Football seaon excitement may NEVER hit me

Last night's MSU/Indiana game was simply terrible. So bad, in fact, that I don't even know where to start.

Stupid penalties kill this team in a way I haven't seen since the John L. Smith era, although we may have seen it in 2009 as well. Perhaps the most glaring was a "leaping" penalty on Indiana's first field goal attempt in overtime. Some on message boards felt it was an obscure penalty that may have been mis-applied in this case, but it was the icing on the cake of what was a mistake-filled, uninspired MSU performance.

The only time MSU had any fire under its collective butt was when they were down 21-14. They  finally ran the ball with some aggression and sense of purpose, with Gerald Holmes looking much better than a somewhat listless L.J. Scott.

Then there's Tyler O'Connor. He looks like Andrew Maxwell with mobility. There is little touch on his throws, and I don't sense much in the way of leadership on the field. Although he wasn't necessarily bad last night, he just seems to lack something. Perhaps I/we were spoiled by by Connor Cook more than we even imagined.

I don't know if it has to do with youth, injuries, complacency, lack of leadership, but this entire Spartan football team has taken several steps down this season. I expected a dip this season, but certainly didn't anticipate such a precipitous downturn.

Added to the unease is the great start for that school down the road. Michigan State fans will need to buck up and listen to a lot of boasting and chest-thumping from the blue-and-yellow clad hordes.

My conclusion: It looks like a long year for Spartan football.

Football season excitement hasn't hit me

I'm having a hard time getting into football season this year, and thus the blog has suffered as a result.

Maybe it's because I don't like the way I've fallen so deeply down the rabbit hole in the past, at the expense of other interests and activities, and am trying to avoid that because it's not healthy.

Another aspect of my disinterest is the MSU football team itself. They are an enigma and hard to get excited about so far. The Wisconsin game was a complete disaster. There's no way to sugarcoat it. The worst home loss in almost seven years.

Does anyone have any idea what to expect tonight against Indiana? My fear is that the Hoosiers are due to win the Old Brass Spittoon one of these days and the Spartans could be vulnerable enough to comply. On the other hand, MSU could come out angry and ready to make up for last week's horror.

On (to) Wisconsin

I've been seriously negligent towards this blog so far this football season.

When will I, or anyone else for that matter, stop doubting Dantonio or MSU before a big game?

In fairness, nobody knew quite what to expect from the Spartans after the completely "meh" Furman game, but as I wrote in my last post, Dantonio likes it that way. Why would MSU want to go all out against Furman when they don't have to, and show its hand to Notre Dame?

So the Spartans went out and steamrolled the Irish for three quarters, before letting up a bit on the gas pedal and making the game somewhat close. However, when the Spartans absolutely needed to make plays to seal the victory, they did so.

Of course, we still don't know exactly how good Notre Dame is. But the fact remains: any time a team plays and defeats the Irish in a night game under the outstretched arms of Touchdown Jesus, it is a big win.

In a little over an hour from now, MSU opens up Big Ten play against Wisconsin, another team that is difficult to get a read on. On one hand, the Badgers beat LSU, on the other hand they struggled a bit with Georgia State last week--and the Badgers start a redshirt freshman quarterback today.

If this game goes according to almost every other Michigan State/ Wisconsin game, it'll be decided by less that ten points either way.

I'll go ahead and pick the Spartans to win, 24-17.

Notre Dame game day

I've been putting this off for two weeks, but seeing as how it's game day, I can't procrastinate any longer.

Well, the Furman game wasn't quite what I expected. Though I never felt the Spartans were in danger, it was closer than I'd have preferred and it was not an enjoyable game to watch whatsoever.

Nobody knows what to think about this MSU football team, and Mark Dantonio prefers it that way. They enter Notre Dame Stadium this evening as a total enigma.

It's important to not allow the result of tonight's game completely color our expectations for the rest of the season. It'll be a difficult environment for the Spartans, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they lost. I'm not trying to be pessimistic, just realistic.

One thing I've learned over the last nine years, however: doubt or question a Mark Dantonio team at your peril.

If the Spartans lose, they can still go on to have a great season, as happened in 2011 and 2013.

Not quite ready for football, but getting there

It still feels like summer around here.

It's been humid almost every single day since, heck, the beginning of June (certainly since July at the very least. I don't know. It's been muggy for so long I can't even remember when it started. Probably after it was hot and dry, which was probably June).  It's been hot for so long that it's scrambling my brain.

Anyway, the point is the weather has not one single hint of autumn. This makes it difficult for me to get into a football frame of mind.

I'm still very much in summer mode, though truth be told I'm tired of summer. The unrelenting sultry weather is wearing on me.

But, though this probably not an admission I should make on a presumed "MSU Spartan sports blog," I'm reluctant to take my inevitable "dive down the rabbit hole" that occurs about every single year on or near September 1. Now, what'll happen is that a few months from now I'll read this post and wonder what the hell was wrong with me.

Whether I'm ready or not, MSU football begins the season in two days against Furman. I will be planted in front of my TV, beer in hand, watching all the action. Though it's impossible to get a gauge on where the football team is now, having lost quite a few players from last year's team, I imagine it should be a fairly comfortable win for the Spartans. They will likely look rusty in the first half, but their depth will wear down the Paladins in the second half and the final score should be something in the neighborhood of MSU 41, Furman 10.

I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say when the game is over.

Mike Sadler (1991-2016)

The news early this afternoon hit me, and I'm sure every other Michigan State fan, like a ton of bricks. Or possibly two or three tons of bricks.

Mike Sadler, the acerbic, intelligent, self-deprecating, and always amusing former Spartan punter died yesterday in an automobile accident. Sam Foltz, current Nebraska punter, also perished in the accident.

Sadler's frequently hilarious tweets were beloved by Spartan supporters, and even by folks with no Michigan State affiliation. But Sadler was more than a writer of funny Twitter messages. He was an intelligent young man who had--unbeknownst to me until today--completed his master's degree at Stanford last year. He was planning on attending law school, but must have still had his eye on an NFL career as he and Foltz were attending a kicking camp in Wisconsin.

I suppose it's a cliche to say that "[Such-and-such young age] is too young to die," but 24 really is too young to go. Sadler had a bright future on whatever path he chose to take, and it's heartbreaking that his life is cut short before it really had an opportunity to unfold.

Ron Mason (1940-2016)

I was stunned Monday morning to wake up and learn of Ron Mason's passing. He was probably the youngest-looking and hardiest 76-year-old man I'd ever seen.

Mason was, if not the greatest coach in college hockey history, one of the greatest coaches. He is certainly in the top two or three.

One fact is certain, he put Michigan State hockey on the map.

Before Ron Mason arrived in East Lansing in 1980, Michigan State hockey was completely average. Amo Bessone did have his moments as Spartan hockey coach, but not that many. In 1966, the Spartans came out of nowhere to win an unexpected national title. But in Bessone's 28 years as coach, he compiled a fairly pedestrian overall record of 367-427-20.

Ron Mason changed all of that quickly. The Spartan hockey program went from being merely competitive to being one of the elites of the collegiate world.

In the early 1980s, Spartan football and basketball had fallen precipitously. Muddy Waters' gridiron gladiators were Big Ten also-rans, while Jud Heathcote was unable to sustain any momentum after the 1979 championship season. Hockey, however, was another story.

Ron Mason built a perennial championship-caliber program, and hockey was easily the biggest ticket on campus. When I arrived at Michigan State in 1986, students waited in line for hockey tickets. Munn Ice Arena was sold out for every home game. Beginning on December 19, 1985, MSU hockey had 323 consecutive home sellouts. (As a student, I went to a handful of hockey games, and that was only because I know some friends who'd managed to get season tickets. Otherwise, there's no way I could have ever made it into Munn).

MSU sports in the 1980s was the reverse of what it is today. In the '80s, you could fire a cannon in Jenison Fieldhouse--then the home of the basketball team--and not hit anyone, while Munn was standing room only. In 2016, they can't give hockey tickets away, while basketball (and to a lesser extent, football) are the hot tickets.

Anyway, one person was responsible for MSU's powerhouse hockey program--and that was Ron Mason.

I won't bother with a recitation of Mason's accomplishments as a coach. All you need to do his "google" his name to find that information. Suffice it to say that he was one of the greatest coaches in the history if college hockey. Perhaps THE greatest.

After retiring as hockey coach in 2001, Mason was MSU athletic director from July 1, 2002 until January 1, 2008. Although he takes some heat in retrospect for his hiring of John L. Smith as head football coach back in December 2002, I've always felt that criticism to be unfair. Although Smith's football schemes ultimately ended up unsuccessful in the gritty Big Ten, he at least cleaned up the program. And in fairness to Ron Mason, he recognized the Smith failure (firing him in 2006) and, along with the assistance of Mark Hollis, Tom Izzo, and Lou Anna Simon (among others) found a great new football coach in Mark Dantonio.

Through his tremendous successes as a hockey coach, and even in his failures as A.D., there's no doubt that Ron Mason always had Michigan State's best interests at heart. So farewell to a great Spartan.