourth-and-33 and another interception thrown by O'Connor…

Well, you get the picture.

"The reality is, they have one drive in the second half," Dantonio said. "The rest of the points were sort of handed to them. It's all-inclusive. You can almost look at these statistics and say, ‘Well there's why they didn't win: possession time (32:48 to 27:12); turnovers (4-2 but really 5-2 counting the bad punt snap); running the football (122 yards to 75 yards); sacks (4 to 2); third-down conversion (7 of 16 to 4 of 13) combined with fourth-down conversion (2 for 2, 0 for 2).'

"It's all right there. That's why you don't win a football game."

There may have been other factors as well. While Shane Jones had a solid performance filling in for Bullough, how much was the fiery leader's temperament missed on the field?

"Wisconsin came in and did what they needed to do, came in here with enthusiasm, had a game plan and executed it," said fifth-year senior wideout R.J. Shelton. "On our side, we came out flat. We needed to come and match their energy.

"But this is a lesson game. We need to learn from it â€" there were some goods and bads â€" and flush it. It's on us. Players play, coaches coach and we've got to get ourselves ready, meaning the players. We came out flat and that won't happen again."

At least the Spartans have history on their side in one regard. As devastating as the loss to the Buckeyes was two years ago, MSU rebounded to beat Maryland, Rutgers and Penn State to qualify for the Cotton Bowl, an elite-level New Year's Six game in the first season of the College Football Playoff.

Last season, Michigan State lost at Nebraska, which like Wisconsin is in the Big Ten's West Division, but beat Ohio State and Penn State to win the East. The Spartans then defeated West champion Iowa to capture the conference crown and advance to the CFP.

"We haven't lost here in a few years and it's my first loss as a starter, so it's definitely tough â€" it eats at you," said O'Connor, who completed 18 of 38 passes for 224 yards and three interceptions. "But, it's still early in the season. It's against the west side of the conference which is good. We lost a game to the west side lasts year, later in the season as well.

"We never really lost confidence and we stuck together. We know there's always going to be adversity, but we pride ourselves on that here. It was a full-team loss. Everybody's got everybody's back. We haven't had an undefeated season since I've been here, and we always have bounced back. That's what we do here."

What's different about the timing of this loss is it came just when prominent observers have come around to acknowledging that maybe Michigan State hasn't been getting the credit that it deserves nationally, after all.

"Our destiny's still in our own hands, just like the Nebraska situation last year when we lost and we ended up playing all the people we needed to play to get into that Big Ten Championship Game," Dantonio said. "People have been saying a lot of good things about us lately, and now we'll take some shots.

"That's usually the case in these things. We've got to regroup ourselves."