Mark Dantonio and his koaching staff? (or is this the officiating crew at the MSU/ND game?)
I'm not sure if the above picture is that famous incompetent police force, the Keystone Kops, or the MSU football coaching staff (or should I say, koaching staff). In any case, they both have the same degree of expertise--at least in recent weeks. And the same can be said for the officiating crew that worked the Michigan State/Notre Dame game.
I've had a few days to stew over the latest head-scratching, gut-wrenching Michigan State football loss. The more I think of it, the angrier I get.
What in the hell is going on with this team. More specifically, what in the hell is going on with this coaching staff? Has Mark Dantonio lost his mind? I never thought I'd be so critical of Mark Dantonio, but he has really bungled this 2013 team from the spring game until now.
Yes, the team is 3-1; but it's the rockiest, ugliest 3-1 I've seen in quite some time.
Why in the world was Andrew Maxwell thrown into the game on the final drive, only to inexplicably run out of bounds on 4th and 20, sealing MSU's fate. Did Maxwell forget the down-and-distance? Even if so, it doesn't look good for him to make such a huge mental error in a pressure situation. It didn't look good for the coaches to throw him into that situation in the first place. And was Connor Cook really playing that badly? I don't think so. The team was only down by four points!
The coaching staff is in serious danger of alienating all of the quarterbacks and dividing the team if this dog and pony show continues.
And don't get me started on some of the offensive play-calling, specifically the ridiculous R.J. Shelton trick play, which destroyed a promising Spartan drive in which MSU was gashing Notre Dame on the ground.
But not all of what happened on Saturday was MSU's fault. I don't like to crow too much about bad officiating, but the pass interference calls against the Spartans were some of the worst officiating decisions I've seen since last year's Nebraska game. When poor officiating has a direct impact on the result of a game, there is a problem. This was definitely the case in the Notre Dame game.
That's all I have for now. I think I need to take some prozac and decompress.
