My own Michigan State football "Mt. Rushmore"

Before the Big Ten Network unveils its "Michigan State football Mt. Rushmore," I present to you my own. I can't say I spent much time pouring over names or agonizing, in fact I spent less than 15 minutes on this. I may very well be forgetting some important players that should be included. But looking at these four players, I feel fairly comfortable that it's not a half-bad "Mt. Rushmore." Just for the heck of it, I also added an honorable mention list.

Michigan State football Mt. Rushmore (or, more accurately, Mt. Spartan)

George Webster The glue, and certainly the undisputed leader, of the 1965/66 Big Ten and national championship Spartans. Duffy Daugherty created the roverback position for him, utilizing Webster's great talents to make a hybrid defensive back/linebacker. George Webster was voted MSU's greatest player ever when the question was put to vote during the 1969 college football centennial year.

Lorenzo White Two-time American and MSU's all-time rushing leader. Lo White finished top five in the Heisman voting of 1985 and 1987. He was the best MSU football player that this writer ever saw play in person.

Darqueze Dennard Is it premature to place Dennard in this list? Maybe. But he was the star player on the 2013 team, the best MSU football team in 47 years. That has to account for something. Dennard was the leader of the "No Fly Zone" and dared teams to attempt to pass on the Spartans. When opponents took up the challenge, they were usually unsuccessful.

Don Coleman Biggie Munn's first great player, helping to pave the way for Michigan State's glory years from 1950 to 1966. Michigan State's first unanimous All-American and the school's first African-American All-American.

Honorable mentions

Bubba Smith
Kirk Gibson
Gideon Smith
Brad Van Pelt

Our hated rival the Indiana Hoosiers

Bragging rights are up for grabs today as storied rivals Indiana and Michigan State do battle for the Old Brass Spittoon. (Tongue firmly in cheek).

The only game I attended last year was the final home game, when the Spartans dismantled the Hoosiers 55-3. I worry that today's game could be closer, despite Indiana's wretched defense.

There are only a few MSU/Indiana football games that stand out in my memory. My freshman year at MSU in '86, the Hoosiers upset the Spartans in what was a litany of close and extremely disappointing losses for that year's team. The following season, the Spartans clinched the Big Ten title and a trip to the Rose Bowl by defeating Indiana 27-3.

One of the biggest regrets of my college career (if not my life) is that I didn't purchase 1987 season tickets. I went to only two games in '87 and they were the two worst home games of the season (a 31-3 loss to Florida State, where the only consolation is that I can say I saw Deion Sanders play football as a collegian--and a 14-14 tie with Illinois in a chilly Homecoming drizzle. Both of these tickets I purchased from fellow students who for whatever reason where unable to use them). That year's Indiana game saw both the Spartans and Hoosiers amazingly playing for the conference title, and Lorenzo White famously ran the ball 56 times for 292 yards in leading MSU to the win.  I watched the game in someone's room at Shaw Hall.  As soon as the game was over, I walked directly to Spartan Stadium, entered the stadium through the tunnel (which was amazingly open, perhaps as a safety valve for the flood of revelers who had poured onto the field). I walked onto the artificial turf and joined in with the delirious MSU fans. By then, the celebrants were beginning to disperse, and the ones remaining weren't quite sure what to do with themselves, and were probably pondering which local drinking establishment to relocate their revelry. The most vivid memory I have from that evening is how squishy the artificial turf felt under my feet. I wasn't expecting that.

This year's Indiana game has very little at stake. The Hoosiers are simply trying to win a Big Ten game, which is something they have not done in a few years, and the Spartans want to get their once promising season back on track. I fear that the combination of Indiana's Homecoming, their desperation to get a win, and MSU's probable depression after the OSU loss could equal a bad Saturday for the Spartans, but that may simply be my usual "glass-is-half-empty" outlook on MSU football.

"The Play": Dave Yarema breaks my freshman heart on October 4, 1986

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.

http://www.spartansportsnetwork.com/uploads/showsfiles/67.mp3