When the highlight of your evening at a Michigan State basketball game is hearing "Let's Dance" played over the PA system during a timeout (RIP, David Bowie), you know you have trouble.
I just returned home from Breslin Center and am trying to process what has to be the worst home court butt-kicking MSU has received since Duke came to town in the 2003-2004 season and drubbed the Spartans.
For one of the few times since Izzo has been coach, it appeared the Spartans were thoroughly unprepared for this game. Outhustled, outshot, outrebounded, outcoached in the first half. It was just awful. There is no way to sugarcoat it.
The game was a perfect storm: Iowa was focused and executed perfectly, while MSU was out of sync and sloppy. By the time the Spartans woke (a little bit) from their slumber in the second half, it was way too late.
I won't say the sky is falling. It's only January. Denzel Valentine may still not be himself yet. As disappointed and numb as I feel now, I still believe this team can do big things this year. Believe it or not, a conference title is still not completely out of the question, though with two losses already, the Spartans will need help.
The question going forward is this? Was last night an anomaly? I think we can say with certainty that, at this point anyway, Iowa is a better team than Michigan State. In fact, Iowa may be the best team in the Big Ten. But are they that much better? Was this just a matter of MSU not matching up well with Iowa? Or are the Spartans levelling off? Going into this season, most thought this would be a rebuilding year. Then when the team got off to such a great start, expectations changed and the Spartans eventually found themselves at number one in the nation. Clearly, at this point in the season, the Spartan are nowhere near the best team in the country, nor are they the best team in the conference.
Last night's game left me, and probably many other MSU fans, completely befuddled. A struggling Wisconsin at Kohl Center now looks like a much more daunting task than it appeared to be just three hours ago. How the Spartans respond will tell us a lot more about where this team stands.
In August 2001--I remember the date because it was just a few days before my first son was born--I met up with a group of friends at the Peanut Barrel, one of the best watering holes in East Lansing. At some point during the evening, the subject of Michigan State football was brought up and discussed. The previous season, the Spartans finished 5-6 overall and tied for last place in the Big Ten at 2-6. The 2001 season would see them perform slightly better (7-5 overall, though only 3-5 in conference play, with a win over Fresno State in the fleabag Silicon Valley Classic bowl game). Anyway, the topic of discussion centered on whether MSU should give up the notion of being a viable player in football. The previous spring, Tom Izzo had led the basketball team to its fourth consecutive Big Ten title and third consecutive Final Four while the football program looked stuck in the mud and completely unable to capitalize on its stellar 1999 season (10-2, 6-2 in Big Ten play, win over Florida in the Citrus Bowl). Most of us sitting at that table in the bar agreed that football at MSU may as well be dead, and the school may as well concentrate on what it was good at: basketball.
Looking back now, with MSU in the midst of an amazing football renaissance, it's hard to believe that we ever felt this way. In truth, I don't know if my feelings towards Spartan football were quite that bleak. Even in my darkest hours, I felt that if Michigan State ever got its shit together, it could at least have a program on par with Iowa or Wisconsin: consistently finishing in the neighborhood of 8-4 while challenging for a conference title once every five years. It seemed like a reasonable and realistic expectation.
Never in my wildest imagination could I envision where Mark Dantonio has taken the MSU football program. Five double-digit win seasons in the last six years, three conference titles in six years (with an additional division title thrown in for good measure), four straight bowl wins, and now a spot in the four team College Football Playoff with a shot at a national championship. There are times when I truly feel I need to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming the whole thing up. In fact, this morning I half expected to wake up only to find that I'd imagined MSU's insanely dramatic win over Iowa in the Big Ten championship game.
What a game it was last night. A hard-hitting, defensive, all-out slobber-knocker. In retrospect, I feel a little sheepish about predicting a high scoring 37-30 game. I completely overestimated the impact that artificial turf and a climate controlled indoor environment would have on the game. I thought this would enable both offenses to stretch the field and have big plays. Instead, both defenses brought it with intense fury.
To answer my question of a few days ago, "How good is Iowa?": The answer is, "Very, very good." The Hawkeyes were just as good as I expected and maybe even better. C.J. Beathard is a calm, unflappable quarterback with a great arm and a bright future. Cornerback Desmond King is deserving of his Defensive Back of the Year award, as he and Aaron Burbridge engaged in hand-to-hand combat all night long. I'm happy to hear the Hawkeyes remained in front of Ohio State in the college football playoff rankings and will be headed to the Rose Bowl. They earned it.
Mark Dantonio and Kirk Ferentz's teams have had some classic battles on the gridiron since Dantonio arrived in 2007. Ferentz won their first meeting in 2007, an overtime thriller. Dantonio countered with a 16-13 win in '08 when the Spartans stuffed Shon Greene on a fourth down run. Iowa bounced back in 2009 in what was one of the most painful losses I've ever endured, scoring the winning touchdown on the final play of the game. The teams have played four games since then, with MSU winning in 2011, 2013, and this year--and Iowa winning another gut-wrenching overtime thriller in 2012. The bottom line is that this has been one hell of a compelling series.
The 2015 Big Ten championship game will be a contest that people will talk about for years to come. It was filled with drama. There was what I refer to as the "Immaculate interception" by MSU's Demetrius Cox (ball jarred loose by Riley Bullough's hit on the receiver) in the MSU end zone. It was a huge play that prevented Iowa from scoring a touchdown (or at the very least, a field goal) and potentially taking a 13-3 lead. With the way the defenses were playing last night, a 10-point lead may have been almost insurmountable. When it looked like MSU had seized momentum with a 9-6 lead, C.J. Beathard threw a play-action touchdown bomb that put Iowa up 13-9. And then there was the Spartans' epic 9-plus minute touchdown drive in which MSU slowly squeezed the life out of the Hawkeyes like a boa constrictor killing its prey. When watching MSU sports, I often feel like my heart will leap out of my chest and land pulsing on the carpet in front of my Vizio flat-screen television, and that feeling was especially profound last night when witnessing the game-winning drive.
I am a happy, content Spartan fan today. I am basking in the glow of last night's wonderful win and am not concerned about the tilt with Alabama on December 31. After this whirlwind, roller coaster ride of a regular season, I feel like a three week breather is just what I need.
That is the question I've been wrestling with as we head towards tomorrow's Big Ten championship game.
The Hawkeyes are undefeated, and that in itself is deserving of respect. They may not do anything particularly spectacular, but they do everything well. They also have about the most balanced offense in college football, averaging about 200 yards passing per game and 203 yards rushing.
Much has been made about Iowa's "weak" schedule, but any team that wins all of its games is deserving of respect, no matter who its opponents have been. Iowa had no choice in its divisional designation, but all the talk is completely overrated concerning how "weak" the Big Ten West is anyway. If one is to take the East/West crossover games as a barometer of the two divisions' strength, they are both completely even. Both divisions finished tied at 7-7 in crossover games--and Iowa won both of its games against the East while Michigan State finished 1-1. Now, it is true that Iowa benefited from not having to play Michigan State, Ohio State, or Michigan. However, the same could be said for MSU, who didn't have to play Iowa, Northwestern, or Wisconsin.
The non-conference schedule is where Michigan State has Iowa beat. All of MSU's non-conference opponents finished the season above .500 and are all headed to bowl games. Two of Iowa's opponents, North Texas and Iowa State, combined for a 4-20 record. Iowa also played an FCS school in Illinois State (who finished 9-2 overall and 7-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Redbirds are headed to the FCS playoffs). The best non-conference foe for Iowa was Pittsburgh. The Panthers, bowl-bound, finished 8-4.
But what does any of this stuff really mean anyway? It'll be completely meaningless when the teams kick off tomorrow at approximately 8:17 PM at Lucas Oil Stadium.
I think you can all guess that I'm rooting like crazy for the Spartans to win the Big Ten Conference title tomorrow night. With any big game, I feel the need to prepare for any kind of outcome. I have a feeling that it won't matter what I do to prepare, though. I'll most likely be getting little sleep tomorrow night regardless of the outcome--however it must be said that sleeplessness in victory is much more enjoyable than sleeplessness in defeat.
A victory in tomorrow night's game would vault Michigan State into the college football stratosphere, a rarefied air that Mark Dantonio has been trying to reach since he arrived on campus in late 2006. It's a level of greatness that I never dreamed of seeing in my lifetime.
I need to learn from 2011, though. Even if Michigan State loses tomorrow, it's not the end of the program. It's not the end of the world. At this point, I need to keep in mind that it never makes sense to stew too much over a loss, because often times a big win is just around the corner,
The game tomorrow should be close, but unless Iowa is much better than I or most anyone else thinks (and they may be), I have a feeling MSU will find a way to win this. The college football playoff is a goal this team has been reaching for since last season. The team is healthier than it has been since the Oregon game, and has played its best football in the the three games since the Nebraska debacle. Go ahead and call me a homer, but I'm predicting the Spartans to beat the Hawkeyes in a close game. Michigan State 37, Iowa 30.
I've been wrapped up in non-sports aspects of life for the last week, so haven't been quite as tuned into Michigan State basketball as usual.
I'm happy that the Spartans have bounced back after the heartbreaking loss against Maryland and have proven, once again, that the college basketball season is a process. Teams gel and evolve over the course of a season and it makes no sense for fans or the media to declare the sky is falling after a few early losses. Now, this is not to say that the Spartans will suddenly embark on an unstoppable roll and sweep their way to a Big Ten title. There will probably still be bumps and bruises along the way, but the team is healthier now than they were against Texas Southern and Maryland and the players all appear to be understanding their roles. Though it's not outside the realm of possibility, I don't see a conference title for the Spartans this season but a finish in the upper half of the Big Ten is extremely probable.
Travis Trice was on fire last night against Iowa. The guy was completely unconscious, particularly in the second half where it looked like he could have shot the ball behind his back and hit nothing but net. He had a shooting game that wasn't too far removed from the nights Scott Skiles and Shawn Respert had in their days. But it isn't just great shooting with Trice, he makes loads of hustle plays that don't make the stat sheet, like sprinting down the court and coming out of nowhere to contest what at first appears to be an easy layup for the opponent.
Denzel Valentine and Matt Costello both played among their best games of the seasons, and as challenged as Branden Dawson sometimes appears when it comes to getting the ball in the whole, few players in the game play defense or rebound as well as Dawson.
This is not a great Tom Izzo team right now, but it has the potential to do some special things this season. We as fans just need to have the patience to bear with the occasional detours on the way to a possibly splendid year.
The Spartans won a pivotal game last night at Breslin, a game that I contend they HAD to have. Granted, the victim was Iowa, a team that has been struggling mightily of late, but so have the Spartans. Iowa and MSU traded baskets for most of the first half, but the Spartans completely dominated the second half en route to locking up a bye in the Big Ten tournament and clinching at least a 12-6 record in conference play.
Now, I've heard some people downplay MSU's win over Iowa, and while I won't argue that the Hawkeyes have a great team, consider the alternative. A loss last night, in the final home game of the season, on senior day--for a team that is already struggling--would have been potentially devastating.
So I guess the question is, where do the Spartans go from here? It finally looks like the team is reasonably healthy and is at least in the process of gelling as a unit, which has been impossible for the last several weeks with all the nagging injuries this team has endured throughout the conference season. But how far MSU basketball goes from this point is impossible to say. Maybe it will help that, to a certain extent, the Spartans have fallen off the radar. Perhaps the pressure to succeed won't weigh too heavily on them. Also, maybe the difficulties and disappointments they've experienced this season will actually help to strengthen them heading into the postseason. Who knows? I wouldn't be surprised to see MSU make the Final Four, yet on the other hand I wouldn't be entirely shocked to see them bow out in the first round.
***
Coaching in the Big Ten this season is as good as I remember it being since at least the 1980s, when Jud Heathcote, Gene Keady, Lou Henson, and Bob Knight were prowling the sidelines. John Beilein may be the best Michigan coach since Johnny Orr and has done a brilliant job with the Wolverines. Tim Miles has brought a youthful vigor to Nebraska and has done marvels with that program. No matter who his players are, it's almost a guarantee that Bo Ryan will have the Wisconsin Badgers in the upper half of the Big Ten, defying everyone's expectations. And what more is there to say about what Tom Izzo has done over the last 19 years at Michigan State.
But the list of great Big Ten coaches goes on: Thad Matta always has Ohio State competing at a high level, Tom Crean has reinvigorated Indiana (though I'm sure he, along with nobody else, will ever equal Bob Knight in the eyes of Hoosier fans); Minnesota's Richard Pitino may look a lot like Chatsworth Osborne III from the old Dobie Gillis show, but he's an up-and-coming coach who employs the full-court press with the same fervor as his dad; and newer coaches like Pat Chambers (Penn State) and Chris Collins (Northwestern) have taken bottom feeder programs and at least raised them to the level where a game against them isn't practically a guaranteed win. So what I'm getting at, in a long-winded fashion, is that it's more difficult to win in the Big Ten than it has been in a long time.
I have to admit I didn't see last night's huge Spartan win over the Iowa Hawkeyes, but not because I was trying to avoid it. I had a prior commitment that kept me away from a television and didn't allow me the opportunity to check for score updates.
After my "prior commitment" was over, I left for home at 9:15 PM, and as I started up my ice-cold car, I flipped the radio station to Lansing's WMMQ 94.9 in time to agonize over Keith Appling's two missed free throws with 4.4 seconds left in overtime and MSU clinging to a 71-69 lead. By the time I pulled into my driveway, Iowa had burned through their last two timeouts, and as I finally parked my car in the garage, the Hawkeyes' Mike Gesell missed the potential game-tying shot and the Spartans had escaped Iowa City with a most unexpected but desperately needed victory.
It's impossible to underestimate how big a victory this was for the Spartans. It's truly stunning that, coming on the heels of an emotionally draining loss to archrival Michigan, MSU was able to go on the road and defeat a top-15 team riding a 20-game home winning streak.
It may be too early to make such grand pronouncements, but when the dust clears on this season, we may look back on this win at Iowa as the pivotal game that both kept the Spartans in contention for a Big Ten title and boosted the confidence of this battered, patched together bunch.
The Big Ten Network is replaying the game today at 4 o'clock, so I look forward to watching it and seeing for myself how the game played out (while not having to worry about my blood pressure reaching a critical level since I already know the outcome).
I need to write my post-game observations earlier--i.e. immediately after the game--rather than wait until two days later when the inspiration isn't quite there anymore.
My stress-o-meter for this game was high, and it reached dangerous levels when Iowa took advantage of the Darqueze Dennard/Isaiah Lewis collison (temporarily knocking Dennard out of the game) to score a touchdown, and quickly followed that up by throwing a touchdown pass that Dennard misplayed. In a half in which Iowa had been thoroughly outplayed, the Hawkeyes took a 14-10 lead into the locker room. I can't repeat the language I blurted at my TV screen--but by now you probably know me enough to guess that it was deeply emotional and contained a few choice four-letter words.
I calmed down in the second half, and the Spartans took control and played perhaps their best 30 minutes of football this season.
Yes, I know that Iowa isn't Alabama. They aren't even in the top 25. But Iowa has been a constant thorn in MSU's side going back decades--particularly at Kinnick Stadium. Going on the road and knocking them off is an important win for the Spartans, I don't care what the naysayers believe.
I also have to give the MSU coaching staff credit for the offense's vast improvement between the Notre Dame game and the Iowa game. Like a lot of fans, I freaked out after the Notre Dame game (read post below), but it looks like the Spartans are working things out on the offensive side of the ball.
Remember when I wrote that the Notre Dame isn't always a good litmus test for how the rest of the MSU football season will go? The opposite is true with the Iowa game. The Spartans tend to play the Hawkeyes in September or October (I don't why that is). If one looks that the years in which MSU defeated Iowa, the Spartans have almost always gone on to have at least a winning season (1987, 1989, 1993, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2008, and 2011 for example).
***
My modest streak is in jeopardy.
Since 1993, I have attended at least one MSU football game each season for a total of 20 consecutive years. It looks like that streak will end this year.
I should have bought tickets for one of the non-conference games, but for whatever reason (still in a baseball mood, perhaps? Not excited to spend good money to watch an inferior opponent?) I didn't pull the trigger.
The final home game against Minnesota is one I could easily attend and not break the bank in doing so, but I will be driving home from Disney World that day.
I'd love to see the Michigan game, but I don't have an extra 300 bucks (or so) floating around waiting to be spent on a football ticket.
The Purdue game could be a possibility, but I'm scheduled to be at a family event that Saturday, so that's probably out. The only legitimate possibility is this weekend's Indiana homecoming game, and I'm still trying to figure out if I can make that happen. We'll see. But chances are, I don't see an MSU football game in person this season--and it's breaking my heart.
Tonight's MSU win over Iowa fit the description of "barn burner." Somehow, some way, the Spartans had enough to beat an inspired Hawkeye team that seemed to lose their legs a bit in the last few minutes of the game. Now, it's another date with Ohio State.
These are the glory years of Michigan State basketball, and we as fans need to appreciate them while they last. I remember a time when just making the NCAA tournament was a cause for celebration. God bless Jud Heathcote, but he had his share of mediocre-to-godawful teams that in some years were just lucky to make the NIT. Tom Izzo has elevated the program to heights we've never seen before, and who knows if we'll see them again when he retires or moves on.
I certainly don't mean to disrespect Jud Heathcote. He was a truly great coach who may have been a little hamstrung by having to recruit kids to play in Jenison Field House, and his own (quite admirable) refusal to kiss the asses of high school basketball players. This trait may have cost Jud a few top drawer recruits over his years at MSU. As it turns out, besides the 1979 national championship team, a guy named Tom Izzo is probably Jud Heathcote's greatest gift to Michigan State University.
I've been putting off writing this post, I will admit. But I didn't intend on putting it off until the morning of the Michigan game.
I was out of town last weekend, so I didn't see much of the Iowa game. I listened to the second half on the car radio and watched the end of the fourth quarter and the double overtime in a brew pub, surrounded by people indifferent to the game so I was one of the only lunatics who seemed to care what happened.
I'm still trying to figure out how the Spartans lost. It makes no sense to me.
It's an understatement to say I was disappointed after the game. As I often do (and need to STOP doing), I posted a few "sky is falling" posts on Facebook, going so far as to preemptively congratulate the Wolverines on their win over State. I was rightfully called to the carpet by my fellow Spartans.
Now it's the Michigan game. What happened last week doesn't matter anymore. As the cliche goes in rivalry games, you can throw out the records (not that Michigan's record is that much more impressive than MSU's). However, it looks like MSU's back is really against the wall in this game. The Spartans have struggled to score points, and they are facing a good Michigan defense in a game that looks to be stacked in the Wolverines' favor. The game is in Ann Arbor, it's Denard Robinson's senior season and his last shot to beat MSU, and there is no way Michigan wants MSU to extend it's winning streak in this rivalry to five games. Then again, all the pressure is really on Michigan. They HAVE to win this game. Maybe that will allow the Spartans to play looser.
This is a game in which MSU has to whatever it takes to win: pull out trick plays, play with controlled fury, do anything in their power to make Denard's day a living hell, force some turnovers, play well on special teams, and find ways to score points. All of the obvious stuff.
A few posts ago, I mentioned a long-ago football play that tore my insides out and inspired me to write a goofy little college essay entitled, "A Sappy Ode to Spartandom."
These days, it seems that almost everything can be found on YouTube, and sure enough, I was able to find a clip of this heartbreaking play--one that I had not seen since it took place almost 26 years ago, and one that I have since simply referred to as The Play.
Let me set the scene: I was a young, rather innocent, completely excited, and somewhat naive freshman at MSU in the fall of 1986. I was an eighteen-year-old kid who had finally broken out of his humdrum, small town existence in Michigan's thumb region and was enjoying the big wide world of college life and was absolutely thrilled to possess Spartan season football tickets, which had been purchased during that summer of '86, while waiting in anticipation of officially becoming a college student.
I was extremely hopeful about the Spartans' football season, and felt that it was going to be a year culminating in a Big Ten title and Rose Bowl. Lorenzo White was coming off a tremendous 1985 campaign in which he rushed for a school record 2066 yards and finished fourth in the Heisman voting. Quarterback Dave Yarema was a senior and had two great receiving targets in Mark Ingram and Andre Rison. The Spartans had finished the '85 season with a 7-5 record and there was every reason to believe they would improve on it in 1986. I was convinced that my freshman year at Michigan State would be THE YEAR.
And then the season began...
After losing a close road game against Arizona State, the Spartans beat Notre Dame (on what was my first full day as a student on MSU's campus) and then pulverized Western Michigan. MSU entered its Big Ten opener against the #11 Iowa Hawkeyes looking to get the conference season off to a good start in front of a sellout crowd and national TV audience.
Much of that MSU/Iowa game I had forgotten in the last 26 years, other than the fact that the afternoon was a bit chilly and rainy. I consulted the Michigan State 1987 Football Annual for sportswriter Jack Ebling's description of the events that led to "the play." Ebling wrote, "Without question, MSU controlled play. But midway through the fourth quarter, Iowa and its third-string quarterback ruled the scoreboard. The Hawkeyes had taken advantage of two huge mistakes--a kickoff return fumble by fullback James Moore and a nightmarish nap by free safety Paul Bobbitt--to grab a 24-14 lead. Worst of all, the Spartans had lost guard Doug Rogers, their most valuable offensive lineman, for the year on a punt-return clip and tailback [Lorenzo] White for three games on a botched screen pass. Just when things seemed the bleakest, however, MSU battled back. It scored on a perfect pass from quarterback Dave Yarema to flanker Mark Ingram in the left corner of the north end zone, making it 24-21. And after the defense held, the Spartans were moving again. Yarema was never better, taking the team into scoring position. For an instant it looked as if Ingram would score, but a jersey-stretching stop made it first-and-goal inside the 4 with enough time and timeouts remaining."
I can't help but wonder what that season, and life in general, would have been like if Ingram had managed to break free of that "jersey-stretching" and score the touchdown. We will never know. Instead, Ingram was stopped inside the four, leading to the next play...or, The Play.
I remember that Spartan Stadium was in a frenzy, and I along with everyone else in that stadium was convinced without a shred of doubt that MSU was about to win the game in dramatic fashion. In our fantasies, the final score was Michigan State 28, Iowa 24 and we would all storm the field, rip down the goal posts, and party into the wee hours of Sunday morning. Unfortunately, the football gods had other ideas.
At the time, I thought that the perfect (and only) play was a simple running play, but looking back at it now with the benefit of hindsight, I don't fault head coach George Perles for the play selection. Lorenzo White was out of the game, and the ball was far enough from the end zone that a running play wouldn't have necessarily succeeded in getting the touchdown on that play. The play action roll out pass was a good call, but the execution was lacking.
What is particularly interesting about seeing The Play again is how I mis-remembered it. I saw it only once--in person, from about 70 yards away in the student section on the southeast corner of the stadium. I had forgotten that Yarema rolled to his right and threw across his body. According to Jack Ebling's account in the 1987 football annual, when Perles called a timeout immediately preceding the play, Yarema was told repeatedly by Perles and his assistants to just throw the ball away if the pass couldn't be completed. Apparently, Yarema forgot those instructions and threw the ball directly in the waiting arms of Ken Sims.
When Yarema threw that interception, the life went out of Spartan Stadium in a way I had never seen before or since. In an instant, the stadium went from a roaring passionate frenzy to a funeral parlor.
I can't help but feel terrible for Yarema all these years later. He was in such distress on the sideline in the immediate aftermath of Sims' interception. Yarema had a great career for MSU, and held a number of Spartan passing records for several years, but never even sniffed a Big Ten title or a Rose Bowl. His biggest problem was that despite all the big passing numbers he accumulated, he never seemed capable of making the big play in crunch time.
Andre Rison also was completely despondent on the sideline after the play, with his head hidden in his hands. He at least had the satisfaction of winning the Big Ten title the following year, capped off with a Rose Bowl victory.
I remember sadly filing out of Spartan Stadium amongst the walking dead, and trudging back to East Shaw Hall in a chilly drizzle, already feeling as if the entire season had been flushed down the drain. In a way, it had. MSU played Michigan the following week in Ann Arbor, but it was clear the Spartans had no energy as they were drubbed, 27-6. MSU managed to bounce back from the Michigan loss to record three straight wins and, for a little while, it looked as if the team might actually have a good season after all. Unfortunately, the Spartans suffered two stunning three-point losses in succession, to bottom-feeders Indiana and Northwestern, before closing out the season with a lackluster win over Wisconsin to at least salvage a winning season. MSU finished 6-5, but were shut out of a bowl game. 1986 was NOT the year, as it turned out--and the beginning of the end could arguably be traced back to the Iowa game and The Play.
***
I'm at least happy that finally, 26 years later, I can watch a replay of The Play and instead of feeling particularly sad or angry, I feel nostalgic. It's interesting to hear Brent Musburger doing the play-by-play with Ara Parseghian as the color commentator, since I had no idea who the broadcast team was for that game since I was, of course, AT the game and had no interest in revisiting the game until recently.
"A stunning moment for the Michigan State fans," Musburger says after the interception, and that about summed it up. A few seconds later he says that it has just started to rain (as if the football gods were commenting on MSU's demise). That's just as I remember it--so I suppose my memory isn't as faulty as I originally suspected.
I suppose, now that MSU finally has a coach (Mark Dantonio) leading the football program to success not seen since the '60s, it's easier to view this sad old video clip. Hell, even the natural grass field now looks a thousand times better than that old worn out synthetic turf of the 1980s.
***
That late October afternoon, grey and overcast with a mist of rain in the air, I slowly made my way back to Shaw Hall, maybe feeling slightly older and a little less naive. It had become even more clear to me that being a Michigan State fan would never be easy. I trudged back with my floormate Ron, both of us silent in our mourning. I don't remember anything about what happened when we returned to Shaw: probably shared a quiet dinner in the almost empty cafeteria, and I probably then retired to my room and wallowed in pity while listening to The Queen is Dead.
The 1986 season would go on to be a disappointment for the Spartan football team and its fans, but little did I know that good times were not too far away.
***
ADDENDUM: Here is a podcast, recorded in September 2008, that I recently found on the Spartan Sports Network. Dave Yarema, who served as an honorary captain for the September 6, 2008 MSU/EMU, discusses the 1986 Iowa game and the nastiness from "fans" that ensued. He sounds like a good man, and I'm happy that he has found peace and contentment after his college football career, and that tumultuous '86 season.
I finally get around to writing in this blog, and I have to fight my way through annoying pop-up ads just to write a post.
Only nine days until MSU's first football game of 2012, and I'm steeling myself for another four-month adventure ride. With new faces at receiver and a brand-new quarterback, there are some unknowns with this team, and I really don't know what to expect. Boise State should give the Spartans a good test in the opener, and I would not be shocked if the Broncos stole a victory here. I don't necessarily expect Boise State to win, but they will arrive in East Lansing with no fear whatsoever. Heck, look at their track record: since Chris Petersen became coach, Boise State has the obscene record of 73-6. In the last four seasons, the Broncos are 51-2! Sure, they lost some significant contributors from last year's team, including starting QB Kellen Moore, but something tells me they have plenty of guys who are just pining to get on the field. This game will not be easy for Michigan State.
Here's a little potpourri of MSU sports-related topics that I've been mulling over for the last few weeks:
Joe Rexrode, the excellent sportswriter for the Lansing State Journal, has left the LSJ for the Detroit Free Press. I'm not surprised to see this guy's career advance. He's one of those writers whose skills transcend mere sports writing, and it was only a matter of time before his career advanced beyond Lansing. I've long appreciated his wit, intelligence, work ethic, and great writing, and he should bring a welcome Green-and-White presence to the Freep.
Speaking of good local sportswriters, Jack Ebling's book Heart of a Spartan is officially out, and I'd love to pick up a copy (and I'm sure I eventually will buy one), but I just can't afford the 50 buck price tag right now. It's just gonna have to wait awhile.
I still haven't been on the MSU campus to see the enormous new Spartan Stadium scoreboards, but I've heard they are impressive. My only concern--and it's a lame, splitting-hairs concern--is that, from photos I've seen, the north end zone scoreboard looks "tacked on" the stadium, with the scoreboard supports resembling scaffolding that was left there and never removed. So my concern is merely cosmetic. I hope that the scoreboard supports will be fully integrated into the Spartan Stadium architecture. (Go ahead and roll your eyes all you want!).
Some time ago, probably during the 2011 football season, I wrote about how I planned on finding and posting my own, literal, treasures (or perhaps, more accurately, garbage) from my personal "Spartan attic." Well, a few months ago while going through some old papers, I found just the ticket. I admit that I am an inveterate packrat, and I have saved notebooks from as far back as my MSU student days in the late '80s and early '90s. In an English 101 notebook from my freshman year in '86, I found a silly little essay I wrote for my own amusement called "A Sappy Ode to Spartandom", and it was written shortly after the MSU football game lost a heartbreaking game to Iowa--a game I attended. So, here it is...
"A Sappy Ode to Spartandom" (written in October 1986)
I thought we were going to win. I honestly thought we were going to win. State had the ball first and goal at the Iowa 3 and there wasn't any doubt in the minds of anyone in the stadium that we were going to run it up the middle for an easy six and win the game. But did this happen? Of course not. What happens? [Dave] Yarema drops back and throws the ball in the end zone for an interception and we lose.
It's games like the one I just described which test the endurance of long-suffering Michigan State fans like myself. Sometimes I even wonder why I didn't go to a school with a better football team, like that snob school down in Ann Arbor. Luckily, I always come to my senses and remember that Michigan State is the best school in the world.
Michigan State and Michigan State sports have always been a part of my life, so much so that if anyone ways something bad about either one, I take it as a personal insult. Both of my parents graduated from State, so I can remember watching the Spartans on television or listening to them on the radio all of my life. I can still remember the 1974 Michigan State-Ohio State football game in which the Spartans upset the favored Buckeyes. Levi Jackson ran the ball 83 [sic] yards from scrimmage for the winning touchdown. After the game, I knew where I was going to college.
I love Michigan State. Sure, as a Michigan State fan, I always have to hear about how much better the University of Michigan is. However, I never let these comments bother me. There is no school I'd rather go to, and that includes any Ivy League school or Its Royal Highness, the University of Michigan. Whenever I walk home from Berkey Hall after my English class and see the architecture and ivy on the old buildings and Beaumont Tower rising in its infinite majesty, I start playing the fight song in my mind and thank God that I'm a Spartan forever.
And on that note, I will sign off for now. I'm headed up to the Upper Peninsula for a five-day camping vacation, but will try and post one more time before the Boise State game.
I assumed my favorite MSU football viewing position, lying down on my side directly in front of our living room's Samsung flat screen television, and watched with great pleasure the first half of MSU's pummeling of the Iowa Hawkeyes. I was thrilled to see the Spartans jump all over the Hawkeyes from the get-go, and play with a focus and determination certainly not seen in last year's game.
At halftime, I drove over to OfficeMax to pick up some school supplies for my son, and arrived home in time to, unfortunately, suffer though most of the third quarter. I'm sorry folks, but when James Vandenberg made the long pass completion to Marvin McNutt, setting up Iowa's second touchdown of the quarter, I about lost it. I said, F@$k this sh*t! and went out to rake leaves. I know, I'm a bad fan. Oh me of little faith.
I felt as if I'd seen this script before. MSU gets off to a big lead in Iowa City and blows it. Once agin, me of little faith. I was having flashbacks of all the times Hayden Fry's bunch delivered heartbreakers to the Spartans (1985, 1986, 1996 to name a few), and those heartbreakers and ass kickings of more recent vintage (2007, 2009, 2010). I needed to work off some steam in a manor more constructive than sending my foot through my precious Samsung TV.
When I came back inside, about 2 minutes remained in the game. Kirk Cousins and the offense were in "victory formation". I could breathe easier.
A Spartan football win always puts me in a good mood for the rest of the day and sets the tone for the entire weekend. Sad but true that the outcome of a relatively meaningless athletic contest between 18-22 year olds, the outcome of which I have no control, can either make me giddy or depressed for the remainder of the weekend. I'm 43 years old, for God's sake--you'd think in my advanced age I'd have acquired the wisdom and perspective to be over this sort of silliness.
With the Spartans getting a huge win on the road--and in Iowa City, a place where they'd lost seven straight--I am now free to enjoy the next week. I can watch other college football games and not care too much about the outcome. I can read the "Blue Wall" Detroit sportswriters and laugh at their commentaries, I can peruse the Red Cedar Message Board and look forward to Sunday morning, when I will pour over the Lansing State Journal sports section and count down the minutes until the "dean of mid-Michigan sports" (ha!) Tim Staudt comes on with his local Sunday morning sports show. And I know that I need not avoid sports talk radio in the upcoming week, but can embrace it.
What a scene last night on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson. Kudos to Mark Hollis and Michigan State University for pulling off what looked to be a beautiful evening of basketball on an aircraft carrier. Everyone was a winner last night: MSU, the University of North Carolina, the United States Navy, and everyone involved with last night's spectacle.
Despite the Spartans' loss in the game, there are reasons to be encouraged. The team played tough defense, were great on the boards, and hung with the Tar Heels through the entire game.
One minor quibble I have is that it was difficult to enjoy watching the game on television, though the overhead, panoramic shots of the harbor and the carrier were splendid. However, the glare from the court, due to the sun, was not easy on my eyes. That's the end of my complaining. It was, overall, a great event.
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Now, on to today's Iowa football game. If the Spartans can overcome the mistakes they made in last year's Iowa game, they should be fine. Come out focused and mean, and MSU should beat Iowa. Still, Kinnick Stadium is a daunting place, and for whatever reason the Spartans have struggled there. Eventually, their luck has to change. Right? We shall see.
Two seconds, one play. That's what the Michigan State/Iowa came down to. One play and two seconds determined whether Spartan football fans everywhere would spend the rest of the night in elation, or mope in dejection. Unfortunately for the Spartan Nation, Iowa made good use of that two remaining seconds and scored a touchdown from the MSU two yard line and won the game.
I try to tell myself that it's just a game, but this one is a hard pill to swallow. After Iowa took a 9-6 lead, Michigan State got the ball back with just under three minutes left on the clock. The Spartans made two spectacular plays (a brilliant hook-and-ladder and an unbelievable touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Blair White) that would have made most people believe that the football gods were smiling down upon Spartan Stadium. However, I've watched too many MSU football games to be sold on the happy ending.
I can't sleep. I shouldn't let a football game bother me like this. Didn't I say a few months ago that I'd never let a stupid football game bother me anymore? Think again. I'm awake, typing on the laptop, and noticing an actress in a late night showing of Goodfellas who looks remarkably like Parker Posey. Is it possible that Parker Posey was in Goodfellas and I'm just now noticing it? (After an extensive web search, I find no reference to Parker Posey appearing in Goodfellas, so it must have been someone who bears a resemblance to Ms. Posey). It's 1:40 AM and I'm getting a little loopy. Time to wrap up this post. At some point tonight, I'll simply pass out from sheer exhaustion and no doubt have nightmares involving Iowa's Ricky Stanzi completing the game-winning touchdown pass over and over again.
