Michigan St Blog

October 22, 2010

Scouting Report and Prediction: MSU vs. Northwestern
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
www.SpartanNation.com
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A look at this week’s opponent…

The Wildcats are a good football team with the most underrated coach in all of college football.  They are highly intelligent and disciplined and are a group of great people (coaches and players) on and off the field.

When MSU has the ball…

The Wildcats traditionally have a stout defense dating back to when their head coach Pat Fitzgerald was a player, but this year they are not as they once were.  Last season in the high cathedral of the Spartan Nation, Spartan Stadium, the Spartans played poorly for the entire first half and parts of the fourth quarter and they still scored 24 points.

The Cats will get a full dose of pound green pound.  If they take the approach of the Illini and pack the box to stop the run, the Spartans will go to the air.  I was perplexed last season when the Spartan coaches failed to utilize the tight end against the Cats.  They are susceptible to the big TE hybrid offensive lineman, and they were essentially non-existent for most of the game.

The Spartans will be able to run the ball on Saturday, and when the Cats stack the box I hope to see better utilization of the TE.  The Wildcats can’t stop the MSU offense.  There is no doubt of that.  The Spartans are the best offense the Cats have faced this season.

The Cats are not the best, or nowhere near, the best defense the Spartans have faced.  The Spartans will be able to score points and move the ball and as much as Spartans fans get tired of hearing it, the balanced attack will once again be key to the Spartans.

When MSU is on defense…

The Spartans had a great game plan last year.  They kept the Wildcat receivers in front of them and did a superb job oftackling at the point of attack.  The Spartan offense scored 24 points last year and didn’t have a good game.  The Wildcats scored 14 points and the Spartan defense did have a good game.

This year the Wildcat offense is not as good and the Spartan defense is better.  The Wildcats are great at the dink and dunk (count how many times you hear that phrase in the next 48 hours), but they are not as good of a running team.

The Spartans have performed admirably the last three games and all three of those offenses were better than the Cats.  They will score points, but they won’t overwhelm this Spartan defense.

Intangibles…

The Spartans lose this game if they make dumb mistakes and penalties and allow the Wildcats in the game.  I don’t see that.  This team is on a mission and the Cats are not good enough to stop the mission.

Dan Conroy…Mr. Perfect will be called upon on Saturday and he has shown me no reason to doubt him at all.  At some point this season he will miss one.  No one is perfect, and when he does can he recover emotionally?  My bet is on the youngster, but it is an intangible. (This is the third week I have wrote this)

Some early mistakes can give the Wildcats momentum and MSU needs to drop the hammer early and keep it down.  They need to just take the bull by the horns and dominate this game.

Coming into the season I thought MSU would lose this game.  MSU has had several young players that are very talented play better than I thought they would this early.  The Wildcats are not as good on defense or in the running attack as I thought they would be and that changes my preseason prediction.

Prediction…

When Mark Dantonio and Ken Mannie told me this summer that this team was special some pundits scoffed.  They were right.  When was the last time that the Spartans had a 20 point winning margin like they did last week and the Spartan Nation thought they didn’t play well?

I am not sold that the Spartans can go into Iowa City next week and win, but this is not next week.  The Spartans are a better team than the Wildcats this week and that is what matters.

I know that the pundits are calling this an upset special and if the Spartans are complacent they can lose.  They won’t.  MSU is on a mission.  They are on fire, they are hungry, and they refuse to lose.

The Spartans roll on Saturday and possibly move into the top five in the polls on Sunday.  Make it 38-17.

July 23, 2010

Spartan Nation Pre Season All American Team

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
www.SpartanNation.com
Spartan Nation Magazine
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OFFENSE
QB Terrelle Pryor Ohio State
RB Mark Ingram Alabama
RB Jacquizz Rodgers Oregon State
WR A.J. Green Georgia
WR Jonathon Baldwin Pittsburgh
TE Kyle Rudolph Notre Dame
C Mike Pouncey Florida
G Justin Boren Ohio State
G Thomas Claiborne Boston College
T Gabe Carimi Wisconsin
T Matt Reynolds BYU

Pre Season Offensive Player of the Year:  Terrelle Pryor QB Ohio State

DEFENSE
DE Cameron Heyward Ohio State
DE Robert Quinn North Carolina
DT Marvin Austin North Carolina
DT Jared Crick Nebraska
LB Quan Sturdivant North Carolina
LB Greg Jones Michigan State
LB Tank Carder TCU
CB Prince Aamukamara Nebraska
CB Patrick Peterson LSU
S Tejay Johnson TCU
S Rahim Moore UCLA

Pre Season Defensive Player of the Year:  Robert Quinn DE North Carolina

You can follow Spartan Nation on Twitter when you search:  @HondoCarpenter

June 5, 2010

Big Ten Expansion Part Five

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.

For the latest information about MSU sports, make www.SpartanNation.com your home page.  You can also get a free subscription to Spartan Nation Magazine by emailing the site and asking for one.  For the best talk when it comes to the Spartan Nation, check out the Phalanx Forum Message Board: www.phalanxforum.com

Today we look at expansion from the perspective of the Big Ten schools.  I can tell you that there is frustration among the coaches and athletic directors.  None will speak on the record, but let me share with you what I got last night from a Big Ten coach.  “These meetings were a waste of my ******* time.  They get us here, and of course, the entire nation is talking about Big Ten expansion and they don’t want to even talk about it.  I mean they told us nothing.  Get us here and ignore the elephant in the room.  I guess it will be just like when they started the network (Big Ten) when they huddled the Presidents together and told us last.”

When I mentioned what I had been told by another coach to Mark last night when I was with him in Chicago he said, “…We will be the last to know.”  The athletic people, the athletic directors and coaches were upset when the Big Ten Network started.  They felt “Slighted” by Commissioner Delany keeping the athletic people out of the loop and only working via the Presidents.

One Big Ten school head coach mentioned to me today, “I would assume that he would keep us out again.  Why should he ask us (athletic people) for input on an athletic issue?”  Read into that quote and hear the sarcasm.

Many in “athletic” departments across the Big Ten feel like they are being kept out of the loop and do feel upset about it.  I understand that the Commissioner recognizes that this is a very sensitive matter and it has to be handled with as much discretion as possible, I just think alienating your athletic people once again is not a wise choice.

Time Frame
The Commissioner has said that he expects this process to take 12-18 months.  My source at the Big Ten throughout this series who spoke to Spartan Nation on the condition of anonymity fearing retribution from the Commissioner told me, “I would expect something to be done in June.  If you add schools they have to tell their conferences what they are doing before the new fiscal years in July.  When it happens is up in the air, but they would like to start actually playing the new schedules for the 2013 fall seasons.”

Revenue
ESPN is the most profitable television network in the history of TV because of subscription fees.   I briefly touched on this in previous columns, but I need to explain more.  When a cable or satellite provider carries an ESPN or ESPN 2 etc. they (companies) pay them (ESPN) a certain fee for that.  For example only, if they charge the satellite company a $2.12 per home fee and they have 987,000 homes the cable company pays them $2,092,440 per month.  That is how ESPN was able to outbid and win Monday Night Football.

You may remember when the Big Ten Network launched there was a large disagreement as some providers wanted to offer it a la carte as an item separate of basic coverage that could be purchased.  Cable companies loved that because it didn’t cost them anything out of pocket.  The Big Ten said no and eventually won forcing them to carry it in their basic tier package.

In fact, many of the national broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox are all considering leaving “over the air” traditional TV in order to get their hands on those carry or subscription fees.  Right now they get nothing when a satellite or cable company distributes them.  So many people have gone the satellite and cable route that local affiliates have to at times beg to make sure they are carried.  If they went off of those cable and satellite providers their HUT (Households Using Television) levels would plummet.

The Big Ten Network has had an infusion of cash and success, because they held out at first, but now are getting those fees.  In adding new schools via expansion the Big Ten is looking at who brings them more markets as I have discussed.

Advertising revenue is not what is driving the expansion or the network.  Some have emailed and disagreed with me, but I can tell you in talking with people in the Big Ten and the various schools that is 100% accurate.  As ratings improve their subscription fee goes up.  At lunch today with MSU athletic director Mark Hollis, he made it very clear that advertising dollars are NOT what they are looking at.  It is about subscriptions and new markets when he said, “We aren’t even counting on advertising revenue there,” referring to increased dollars from new schools.  It is all in new markets and subscriptions.

Knowing that adding schools that bring new markets is critical, Hollis also said today, “If that (Big Ten) expands to a larger number that absolutely helps.”  Hollis went on the add, “They have to be the right fit, you can’t expand just to expand.”

I have said multiple times throughout this series that I do not want to see Syracuse or Rutgers added.  I mentioned in a previous article that sources at the Big Ten think there are other ways to get the eastern markets than adding them.  Ideally that would be Notre Dame, but who knows if that would happen.  Syracuse and Rutgers don’t get good ratings in those markets when they are on there. 

If they aren’t proven winners (ratings grabbers), would eastern market cable and satellite companies pay the Big Ten subscription rates at the price dictated?  Would it create a lengthy holdout similar to what happened when the Network launched?  If so, I have spoken to multiple people that think adding them is just too risky. 

If the expansion happened and schools didn’t get a rise in revenue right away, those schools would have their already strained budgets get even more stretched with longer trips to play new schools that didn’t produce the expected cash.

In part six of our series we will look at MSU and their current budget situation.  We will take you inside the struggle that Mark Hollis is having and tell you bluntly who is at fault.  How could expansion hurt MSU or help it?
The Big Ten Network is making money, big money, from subscription fees and not advertising revenues and they don’t look for that to change.

June 2, 2010

Big Ten Expansion Part Four

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.

For the latest information about MSU sports, make www.SpartanNation.com your home page.  You can also get a free subscription to Spartan Nation Magazine by emailing the site and asking for one.  For the best talk when it comes to the Spartan Nation, check out the Phalanx Forum Message Board: www.phalanxforum.com

Many people misunderstand how the Big Ten Network has produced millions of dollars for the schools it represents.  According to a source inside the conference it isn’t how most think.  The advertising revenue hasn’t been greatly successful.  Where the Network makes millions is that each cable network or satellite outlet is charged a fee for each home it represents.

It was the size of that fee that originally caused the troubles with those various carriers when the Network launched.  That is why a Texas is so attractive.  Texas athletics is so big in the state that the millions of Texas homes would demand the Big Ten Network if Commissioner Jim Delany could make that deal.  Texas is huge and all of those homes would instantly bring millions of dollars to the Network before any advertiser was sold.

Conversely, a Nebraska that comes from a smaller state has as rabid of fans, perhaps even more devout than Texas, but they don’t bring the volume of homes as Texas.  Still, Nebraska is a great fit for the conference, but as a point of reference won’t bring the dollars.  Notre Dame would instantly bring the nation.  Like it or not, Notre Dame national following may be mocked on various message boards, but the numbers don’t lie.  For football the Irish get huge numbers of homes that tune in to watch in every market, coast to coast and in all socio economic and races.

Adding a Notre Dame would instantly bring the east coast that Delany craves and doesn’t require the conference to add a Syracuse and Rutgers school that many do not want.  In fact, my source at the Big Ten who spoke to Spartan Nation on the condition of anonymity because of Commissioner Delany’s edict that anyone who speaks would get fired as I told you about yesterday said, “There isn’t a great feeling about east coast schools who don’t draw either in person or in the ratings.  If you see a Syracuse or a Rutgers it is my opinion that we had to settle.”  Ouch!

Because of the desire to get to 16 schools, the league is trying to get a Texas and a Notre Dame to be the crown jewels of expansion.  Both publicly have given reason to make people think they aren’t germane.  They very well may turn out not to be a part when all is said and done, but the reaction of Commissioner Delany to an Internet report from earlier this month, people at the Big Ten believe they are very much in the mix.

For now, let’s look at some other schools that are at least being looked at.  That doesn’t mean an offer, or that they have even been contacted.  It means they are being looked at.

Keep in mind that as the population of the United States moves towards the south, that my source inside the Big Ten told me today that, “I think that is the Commissioner trying to set the stage for Texas or another southern school.”

Iowa State is an option that publicly hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, but has privately.  They are an AAU school.  They are very competitive in sports and seem to be a good fit.  The biggest negative is that they are the clear second place school in a state that doesn’t deliver any more homes.  They are second in the state to the Hawkeyes and with little other impact they can add economically they seem to be a long shot.

Kansas is also an AAU school.  They have all of the tangibles such as athletics and size that the Big Ten craves.  Unlike Iowa State, they would deliver some new homes, but the general consensus is that they are not interested. 

Maryland is another AAU school that brings more of the east coast market than Syracuse or Rutgers. Arguments could be made that they won’t deliver New York, but there are many strong arguments for them.  My source at the Big Ten told me, “They aren’t getting a lot of play and I don’t know if it is because they aren’t interested.  They do make a lot of sense.”

Georgia Tech is a dark horse that gets little attention, but is on the radar.  Again, they are a long ways away.  Imagine the Gophers in Minneapolis traveling there for a winter basketball game or a volleyball match.  The even bigger dollars that an expanded Big Ten Network would bring could cover the air travel with ease.  The Big Ten is also concerned with the numbers of northern citizens moving south, and they are at least taking that into consideration in this process.  Tech would bring a lot of new homes and of course a new market so that is very appealing for the conference.  Of the southern schools, Tech is the most logical.  Again, I am not calling them a favorite, but they are at least being looked at by the Big Ten.  They are believed to be very happy where they are, but it doesn’t mean that the Big Ten won’t look.

Virginia Tech is a name that has been thrown around a lot.  The Hokies are not an AAU school, but they are prestigious in academia and well respected.  They also bring with them the D.C. market as well as Virginia.  As the Big Ten looks at the migration of northern families to the south, they have looked.

University of Virginia is a school that is under the radar from speculation.  Not a favorite from the south to join and who knows if they would even want it, but they have at least been looked at.  They are an AAU school, are competitive in sports, and would deliver new markets to the Big Ten Network.  Of all the schools mentioned today, based on my source at the Big Ten, this is the longest shot.

All of these names are ones that I have been told at least have gotten some consideration in the process.  I am in no way saying any will or won’t join.  I am simply passing on who is being looked at.

Ideally, Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Missouri, Notre Dame and Texas would join.  I certainly don’t want to see schools that are a bad fit added simply because they offer TV markets that bring money.  As one Big Ten employee told me in the last week, “I hope that greed doesn’t motivate the Commissioner and the schools more than the right fit.”  I agree.

May 25, 2010

Big Ten Expansion Part Three

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.

For the latest information about MSU sports, make www.SpartanNation.com your home page.  You can also get a free subscription to Spartan Nation Magazine by emailing the site and asking for one.  For the best talk when it comes to the Spartan Nation, check out the Phalanx Forum Message Board: www.phalanxforum.com

I stated in my first article that adding Nebraska, Missouri and Pittsburgh was a good thing.  Today will talk about why and will also take you inside a rare Big Ten staff meeting I learned about last week.  I will tell you what Commissioner Jim Delany said to his staff about a report on the internet and what we can learn from his reaction based on how sources in the meeting took it.

Nebraska

The Cornhuskers are an AAU.  I mentioned briefly about AAU, but it is a badge of honor given to a select few schools for their academic and research work.  Not only are they a tremendous academic and research school, but they also have a tremendous athletic program and a rich history.

The Huskers began losing faith with the Big Twelve when they moved their offices to Texas and they feel “Ignored” by their conference.  They will fit well in the Big Ten.  They bring everything other than massive TV markets to the Big Ten, but minus those TV households they have it all.  This will be a great addition and they will join.

Missouri

Missouri is also an AAU school.  I am not implying that being that makes them the be all and end all.  I mentioned yesterday some schools that have that and I don’t think fit.  Missouri is anxious to join.  All they want is an offer and it will get done.  They have a decent athletic program.  They bring good TV markets and they too are not happy with the Big Twelve.  They felt disrespected years ago in how their football team was treated by their conference and they will fit and be a solid addition.

Pittsburgh

Like Missouri and Nebraska they are an AAU school.  Again not the barometer, but with everything else it is a nice plus.  They fit the Big Ten model and would be a natural addition with Penn State already being part of the league.  Their football attendance is less than 50,000, but they do offer great facilities and that can grow.  They have excellent academics and are competitive in all sports.  With Penn State already present, Pittsburgh may not bring a large amount of new homes, but they fit.

All three of these schools regardless of what Notre Dame and Texas do are prime candidates to join the Big Ten and should be added.  They would bring the total teams to fourteen.  Then if the Big Ten can’t add any heavy hitters, I say wait.  There is no need to add schools like we discussed yesterday with Rutgers and Syracuse that bring nothing to the table.

The Big Ten office

On a message board called the Wildcat Report on May 8, 2010, a poster put a message up.  He claimed to have been with someone from the Big Ten office who gave him information on the expansion efforts.

Not a big deal, people go on message boards all the time and say things.  What made this a big deal was the reaction of Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany.  According to my source that works at the Big Ten who spoke to Spartan Nation on the condition of anonymity because of Delany’s comments in this meeting, “The Commissioner was livid.  He called a staff meeting for the office and that isn’t normal at all.  In fact, it is a rare thing.  He likes to meet in small groups if he meets at all.  He cited this post and said if he found out who it was he would fire the person for talking or anyone else for speaking.  All of us walked out and wanted to read the post because as angry as he was it had to hit home.  One of my coworkers even said to me 15 seconds after we left the room, I can’t wait to read it.”  The source went on to add, “There has been so much S***(fecal matter) thrown around about expansion and he didn’t really get to fired up until this.  This one hit home.  Clearly, Notre Dame and Texas are in play.”  I have hence heard about the Delany meeting from three other sources with knowledge of it, and all of their accounts match the above.

Here is the link to the thread that set the commissioner off: 

In part four of our expansion series we will take a look at some other potential schools that are on the outside of the process looking in.

May 22, 2010

Big Ten Expansion Part Two

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.

For the latest information about MSU sports, make www.SpartanNation.com your home page.  You can also get a free subscription to Spartan Nation Magazine by emailing the site and asking for one.  For the best talk when it comes to the Spartan Nation, check out the Phalanx Forum Message Board: www.phalanxforum.com

As the Big Ten continues to talk and plan for expansion, there are many other things that must be taken into account other than just football.  I know that is hard to believe, but yes, outside of football and basketball there are other issues.

Pay out!

Right now each Big Ten University gets $22,000,000 per year from the Big Ten Network.  It is by far the biggest payout in college.  Everyone talks about Notre Dame’s big money deal with NBC and that only pays the Irish close to $8,000,000. 

Make no mistake that when expansion is all said and done it will end at 16 teams.  If they can get the right 16 teams sources INSIDE the Big Ten have told me on the condition of anonymity, as they aren’t allowed to talk on the subject per Jim Delany the Big Ten commissioner, that they expect that to go as high as $40,000,000 if a Texas and Notre Dame can be added.

No matter what you are being told, the Big Ten is trying to lure Notre Dame and Texas to join.  If Notre Dame joins, according to my source at the Big Ten, they will not have to get a Syracuse or a Rutgers.  Both schools do not bring the tangible benefits that other schools do or anywhere close to the recognition.  According to the source, “If Notre Dame joins they have such a huge national following and especially on the east coast that we wouldn’t have to add the other two (Syracuse and Rutgers) to get the east coast HUT levels.”  HUT is a TV acronym that stands for households using television.

Another benefit for Notre Dame is that although independent in football, they are aligned with the Big East in their other sports.  Having to travel to the east coast for non-revenue sports is very expensive.  “If they join the Big Ten, not only does their payout go much higher, they also save millions in travel expenses for their non-revenue teams,” this again according to the Big Ten source familiar with the situation.  They added about Notre Dame, “The NBC contract doesn’t hold water.  They will make millions more with the Big Ten.  Last time they dumped us at the altar.  We were planning the party at the conference office and the deal was done.  They backed out at the last minute and the commissioner has a very long memory.”

Texas is in a very similar situation.  They make a paltry sum from the Big Twelve and joining the Big Ten not only lands them a nearly $40,000,000 dollar windfall, it gives them more than enough to travel for the non-revenue sports and still come out way ahead financially.

A source employed by the Texas Athletic Department told Spartan Nation on December 22 and 23 of 2009 that, “This seems like a no brainer.  We would add millions more to the athletic department checkbook, more than enough to cover the cost of non-revenues, and we could get an agreement to play A & M (Texas) in all of our sports as part of our non-conference schedule every year.  That agreement could help this go down easier.”

Texas and Notre Dame bring notoriety and prestige to the already established and respected Big Ten.  Both schools are competitive in all athletics and both make sense when you look at it from all points.  They have high academic standards, a commitment to research, and big budget research type projects that the Big Ten academia’s who loathe athletics and the money sports generates love.

Syracuse is a terrible fit.  They have roughly 12,000 students.  Like Rutgers they are also an AAU school.  That is nice, but in football they have a Carrier Dome that seats 49,000 and there is little room to expand.  That isn’t a problem since they struggle to get just over 30,000 per game.  They would essentially be adding a school like Northwestern that at times struggles now to fit.

Rutgers doesn’t guarantee you the east coast and their athletic programs are horrendous.  The Big Ten expansion is because of sports and Rutgers doesn’t belong.  Do they have prestigious academia?  Yes.  Is their athletic program as good as any in the Big Ten?  No. 

They would immediately start as the worst athletic program in the Big Ten.  The worst.  You don’t add someone who immediately takes up residency at the bottom when you can’t even guarantee they deliver the NY market.

They average just over 40,000 in attendance for football in a stadium that seats just over 50,000.  They are terrible.  Their basketball program would instantly go to the cellar of the Big Ten.  I would rather see CMU join the Big Ten than Rutgers or Syracuse and that isn’t a joke.

The Big Ten should crave the eastern TV markets, so go Big.  Get a Notre Dame and if you can’t, you move on.  My father used to say better to do nothing than the wrong thing.  Wait.

I will talk more tomorrow about Missouri, Nebraska and Pittsburgh.  Three teams that the Big Ten needs to add to go with Notre Dame and Texas.  Also, tomorrow I will take you into a meeting at the Big Ten conference recently where Jim Delany was livid over an Internet report.  We will tell you what that Internet report said and what Delany did along with how you can interpret Delany’s reaction.

May 20, 2010

Big Ten Expansion has to Consider More than Money

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.

For the latest information about MSU sports, make www.SpartanNation.com your home page.  You can also get a free subscription to Spartan Nation Magazine by emailing the site and asking for one.  For the best talk when it comes to the Spartan Nation, check out the Phalanx Forum Message Board: www.phalanxforum.com

There is no secret that the reason for Big Ten expansion is cash.  There is no doubt that rather than concentrating on the legacy of a commissioner retiring in 2013, the Big Ten has to think past today’s checks and see tomorrow’s legacy.

To lead takes vision.  To lead takes someone being willing to face today’s critics on the belief that tomorrow will heap praise.  Whether you like Jim Delany, the Big Ten commissioner, or not, you can’t ignore the Big Ten Network as the crown jewel of his career.  It was a brilliant move in the face of immense scrutiny and he proved his leadership acumen.

He implored the Presidents to work with him without the ADs in order to make the network a reality.  If starting the network had been up to the ADs at the time or the coaches it wouldn’t have got 30% support.  He saw the bigger picture and it has become a cash cow.  His concept of a network and shrew political maneuvering behind the scenes to make it a reality have to be called even by his critics an act of brilliance.

Now the Big Ten spearheaded by Delany wants more.  That is fine.  This is America and as of the writing of this article profit motive still isn’t illegal although frowned upon by some.  I get it.  In an economy of shrinking revenue, expansion will bring more.  The bigger question is at what cost.

Arguments can be made for Pittsburgh, Missouri, Nebraska, but minus a big fish they can’t add teams for the sake of expansion only.  Rutgers and Syracuse would only be added for the TV markets they bring for the Big Ten Network.  Neither of those schools other than the coveted eastern television sets brings anything to the league.  Why would those schools want to join a league that wanted the homes that they bring and not them?  Syracuse and Rutgers would be terrible choices that dilute the league.  They may bring more money, but they bring nothing else.  Even if Rutgers and Syracuse don’t have the pride to say no to a league that doesn’t really want them, because they want that leagues money.

I support expansion.  It is going to happen and when it is said and done it will bring the Big Ten to sixteen teams.  I am sad to think that they would add teams that don’t belong just for the money.  They may pick up cash with a Syracuse or a Rutgers, but they lose with them.  Short-term answers (more cash) often lead to long-term trouble.

Delany was right taking on a short-term struggle of starting the Big Ten Network and has proven it was the best long-term answer.  With his career at the conference office coming to an end (2013), a short-term answer of a Rutgers and Syracuse is a long-term loss for the Big Ten.  He won’t be here to face the critics, but it will tarnish his legacy.

Big Ten expansion?  Without a doubt.  Syracuse and Rutgers?  Forget about it.  They don’t fit and adding them for the wrong reasons spells trouble down the road; a road that Delany won’t be here to navigate, but the fans will.

Delany has earned my respect, but adding schools only for the households they bring geographically is foolish.

April 20, 2010

Spartans Gaining Experience that will be Crucial in 2010

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.

For the latest information about MSU sports, make www.SpartanNation.com your home page.  You can also get a free subscription to Spartan Nation Magazine by emailing the site and asking for one.  For the best talk when it comes to the Spartan Nation, check out the Phalanx Forum Message Board: www.phalanxforum.com

The Spartans have talent, now they need experience.

When Mark Dantonio took over the reigns to Spartan football he had a team that was thin and limited with players and talent.  Last season that culminated when they made the conscientious decision to use a lot of scotch tape to hold together their team while they allowed a greatly talented freshman class to almost entirely red shirt.

In 2010 the team will still be young. They are gaining experience and reps, and they are ready to play.  All over the field and at essentially every position you see young players flying around. 

In 2010 the Spartans youth will be on display, but so will their talent.  I recently commented that 2010 won’t be a championship season and my inbox was flooded with people offering woulda, shoulda, coulda scenarios of success.  The point is that young teams can win, but not this young of a team.

In 2010 I am very confident that there will be many more amazing moments, but those critical freshman and young player mistakes will be there for sure.  That is O.K. That is what happens in football.

In those moments you need to remember that this happens with youth, but during the amazing moments, remember that is what happens with talent.  The entire right side of the offensive line will be new.  They will make mistakes.  Look at D.J. Young last season.  He had some amazing drives and then would miss a blocking assignment.  He now has moved to the most critical position outside of QB in LT and according to Dantonio has been, “Solid at left tackle and has showed amazing feet, toughness and leadership.”

D.J. Young will take over that critical spot and perform well because he went through some of those moments.  He will be playing his first year at LT and his second as a starter so he won’t be as good as next year, but he will perform exponentially better in 2010.

This spring the Spartans are hitting hard and playing at their fastest pace in spring so far under Coach D.  They are trying to get as many reps in as possible and the sole reason is that this team no longer is thin on talent.  They need reps. 

Monster OTs David Barrent and Henry Conway both would have been competing for starting spots this spring, but Barrent missed the first 2/3 of spring healing from off season back surgery and Henry Conway got injured just prior to Barrent’s return with a neck injury.  Those two are missing or have missed a lot of reps this spring.  Come fall it will be difficult (not impossible) for them to crack the starting lineup for the start of the year simply because OTs need reps.

Both are talented.  Both are incredibly talented.  Both aren’t in need of a talent upgrade.  Both are the real deal and solid.  Both are lacking experience and it is nice to have experience issues on this team now and not talent.

Spring is a time for new beginnings, not only in nature, but also in Spartan football.  2010 will have times of shaking your head, but now it will be more for talent moments than mistakes.  Either way, this program is coming together.

Mark Dantonio has proven his ability to accumulate talent and now he has to move and maneuver them to get those precious reps and experience that takes players from good to great.

In the past, we would look at players who lacked the ability to do great things at every position.  The Spartans would have some that could do it, but not top to bottom at every spot.  Now you look at the talent and they have talented players at every spot. In many cases, the talent is not from the first to third string, but is at least at every spot.

That is a major improvement from the past.  It was sad to see fans get on players who simply didn’t have the talent of playing for a Big Ten title.  It was frustrating to see a national championship caliber player who was playing next to three guys who belonged somewhere in a non-BCS conference.

In 2010 every one of the players you will see belong here.  They have talent.  They lack the experience to win a Big Ten title, but they have the talent and that is refreshing and something that Mark Dantonio has done that some won’t appreciate.

In 2010 the Spartans two deep will be populated with Big Ten talent.  We aren’t at the OSU place, but the greatest achievement of Mark Dantonio is that he has brought in a consistent level of talent that coaching staffs have not had to work with in years.

I have reminded the Spartan Nation on numerous occasions that Mark Dantonio is following the Jim Tressel model of building a program.  He should.  He was a critical part of helping his mentor build two national championship programs at Youngstown and Ohio State.

OSU plays freshmen, but on a limited basis.  They get a lot of guys’ reps so when one talented group of seniors go, they simply reload with more talented players that aren’t unproven.  Dantonio is headed that way.  What was once only a dream now has the foundation and you can see the skeleton of that system coming together.

Imagine a Spartan team where young players get reps, but aren’t counted on as much as they will be in 2010.  This program is headed in the right direction, but hasn’t arrived yet.  2010 will let you see a lot of the talented young players, much more than what is ideal.  Take heart Spartan fans, this program is progressing and progressing well.

April 12, 2010

What Went Wrong in 2009?

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.

For the latest information about MSU sports, make www.SpartanNation.com your home page.  You can also get a free subscription to Spartan Nation Magazine by emailing the site and asking for one.  For the best talk when it comes to the Spartan Nation, check out the Phalanx Forum Message Board: www.phalanxforum.com

When the Spartans went to Chicago for the Big Ten media days I was stunned when my colleagues had voted for the Spartans to finish third.  I have been vocal that I thought they would finish fourth, but the optimism around the program was high.  That is a credit to Mark Dantonio.

The Spartan Nation has some of the very best fans in the world.  Through what has been a rough forty plus years, they have remained loyal and faithful.  Having said that, I don’t think they realize sometimes the depth of the rebuilding project that Mark Dantonio was assigned when he came to MSU.

Since Duffy left MSU the Spartans have struggled. They had one Rose Bowl in that time, but even under George Perles the fans’ frustrations grew to a boiling point with mediocrity.  Under Nick Saban, if you took a look, they had one good season.  That was when he led the team to nine wins and bolted for LSU before the bowl.  I give Nick the credit for what he also inherited, but let’s be truthful in our analysis.

Part of the frustration that the fans and the team felt this season was the fact that they overachieved in 2008.  Something I have said repeatedly since then as regular readers could attest to.  That leads to increased expectations.  The fact that in year three of a major rebuilding project this team and this fan base could get frustrated is a testament to the man charged with rebuilding it, and the job he is doing.

Spartan Nation has reported in great detail that prior to his arrival, there were MULTIPLE coaches in the Detroit Public Schools that didn’t even want MSU on their campus.  For Mark Dantonio to make three straight bowl games and to have not only healed, but developed tremendous and strong relationships there is simply amazing.

While none of us (including Coach Dantonio) was pleased with 6-7, realistically none of us expected ten wins.  So what happened between 6-7 (the reality) and nine wins?  What went wrong?  Let’s take a look.

Mark Dantonio has said since he arrived that you will only be as good as your seniors.  This senior class had some good kids, but there was not a lot of leadership in this class.  When the Spartans gathered to vote captains, sophomore Kirk Cousins was elected.  Kirk had a great season and proved by the end that he had earned that job.

With that being said, his election sent shock waves through several older members of this young team.  Some felt like it should go to seniors, while others felt like freshman players shouldn’t have been allowed to vote.  All of these sentiments were expressed to me from members of this senior class.

Again, Cousins proved to be BY FAR the most effective of the captains and worthy of the title.  It doesn’t change that it frustrated some of the older players that were needed to lead and this led to immediate tension.  One player told me, “How can a sophomore who hasn’t won his job get elected a captain?”  I can tell you that Cousins was without any doubt the best captain this team had, but it doesn’t change that it created a rift between some older players and the majority, which were young.

In fairness, year three is a critical time.  Some have pointed to what Saban and Bo Pelini have done in year three and are highly critical of Dantonio.  Pelini inherited a team that Callahan had not done well with, but it wasn’t experiencing atrophy.  Remember that he had been hired when they fired a ten win Solich.  The frustration in Lincoln was that he had talent and wasn’t winning

Saban took over a team with a lot of talent that hadn’t done as well as it should have.  He again proved that talent can make a good coach look better.  Look at what Saban did at MSU with less than Big Ten talent?  He coached one nine-win team and had two six and one seven win squads.  Both Pelini and Saban have recruited well since and have had success, but Dantonio has had tremendous recruiting success also. The difference being he is being asked to race against men while starting farther back.  It isn’t fair or accurate.

To judge Dantonio against those two isn’t germane.  MSU was far from the condition those programs were in when those men took over and to be frank, MSU no longer held the national respect when a coach shows up in a young man’s home like those did when they took over.

Dantonio has NEVER thrown JLS under the bus.  He has never ripped into MSU’s past forty years to try to defend himself.  Frankly, his character wouldn’t allow him to do that.  Instead, he keeps working hard and keeps his nose to the grindstone.

Now let’s look at some on field issues.

When this staff came to MSU the defense was horrific.  They took immense leaps and bounds in year one and had a superb showing in the Champs Sports Bowl against Boston College and what is now an NFL superstar in Matt Ryan.

In year two, the defense didn’t take the leap that it did in year one (and that would have been hard to expect), but it did clearly improve.  The team again played mistake free football and once again were overmatched in a bowl against the pre-season number one team and lost.

In year three, the defense took a step back.  The job that Don Treadwell did with the offense considering what they had to do on the offensive line, running back and the quarterback was astounding.  In a recent article at SpartanNation.com I recently credited his performance as the coach of the year.  I took grief for that, but I don’t care.  I carefully laid out my reasoning and if I do say so myself gave a good argument for my thought.

It was the defense that left people shaking their heads.  There were lofty expectations on Chris Norman who in retrospect probably would have been better served with a red shirt.  He will be a star long before his days at MSU are done, but he struggled adjusting, as most young men do, entering big time college football.  Blake Treadwell was a star on the defensive line and the sky is the limit for that young man over the next three years.

The defensive line got a lot of sacks, but what most people don’t know is that Trevor Anderson struggled all season with injury.  The Spartans simply didn’t have the depth to step up and replace him.  They could have burned red shirts of young men who will play and play well next year, but Anderson was willing to keep fighting.  It was his senior year.  I talked with Anderson throughout the year and he asked me not to write or talk about it then.

Anderson won’t have his jersey retired, but every Spartan looking back on the season with the knowledge of his injury should thank him.  Others, either because of youth and some because of a lack of talent, couldn’t replace him, but that should explain why at times Anderson struggled.

This staff made the decision when they could without burning a lot of red shirts to go young.  Defensive end was one that they could scotch tape with Anderson, even hurt, and save some young men. 

That is not to say there weren’t some talented young men like Tyler Hoover who have bright futures that played, but Hoover had a learning curve also and will be a fine player.  There was no one who was not red shirting that wasn’t at the place of Anderson yet, and he was injured.

The same can be said for Rocco Cironi.  He missed the spring with an injury and he never fully recovered.  He could have been replaced, but there was no one who could play at his level (even while injured), and although Henry Conway came on and could have stepped in, Rocco kept fighting so this staff wouldn’t have to burn a red shirt. 

Cironi and Anderson took a lot of grief from fans, and had people known that they were playing hurt and that their effort allowed the staff to red shirt some very talented young men.  In 2013 the Spartans will have a lot of success.  You will see some fifth year defensive ends and offensive tackles and I hope Anderson and Cironi are brought back to be honorary captains.  Remember to thank them then.

This staff could have helped themselves playing some young men.  They did when they could and not burn a red shirt.  You saw young men give glimpses of what is to come.  When they could, they went young and there was some residual tension from older players who felt left out.  One older player told me, “I guess the John L. Smith players got forgotten.”  I disagreed with him as several were playing, but it was his thoughts none-the-less.

We will talk in a moment about the defensive backfield, but let’s look at what was the worst part of the offense:  the line.

The Spartans line was not good.  In fact, when you look at what Kirk Cousins did this season in light of what he had with that line, it was even more amazing.  In truth, the talk around the team was that the best offensive line on the team was on the scout side.  Mark Dantonio is dead-set, as we have reported many times, against playing a true freshman on that line.  He was able to use the proverbial scotch tape to avoid doing that.

Dan Roushar, the offensive line coach and the man we called early in 2009 “Mark Dantonio’s secret weapon,” earned every dime of his salary and probably a significant raise.  Joel Foreman is certainly a rising star with NFL potential and walk on D.J. Young steadily improved, but we have already talked about the Cironi injury.  Senior Joel Nitchman fought injuries and senior Brendon Moss at the start of camp was the backup left tackle to Cironi but ended up the starting RG, but still was prone to mistakes.

Again the OL will be much younger next season, but will actually be MUCH MORE athletic and even with youth and the growing pains they will experience, they are already more talented.

The defensive backfield is a head-scratcher.  In 2008 the Spartans made the plays that this year they didn’t, plain and simple.  That is why everyone, the staff, the fans, the media (myself included), was expecting this to be the best part of the team.

There were some critical points.  One head coach, whom the Spartans played this season and I am a close friend with, assessed the Spartans defensive backfield this way to me, “When you watch the film I really don’t think it is coaching.  They have their guys in the right spots.  You see where guys have good technique and that goes to coaching.  What really is troubling from a coach’s perspective is that they don’t play the ball well in the air.  That isn’t coaching, that is instinct.  Once they upgrade on talent, you can tell the coaching is there.”

I agree.  The defensive backfield was not good.  Chris L. Rucker made plays last season as the teams CLEAR best CB that he didn’t make this year.  It certainly all doesn’t fall on Rucker, but again, we go back to the staff not wanting to burn red shirts.  Let’s take a look at the Spartans depth chart against PSU.  We use that game because it takes into account the last game prior to the suspensions.  Both of the free safeties were fifth year seniors and three of the four corners were seniors.  The strong safety was sophomore Trenton Robinson and he was improving at the end.

Coaches can teach technique and they can make the right calls, but frankly the Spartans simply had horrendous lack of Big Ten talent in the defensive backfield.  When you watch the film you could see the right schemes, but guys would make wrong reads or simply not make a play.

For example, the Spartans struggle with the wheel route is infamous.  The week before the Minnesota game they worked so hard in practice on that route specifically.  When Minnesota went right at the Spartans and had success, what can the coaches do?

CB Dana Dixon red shirted as did S Denicos Allen and S Jairus Jones.  All of them will play next year, but did the staff make the best choice red shirting them?  Remember going into the season, you and I along with the rest of the Spartan Nation, thought this would be a strength.  In 2013 we will learn if they made the right choice, but I think they did.

What went wrong, unlike the first two years of the Dantonio reign inside the Duffy Daugherty Building, the 2009 team didn’t overachieve.  A lack of senior leadership certainly hurt as a young team searched for an identity.

I am in no way saying that there weren’t poor coaching decisions, but you can watch an NFL team or college team and see mistakes.  I am not saying that there wasn’t things you can look back at and question.  What I am saying is that in the course of a long season you can always do that.

The reality is the stability is back at MSU.  Dantonio brought it.  This team didn’t hit nine wins, but as the young players recruited for this system grow and older players move on you see what is coming.  Thank God that after a six win year this program and this fan base are disappointed.  I know that Dantonio was.  That truly tells you what a remarkable job he has done when a few short years ago we were angry when this team didn’t achieve six wins. 

I also think that in that disappointment you have to temper it with realistic evaluation.  I think it is very fair to say that the QB battle went on way too long.  It shouldn’t have, but it wasn’t the reason this team won six games.  At the end of the day, not burning red shirts when it was avoidable was much better for the long term than it was for 2010.

Had the defense overachieved like the offense, this team would have won nine games.  Having said that, had the offense in 2007 overachieved like the defense, that team would have won nine games.  What we have is a team in growth, a program being rebuilt.  What went wrong?  Forty years.

At the end of the day this program is on a solid foundation, it is strong and the right man is in the right spot.  For anyone who will step back and think rationally rather than emotionally, they do not doubt that.  People who demand an excellence that I am sure they don’t hold themselves to in their personal lives will never be convinced. 

Trevor Anderson said it best, “I would give anything to come back.  I am on the inside and I see where they are going.” 

This team was four plays away from winning ten games.  Four plays.  Last year they were four plays away from having six wins.  Last year we rejoiced this season we cried.  Perspective tells us a more truthful story than emotion.

March 3, 2010

2007 Revisited

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com
and Spartan Nation Magazine

Taking a look back at Mark Dantonio’s first recruiting class.  The 2007 class revisited.

Incomplete:
Arthur Ray Jr. OG Original Ranking:  5 It was discovered soon after he became a Spartan that he had cancer.  Mark Dantonio has said that he expects Ray to be a captain one day and I agree.  He is running now and hopes to finally be able to compete come fall.  He should be able to get a medical red shirt so this would technically be a red shirt sophomore season.

If Ray makes it back on the field and he has done nothing to show he doesn’t have the will, I expect him to become a starter before he leaves MSU.

Unique Circumstances:
Nick Foles QB Foles was not originally rated as he came to MSU after signing day on February 19, 2007.  He left MSU for Arizona when Mark Dantonio was wooing Keith Nichol.  After sitting out a season due to NCAA transfer rules, he was a starter last season and had an incredible campaign.  He is getting incredible national attention and there is sentiment that if he has another strong season; he could leave early for the NFL.  As of right now, most scouts project him as at least a second round pick.  A good 2010 season could move him to the first round.

No Longer Part of the Program

November 20, 2009

Spartans Look to Reach Win #7 Against the Lions

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com
and Spartan Nation Magazine

Michigan State vs. Penn State Scouting Report and Prediction

A look at this week’s opponent…

The Lions come into the game with what most experts think is a BCS Bowl bid on the line.

That doesn’t mean they are invincible, it does mean that they are loaded with talent and it flows down to their two and three deep.  They are led by one of the all-time great sports coaches in Joe Paterno, who has once again done a masterful job.

Joe Pa has, for over three decades, run his team as a corporation (yes, I know he has been there longer, but his current style is over three decades old) in that his coaches get a lot of room to coach within his game plan and it has worked.

When MSU has the ball…

The Lions have been taunted at times, in their two losses, when teams attacked.  In those two losses, they have looked vulnerable.  If the Spartans are to win, they have to attack.  They can’t sit back and simply play a waiting game for PSU to make mistakes.

The Lions are a team with much more developed talent.  You saw last year in the game at PSU that the Lions attacked from the moment they got on the field and decimated the Spartans.  Two years ago here at the High Cathedral of the Spartan Nation, Spartan Stadium, they did the same, and then took their foot off of the gas.

The Spartans need to be aggressive.  I love the Pound Green Pound attitude when you have the horse to run that race.  MSU doesn’t.  When they have had success, it is when they broke away from that and ran some tricks and skill sets that they aren’t necessarily known for.

Last year out of mercy for Brian Hoyer who was getting crushed, they went away from the pass and ran.  Will PSU get to Cousins like Hoyer?

The Lions will come out on fire and ready for the fight, and they will pin their ears back and attack.  When the Spartans have the ball, the OL will have to have their best game of the season.

When MSU is on defense…

The defensive backs will plain and simply have to have their best game of the year.  Clark is dangerous, and the Lions are loaded everywhere and at every position.

Can the Spartans get a pass rush with four guys?  They have to.  If the Spartans are forced to blitz and blitz often, turn the lights out.  Our DBs will once again have a long day.

The PSU OL and the MSU DL is where this side of the ball will be won.  MSU has an emerging DL, but PSU has, at times, dominated much better defenses.

Intangibles…

Senior day is a big one here for the Spartans, but so is a BCS bowl for the Lions.

This game comes down to execution by the Spartan players.  When they have, this team has won.  When they haven’t, well, with Thanksgiving approaching I don’t want to ruin your appetite.

MSU will have to play better than they did against Iowa or have the Lions play much worse.

Prediction…

I sure hope I am wrong.  Trust me on this when I say Saturday night I hope I am having a fresh dish of crow.  I doubt it, PSU 23 MSU 17.

Pack your bags for Arizona and the Insight Bowl.

For the latest information about MSU sports, make www.SpartanNation.com your home page.

For the best talk when it comes to the Spartan Nation, check out the Phalanx Forum Message Board: http://www.phalanxforum.com/phpBB3/

November 10, 2009

MSU vs. WMU Recap

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com
and Spartan Nation Magazine

If you believe in coincidences then the WMU game was for you.  The Spartans came into the high cathedral of the Spartan Nation, Spartan Stadium, off of two big losses in a row.  While at Minnesota last week, the Spartans fell behind 14-0 to start the game.  

This week, they jumped ahead 14-0 and never looked back.  Ashton Leggett stepped up with a monster game running the ball 14 times for 110 yards, the longest being a 71-yard scamper for the early 7-0 lead.  The RB who came out of the spring as the number one guy has struggled with what he called after the game, “Fumbilitis and pass protection.” He didn’t struggle Saturday with FOUR TDs.

Leggett wasn’t the only one with a big day.  QB Kirk Cousins had the best day of his career commanding the offense like a veteran going 22 of 25.  His offensive coordinator Don Treadwell praised his pupil by saying, “Pretty darn sharp and I think he had a couple of drops.”

This was more than just a win.  After a heartache last second loss to Iowa and a collapse in Minnesota the Spartans needed this.  Under Mark Dantonio, not one of his teams has quit.  Not one of them has collapsed.  If ever they would collapse, this was the time and they didn’t.

It would certainly not be realistic to consider this win as if it was a BCS championship game, let alone PSU who will be here in two weeks, but it was a good team and the Spartans responded with fire and grit.

The Spartans had an astonishing 602 yards of offense and here is an even better stat.  All of the Spartans four TEs not only caught passes, but also had good games including TDs from Dion Sims and Garrett Celek.

This game was bigger than just a win against WMU and a team getting to 5-5.  It gave this team back some momentum and, more important, some fire.  I am in no way implying that they had lost their heart.  I am saying that losing two in a row the way they did, mixed with the high expectations of the season, a group of young people can start to question themselves.

Mark Dantonio knew that his team was struggling and he closed the ranks this week in order to isolate and insulate his guys.  Football is an incredibly mental game and he knew how to play his team like a maestro.  If anyone deserves a game ball for this performance, it was Dantonio.

So the biggest question is what does this mean for the Spartans?  What does this game mean for the rest of the Spartans’ season?  Pat Narduzzi summed it up best, “We have to play better than today to win next week.”  The Spartans now are back to .500 football and they are in desperate need of the magical sixth win that brings bowl eligibility.

They have next week at Purdue and the following week with Penn State to get that win.  With Purdue having beat OSU and UM this season and, even more importantly, playing a tight game at Oregon, that will be no easy task.

Who said Big Ten football was easy?  It isn’t.  Facing Purdue and Penn State will not be the easiest way to end the season.  With one more win, they get something a lot more important than just playing in a bowl game.  They get the golden ticket that comes from the NCAA for extra practices and the critical work that comes with it.

In some programs the joy of the actual bowl is the prize.  In a rebuilding program with goals much bigger than just getting to a bottom or even mid level bowl, those practices are golden.  They are the reward.  Fans who want BCS games should see that.

I know Dantonio does.

For the latest information about MSU sports, make www.SpartanNation.com your home page.

For the best talk when it comes to the Spartan Nation, check out the Phalanx Forum Message Board: http://www.phalanxforum.com/phpBB3/

November 6, 2009

Michigan State vs. Western Michigan Broncos
Scouting Report and Prediction

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com
and Spartan Nation Magazine

A look at this week’s opponent…

The Broncos come in with a disappointing record, but one of the most heralded NON BCS coaches in the nation.  Bill Cubit brings national respect to the program.  Sports Illustrated and other nationally respected entities have called him the best NON BCS coach in the nation and one of the best recruiters in the state of Florida.  In fact, he has actually gotten some kids to commit to WMU who had offers from one of the big three schools in Florida.

His team is up to the task having beat a Big Ten team each of the last three years.  In fact, his Broncos beat Florida State at Florida State until a suspect call cost them the game. Even Bobby Bowden acknowledged that the Cubit led Broncos beat them and that the referees call was not a good one.

When MSU has the ball…

The Spartans are the Spartans.  They will use a power running attack and try to go down the field.  I posted in my column this morning about the medical issues that Keith Nichol possibly faced last week.  I do expect to see him play on Saturday.

The Bronco defense is not good.  The Spartans should have their way with them, and I look for the Spartans to put up a lot of points.  I expect the Broncos to load the box and force MSU to beat them through the air.  I do not think the Bronco defense can hold MSU in check.

When MSU is on defense…

This is the part that scares me.  Cubit is an exceptional coach and although he certainly will not reinvent the wheel this late in the season, I do expect him to give the Spartan some looks that they haven’t seen.

Many people, both in college and pro football, have called Cubit an “Offensive genius,” and he is no dummy.  The Spartan cornerbacks do an excellent job of staying on the hip of the receiver that they are covering.  They are not good, however, at making adjustments to and playing the ball in the air.  If we can see it, and other schools have seen and exploited it, I can assure you that Cubit has.

The Spartan defensive line also does not do a good job of getting their hands in the air when they are not going to make a sack and the QB is about to throw.  I asked Coach Gill about the deficiency in his unit and he was explicit that he is fine with how they play it. I am baffled by that comment, but it is what it is. Opponents will punish the Spartans until it is corrected.

With a team that knows they have to beat the Spartans through the air, that is a plus for the Broncos as it has been for all MSU opponents in 2009.  WMU QB Tim Hiller is a bona fide NFL prospect. I have talked to several of my NFL friends this week about him.  The Broncos know that the Spartans like to blitz and use press coverage on their opponent.  Because of that, Hiller will have to make quick reads and his wide receiver group, which is decimated by injury, will have to make catches. 

I stated before the CMU game that Dan LeFevour was the best QB the Spartans would face in the 2009 regular season and he proved it.  Hiller would probably make the top three or four and the Spartans have to get pressure to beat him.

If the Spartans are getting pressure with four men rushing, they will win easily.  If they aren’t or if they are forced to blitz and the Bronco wide receivers have a good day, this is a team that could very easily beat MSU.

Intangibles…

The Spartans played their best football of the season and then plummeted into nothing short of an abysmal performance against Minnesota.  Coaches say (including Dantonio) that they want to be playing their best football at the end of the season.  They want it to crescendo.  With the Spartans having played their best and then crashing, can they come back up?  Mark Dantonio has done a superb job of getting his teams up and to his credit, although no one wants to hear it, they have NEVER quit fighting.

The Broncos have not played their best football.  They are getting healthy and the moons are aligning for a perfect storm.  ANY Spartan blowing off this game is foolish.  There is a lot to play for with both teams.

If MSU loses this game, although not numerically eliminated, I do not see them going to a bowl.  If that happens, then without a doubt this program took a step back in 2009.  The Spartans backs are against the wall.  Will they fight or quit?  Will they, for the first time, melt under the pressure as a Mark Dantonio led team?  I don’t anticipate it, but it certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

WMU, on the other hand, has nothing to lose.  Everyone expects a blow out win.  They haven’t played their best.  They have been injured and they know they are a better football team than the record.  If they come into a Spartan Stadium that isn’t full and the Spartans don’t put their foot on the gas and run them out of the stadium, this game has all of the makings of an upset.

There are other Spartans to watch health wise this Saturday.  Even if they do get to play, they could be slowed by injury.  Those players include Larry Caper, Rocco Cironi, Danny Fortener, Trevor Anderson, and Joel Nitchman.  There are other Spartans fighting injury also, so the Spartans should play a lot of different players who possibly haven’t got a lot of reps this season.

Prediction…

If the Broncos are in the game after the Spartans first possession of the second half, look out.  They are loose and ready.  They want this game.  The Spartans are desperate and need it.  With several Spartans beat up, I am anxious to see how the Spartans react. 
The players shouldn’t need a pep talk or a great speech.  They better come out on a mission, and the Spartan coaches should not let off the gas until the final buzzer sounds.

I want to see this staff get a lead and go for the knockout punch.  For those of you too young to remember boxing, NOT MMA, I mean real boxing, let me tell you the difference between a heavyweight fighter and champion.  Great boxers like Holmes, Tyson (before he went nuts), and Ali used to fight and never quit.  When they could sense their opponent getting tired or hurt they would attack with a ferocity that you couldn’t have imagined they had left in their tan.  We have yet to see that from this team

I want a knockout.  This team needs a knockout.

I look for the Spartans to win 38-28, but this game scares me.

November 5, 2009

The Aftermath of the MSU vs. Minnesota Game:
What do we know now?

By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com
and Spartan Nation Magazine

Standing on the field after the Michigan State vs. Minnesota game left me with more questions than answers?  Sadly, in year three of the Mark Dantonio rebuilding project this was not expected.  There were mistakes by players and coaches, and Mark Dantonio’s answer to my question, referencing his player’s statements of being shocked said it all, “I’m shocked."

I could go through a litany of mistakes that have been discussed ad nauseum, but what would that do?  There is, however, one clear problem with this team.  They are predictable.

I have been waiting to discuss this until after the season, and I assure you that when it is done I will get into a lot of detail.  For now, from TV announcers, opposing head coaches, opposing players, fans, that janitor that works the night shift, and I even think the guy I stopped to get a shoe shine from in the Minneapolis airport knows what MSU will do.

Now that isn’t necessarily bad in football.  During the Vince Lombardi era, he openly bragged about a handful of plays, and the fact that people could call them out and he would still beat them.  It works when you have overwhelming talent.  MSU does not.

In fact, the Spartan coaching staff should be doing more to put their team in the best position to win, and their predictability is hurting them.  It was player mistakes that set them back, but it was a lack of creativity that cost them the game.

The Spartans scored enough to win games; most games with a competitive defense that is.  In fact, the Spartans have lost five games and in those games, Don Treadwell’s offense has scored an average of an amazing 27 points.  They also lost all five of those games by an average of 5 points. 

The Spartans now have three games left, against three good teams and they have to win two of them to get bowl eligible.  Let us make one thing very clear.  This team needs to step up and fast.  Penalties are hard to take, but unforced penalties are inexcusable.  This team has enough blame to go around.

The biggest is the fact that they aren’t good enough to be predictable.  They aren’t the Packers, or even the Chippewas for that matter. I have written many times that CMU gave the nation the blue print on how to beat MSU, and Minnesota followed it.

With three games left this coaching staff can’t “FIX” it.  They somehow have to bandage this team back together and salvage what is left.  Not making a bowl game would clearly make this season a failure, and they can’t afford that setback in year three of a rebuilding project. 

I do expect this team to win two of the remaining three, but it could just as easily be 3-0 or 0-3.  Now is not the time to be stubborn.  Now is not the time to worry about players’ or coaching staff’s feelings.  This is about big time football and it is about winning.

The Spartans have 18 days to get the ship right.  Seniors need to dig down and lead with pride and guys that aren’t seniors need to grow up fast.. The guys who aren’t red shirting have to send a message that they need to be part of the plan for next year, and coaches need to show that they can do it with their back against the wall and not against Montana State.  

This program faced a season on the brink with their backs against the wall in 2007. Although this is the same program, this is not the 2007 team.  This team has issues that that team didn’t have; issues we will talk about after the season.  For now, the next three weeks rest squarely on the coaching staff.  They have to save their season.  They have to get this team to a bowl game.  I expect them to, but it all rests on them. 

This team fought and clawed and didn’t quit.  Pointing to the no quit of this team is germane and accurate.  That is one of the biggest signs that this program is undergoing a culture change.  These kids are making mistakes, but it starts at the top.  Or should I say the press box in the coaching booths. 

I know that players make plays and not coaches.  I also know that when coaches let their opponents’ jobs become easier with predictability, they can also cost them games.

No more excuses.  This game is a game of inches.  Coach Dantonio’s loyalty and character are to be commended.  This staff needs to step up.  Coach Dantonio needs the best week of the year from his guys.  From the men whom he has shown and demonstrated incredible loyalty, he now needs more.

Players make plays, plays that coaches call.  This season is almost over.  We knew coming in that this was not a strong senior class.  These last three games will be under a microscope, clearly positioned on the staff. 

October 28, 2009

Iowa Loss Revisited:  Three Critical Errors That Cost MSU In an Amazing Game!
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and
Spartan Nation Magazine

As the sun set on Saturday and the magical presence of a night game at the High Cathedral of the Spartan Nation set in, you could sense it would be an epic event.  I had said in my pre-game scouting report and prediction that it would be a heavyweight fight and it was.

If someone was being truly fair, sadly some aren’t able to separate emotion from logic, you couldn’t walk away and not call it a great game and one that will be talked about for generations.

Into the High Cathedral came a top ten team, undefeated, that is lead by a man who prior to the season in an interview with Phil Steele I called the “Tom Osbourne of my generation.”  Kirk Ferentz gets more out of less than anyone in the country, and that was one of the reasons while this off-season I called him the best coach not to win a national title in football.

His teams play mistake free and wait for others to make them.  You may hate his conservative style, but he can compete playing sound football and win against teams that may be more athletic.

The rebuilding Spartans are doing it much the same way.  They came in remarkably as the favorite, and played solid defense that hadn’t been played like that for this team in a long time.

The young Spartans fought and clawed and if the old adage that games are won on the lines is true, then overmatched on offense and defense on the line they shouldn’t have even been in the game.  I believe that adage which makes the Spartans play even more amazing.

If anyone says that the product on the field wasn’t worth the price of admission then they are mistaken or simply foolish.  You saw two good teams battle it out.  Great tackling, great blocking, and they put on a textbook game that could be put in a time capsule and shown in 100 years as what football is supposed to be.

Spartan fans saw the Hawkeyes version of Brian Hoyer play mistake free and keep his team in the game.  The Spartan defenders flew from sideline to sideline hitting and fighting with reckless abandon of life or limb matched only by their opponent’s intensity.

The thrill of the Blair White touchdown could only be matched on the teeter-totter of emotion by the heartache of the Iowa score.  Both teams left everything on the field.  It was one of the greatest games I have ever seen.

With that said, the drama of a great game has many twists and turns like a cheap afternoon soap opera.  The Hawkeyes fumbled, but MSU LB Eric Gordon stated the same thing after the game as the tape, “They recovered it.”

The officials made an appropriate call (that even Mark Dantonio acknowledged) when they called a personal foul on a Spartan DB who made contact above the shoulders (that is the rule, like it or not), but the call was shrouded by the fact that it was called wrongly for ‘Launching himself at the Hawkeye’ rather than hitting above the shoulders.  It was also shrouded in controversy because the flag was only thrown AFTER a long period of time with the Hawkeye lying on the field in what appeared to be a severe state.

Either way, that call didn’t cost the Spartans the game.  There were calls against and for both teams that could be complained about to the Big Ten office.  Those are germane, albeit excuses.  The Spartans cost themselves that game.

There is no shame in losing to a well coached, top ten, tough and disciplined football team.  There was no need for any member of that team to hang their head.  Fans should feel the pain that the players and coaches feel, they have a vested interest of time and money in the program, but they are foolish to rip and attack this team for that effort.

Every player, even when mistakes happened, played tough.  Some expect perfection from these young men when life simply cannot be lived or performed at that level.  Don’t get me wrong; the team with the least mistakes wins football. Also, remember that anything that has humans will have errors and the tremendously talented opponent is scheming on each and every play to outwit you.

I was disappointed, too.  I walked away frustrated.  I admit that I think the Spartans left opportunities on the field to win that game.  I saw three in particular.

 

1. The Spartan defense, prior to the final drive, put on one of the most amazing performances seen all time at Spartan Stadium.  The Spartans have had NO success this season at all when rushing three down lineman in a prevent LB and DB formation.  I asked Coach Mark Dantonio on Sunday night about it and he referenced that they had played some three man front earlier in the evening (he was correct), but they hadn’t played it with the LB and DB prevent scheme of keeping it in front of them.  The Spartans took risks and essentially rendered Stanzi impotent all night.  On that last drive, the Spartans only rushed three until Iowa got close enough to take shots at the end zone. With the clock being so critical, the Hawkeyes were not going to run the ball and risk the clock running out, and with the clock against them they were going to throw quick.  To send the full blitz, knowing that they would throw quick, made absolutely no logical sense at all.  That was a poor coaching call.  There is no excuse, knowing that Iowa was not going to run and that Iowa was going to throw quick enough, that a pass rushing wouldn’t “make it home.”  The Spartans allowed the Hawkeyes, early in that drive, to march down quick and save time when they should have stayed in the game plan that got them there.  Based upon the performance of the evening, it is doubtful that Iowa would have marched down the field. If they had, they would have consumed a large amount of the clock and then the Spartans could have gone to a cover 4 (4 DBs back) and 4 LBs covering the flats and the middle of the field.  If Iowa had made it that far, they certainly wouldn’t have had the time to take as many shots as they did.  It would be unfair to point this out and not give credit to the defense that they were in the hunt to win this game. It would also be wrong to not point out that with what could have been the biggest win of Mark Dantonio’s head coaching career on the line, they blew it.  I do not think this was close to the biggest game of his head-coaching career, that remains UM this year, but in a big game that was strategically a failure.
2. On offense, at times, the Spartans played not to lose rather than to win.  Now, I am in no way discrediting Iowa.  They did a superb job of playing D.  When the Spartans had no choice but open up the game when they needed a score or lose, you saw the hook and ladder.  When the game was on the line, they moved the ball.  Now, I am in no way asking for a return to the JLS days.  I am, however, asking them to realize what is and isn’t working.  The Spartans ran 30 times and passed 32.  I get the idea that they want balance.  I also understand that when it was clear that the run was not working they needed to use the pass to open up the run.  Why wait until the last few minutes to try to win a football game?  The Iowa lines were superior to MSU.  They controlled the Spartans so why not use some play action and slants and try something else.  The Spartans wanted to play like Iowa and wait for them to make a mistake.  They don’t.  MSU was the underdog.  MSU was the young upstart team trying for the upset.  I am sorry, but in boxing (when I was a kid and people actually cared) when a young upstart challenged a champion he knew he had to knock him out.  All the calls went to the champ.  If this was two years from now, maybe that strategy works.  It doesn’t in 2009 for the Spartans, and they showed no killer instinct.  They played not to lose, rather than to win.  I have no idea if it would have worked.  No one does.  But sitting here 48 hours after a loss, it would be less painful if it wasn’t accompanied by woulda, shoulda, and coulda.  Some might say, “What if we lost by 14 then?”  I would say I would rather have lost by 14 and hailed the staff for going for the kill, like Butch Jones did when he coached that masterful come from behind win for CMU, then sitting here tonight like Rich Rodriguez must feel for the stupid decision to go for one and play for overtime here rather than the win.  UM played not to lose here, and so did MSU on Saturday. Both times, both teams lost.
3. The Spartans are simply giving up too much yardage on kickoffs.  In the interest of fairness, I am friends with the Swensons and they are all special people.  It doesn’t change that MSU is giving up way too much yardage on kickoffs.  You can’t fault Brett if he can’t get the kicks deeper, but they (staff) had two years to prepare for this.  Not having a better plan to fix this critical area of need is hurting MSU.  This staff preaches and knows the importance of special teams. The absence of a long kickoff is hurting this team.

Those three things are disappointing, but they also shouldn’t take away from what the Spartans did.  That was not a game they should have won, and they didn’t.  They were in it, and they had a great overall plan.  It didn’t work.  All of us can pick apart our lives like I did with the above three critical errors.  We also need to know that we can’t demand perfection from others that we can’t live in our own lives.

I am disappointed.  I do believe a different defensive scheme at the end would have given us a better chance.  I do believe that playing to win rather than not to lose would have given us a better chance.  I do believe that the depth and coverage on kickoffs hurts us.  I do believe that Saturday night was an amazing performance and a game that left a lasting impression on me.  This team played tough.  The coaches did a very good job.  No one was perfect, including Iowa.  The refs didn’t cost us the game.  MSU lost to a better team and gave a great performance.  That happens. They didn’t quit.  The Spartan Nation will be back in big games against big opponents, but I am proud of this program.

October 23, 2009

Michigan State vs. Iowa Hawkeyes Scouting Report and Prediction
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

A look at this week’s opponent…

The Hawkeyes came into the season with some question marks.  They have addressed them.  I said prior to the season that I thought MSU and Iowa were so close (same as Wisconsin) that I gave the edge to the home team.  After watching the Hawkeyes progress this season, you have to take a closer look.

The Hawks come in rated in the top ten of all major polls, and they sit squarely at number six in the BCS.

When MSU has the ball…

The Hawkeyes defense is good, but they are not the Steel Curtain whose colors they copied.  The Spartans should be able to run, but there is one big difference.  When you watched their game against the Badgers, because of the play action and tight end threat, RB Clay was able to make some yards.

I think the Spartans can learn from them.  Blair White must get his touches, but I am convinced for the Spartans to have success against the Hawks, we need to see more from the TE. 

Last week Don Treadwell did a great job of lulling the Wildcats to sleep with Blair White.  They used him often in the short and intermediate passing routes.  Once the Cats started “jumping” (trying to prematurely cut him off), Treadwell went long with White.  It was a great scheme and will work again this week.

The Hawkeyes have a good defense, but they also run essentially the same base as the Spartans.  All of the work the Spartans did this spring and early in camp will benefit them.

The Spartans have to run the ball, and fortunately it is the core value of their team.  I also believe that they can’t afford a slow start like they had against Northwestern or a letdown late (Michigan), as this is by far the best team they have played this year.

You have heard it said before (OSU 05’) that MSU “has to play perfect to win.”  That is not the case Saturday.  They have to play good, but perfection is not necessary for a victory.  If they played this game ten times, I think both would win five.

When MSU is on defense…

The Spartans have to account for the Hawkeyes tremendous TE.  They are also a power football team that will try to run the ball down the throat of the Spartans.  You can’t stop the Hawkeyes running attack.  Simply said, they are a lot like MSU and will keep doing it enough to gain yards.  What you can hope to do is play with extra men in the box with a commitment to stop the run and punish their QB when he does throw.

Iowa will take their shots down the field, and when they do, MSU has to get to the QB and hit him.  The Hawkeyes will get rushing yards, but the Spartans can’t let them grind out the big runs that sustain drives.  Three-yard gains don’t bother me at all, it is when the first initial Spartan doesn’t make the tackle and guys get 5-7 yards.

They have to make the tackle at the point of attack, and against the Hawks short range passing game, keep the play in front of them.  Simply stated, if the Spartans play sound technique true football, they will win.

The Spartans tackling will tell the story.  If you see the Hawkeyes breaking tackles and the Spartans struggling at the point of attack, the Spartans will lose.

Intangibles…

Will the Spartan fans show up?  It will be cold and wet, but last week when it was sunny and noon over 4,000 (according to sources at MSU) didn’t show up.  The Hawks have played in big time environments and I don’t think this Spartan Stadium can intimidate them. 

I also know that a packed and loud Spartan Stadium will do wonders for the emotions of our team.  Sadly, the Spartan Nation had 2,000 tickets still available mid-week, and with a boatload of recruits in house, a less than packed stadium or booing from the crowd could be negatives.  I know of one recruit who last week left shocked at the MSU fans booing their team.  Love or hate the play, Spartans need to actually use their head and ask who is listening to that boo and what does it make them think of the Spartan Nation?

The Spartans need to get in the game early emotionally and keep the foot on the gas.  Iowa is not going to play a perfect game and neither will MSU.  Early success and not letting up will keep the Spartans in the game.

I fully expect a close heavyweight fight.

Prediction…

This will be the ninth night game in the history of Spartan Stadium.  When those lights come on at the high cathedral of the Spartan Nation:  Spartan Stadium the magic comes alive.  The Spartans have a 7-1 record under those lights.  The Spartans had a good week of practice and both QBs are healthy enough to play.

The staff is ready for this game and the mood of this team is ready for a heavyweight bout.   I waited to check the mood and temperature of the team and I truly believe if they played 10 of these games they both would win five.

Having said that, under the lights and gauging the mood of this team, I see Brett Swenson coming on the field and nailing a 46-yard field goal as time expires for a 23- 21 win. 

October 18, 2009

Go Green Blair White!
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

East Lansing, Michigan
Spartan Stadium

There are several story lines from today’s game and we plan to get to them all.  First and foremost the Spartans continue their winning ways with a big homecoming victory over Northwestern 24-14.

Early on the Spartans recognized the loss of super sophomore Glenn Winston when they couldn’t convert on their first drive on a fourth and goal at the Wildcat one-yard line.  Quarterback Kirk Cousins was unable to punch it in for the early score, a task Winston would have been entrusted to do prior to his injury.

The storyline of the game was that the Spartans, under Dantonio, are used to a signature win, which is capped by a big performance from a tailback.  Today the Spartans were led by their version of Rudy:  Blair White.  White dominated a Wildcat defense that did everything but tackle him prior to the snap, and he kept going strong despite all the attention. 

Running and catching like the Energizer bunny rabbit, White went long and short, sideline-to-sideline, across the middle and down the field and the Wildcats were merely spectators to his career day.  Double and triple coverage couldn’t stop the Spartan star, who had his way like a man among boys.  White caught 12 passes for 186 yards and single-handedly dispatched the overmatched Wildcats for a career day.

Unfortunately, freshman Edwin “ROCK” Baker had his red shirt taken off as the bevy of running backs on MSU’s roster couldn’t step up and give the staff enough confidence that they could win without him.

Despite a big fumble that cost the Spartans a score, Baker played well, running 12 times for 45 yards.   Dantonio addressed the fumble in his post game press conference when he said, “You have to expect growing pains.  If that was a sophomore or a junior or a guy in his second year that is something else.” Larry Caper also had a good day with 16 carries for 63 yards.  The fact that Baker’s red shirt was taken off spells an uncertain future for three current Spartans. 

Dantonio made it clear after the game that he tried to get three others to keep Baker off of the field.  “We allowed three guys to move in that direction and had to make the call. … After watching everybody play, we had to make the decision of what was best for this team.”

With none of them able to step up and take playing time this season or last year when the staff practically begged someone to earn some time with Ringer, they have certainly had plenty of time to earn their keep.  They also had all spring and now with the season underway and this grand opportunity they let pass today certainly was disappointing.  The staff didn’t want to use Baker, but felt they had to.  That was the biggest disappointment, for an otherwise good day. 

Red shirt freshman Caulton Ray was listed as the second string running back, but clearly was the third guy regardless of what they depth chart said.  When Baker came in during the first series that said all that needed to be spoken about his situation. 

Red shirt sophomore Ashton Leggett’s (already rumored to be considering a transfer) failure to play, along with fellow red shirt sophomore Andre Anderson’s lack of contribution and a critical personal foul penalty certainly has to force them to reconsider their situation. 

The Spartans now move to 4-3 and 3-1 in the Big Ten.  With the Buckeyes falling today unexpectedly to the Boilermakers, and the Hawkeyes giving the only Big Ten team to beat MSU (Wisconsin) their second conference loss, the Spartans have a legit shot at the Big Ten title if they run the field.

The Spartan defense was impressive stopping the Wildcats. They Cats like to run a play about every 15-18 seconds, forcing a major up-tempo scheme.  That didn’t happen today as they had a mere 76-65-play advantage.  Credit that to D C Pat Narduzzi, whose team did one of the bests jobs stopping the Wildcat schemes all season, even while the time of possession was nearly even.

The statistics will say the Spartans had 375 yards in total offense (94 rushing), but that is misleading.  Rather than try to run up the score against his friend Pat Fitzgerald, with just over two minutes left in the game, the Spartans took over the ball on the Wildcat side of the field and with their foe out of time outs, the Spartans took a knee three times, losing 11 yards — a classy move that the Spartans have come to expect from Dantonio.

I said before the season that everyone was talking about Greg Jones and rightfully so, but that Eric Gordon would earn attention also.  He had 15 tackles to Jones’ 14.

The Spartans came into the game averaging 20 points a game and over 420 yards of offense.  Neither number was reached, but certainly when they can run for an adjusted 105 yards and pass for 281, those numbers look good.  Offensive coordinator Don Treadwell let Kirk Cousins in the first half get his rhythm back after essentially sitting out a week with an ankle injury, but he came out firing in the second half with several tremendous throws.  He finished 21 of 31, and even Dantonio said, “He came out and played with poise.”

If you had to question the offense, it would be the virtual disappearance of the TE.  Coming into the season and even today, it is safe to say that position is the Spartans’ deepest.  Charlie Gantt was the only tight end to catch a pass, and that was only one for 15 yards.  I plan to ask Dantonio about it this week.

What matters now is the Spartans move to 4-3 after a rough 1-3 start.  They didn’t quit, and they now have played themselves back into the legitimate hunt for the Big Ten title.  Critics who cried same old Spartans after the loss to the Badgers now face a diet of crow.  This isn’t a Big Ten title team.  Far from it for those who are honest, but once again this staff has a group of young men believing.  Believing that the special can be ordinary in East Lansing.

 

October 17, 2009

Michigan State vs. Northwestern   Scouting Report and Prediction
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

A look at this week’s opponent…
The Wildcats come into the High Cathedral of the Spartan Nation looking for a fight.  The Cats are a formidable foe with young, but incredibly talented, head coach Pat Fitzgerald. 

The Cats are fundamentally sound and will play hard for the entire game.  If the Spartans get a lead, this is one team that can make a comeback and win.  Up or down, one of the most impressive parts of this team’s psyche is that they play hard from whistle to whistle.

When MSU has the ball…
The Spartan game plan rarely changes.  They want to run it down your throat.  The Illini didn’t look at the game tape evidently of the Spartans three game losing streak, but the Wildcats did.  They will try to flood the box and force MSU to win through the air.  Can the Spartans do that?  Sure they can.

One of Coach Fitzgerald’s strengths is that he doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel or be cute to get recognition.  Something I have asked him about.  “I think sometimes coaches think too much.  This isn’t rocket science.  We know what teams do and they know what we do.  It is about execution and winning.  If we stop what you do and force you to do other things, we have a good shot at winning.”

The Spartans will look to impose their will on the Cats.  Larry Caper will get ideally 30-35 carries as he continues to emerge on the national stage as one of the premier freshman backs in the nation.

Caulton Ray will also be used as the other back to Caper, and the two of them should be able to do the job.  If Edwin “ROCK” Baker appears in this game, it isn’t a good thing.  That means the Spartans had to take off his red shirt, because of the failure of the multitude of backs behind him to step up.

If Baker plays, this game is a loss because of the long-term ramifications.  It would clearly set the stage for some exodus from the program for the litany of backs that would essentially be behind him.  Sure I want the win, but I also don’t want to see Baker.  I don’t expect to see him either.

The Spartans need to use the play action pass, screens, and of course, the running game to nickel and dime this team.  The Northwestern offense will attack, attack, and attack some more.  The longer the Spartans keep them off of the field the better they will do.

I wouldn’t be shocked to see MSU go to the air, however, to try to get a knock out punch on the Cats and take some wind out of their sails.  The Spartans would love to get a early lead like ILL and with the momentum of the big crowd take the Cats out.
If they do take this approach, Spartan fans need not and shouldn’t leave early.  The Cats will not give up and it will be critical to watch for the Spartans to let up.

When MSU is on defense…
The Spartans will do what they do.  Coming off of the last two games, the Spartans will look to keep what they are doing.  Ironically, the people who thought Pat Narduzzi forgot how to coach during the three game slide, now see what happens when his crew executes.  Narduzzi is doing essentially the same calls and schemes as he did during the slide, his guys are just taking care of business.

The Spartans will move Greg Jones all over the field trying to get him different looks, and they will send blitzes from all sides of the field.  I will be watching the MSU DL closely.  Over the last three weeks they have continued to get pressure without the Spartans having to send the entire house, and if they can sustain that, the Spartans should walk away with this.

The NW offensive attack is predicated on finding weak links in the Spartan chain.  They will use the dink and dunk pass and run to just nickel and dime their way down the field.  They call plays that use the entire field, sideline to sideline, and they do that trying to find a player loafing for out of position and when they do look out!

They spread the field so when you do blitz, you are creating man on man situations, and if your defenders don’t make good tackles, there isn’t a lot of swarming support.  The Spartans have to make tackles on their own in space to be fine.

They are known for the big play, but in actuality the Cats game is simple little stuff waiting for you (the defense) to make a mistake and then they crush you.  They are the most patient and schemed dedicated coaching staff in the nation and you can stop them all day and then they get you.

Intangibles…
The Spartans are back to .500.  They are disappointed with how their season has gone, but finally they have some fun back in football.  They will be welcomed home to a big crowd, and since Mark Dantonio arrived you haven’t seen this team lose momentum when they have it.

Remember the rule of five.  If MSU wins that, this game is over.  For those who don’t remember it, it has to do with sacks and turnovers.  If the Spartans have three sacks and gives up two that means they are plus one.  If they then get four turnovers and give up only one that means they are plus three.  That would give them a plus four for the day.  They want to get to a plus five ratio at least every game.

Here are the intangibles for this game:

#1 How will the Spartan players react if they get a lead?  Will they play like they expect the Cats to quit?  If they do, NW will make a comeback.  I want to see that killer instinct that goes for the kill.  I am looking for the Spartans to play a full four quarters of football for the first time this year.

#2 How do the Spartans handle tackles in the open field?  One on one is how the Cats make a living and I want to see nice boring tackles.  No Sportscenter highlights, but a dominating win that they play the full game like they are clawing from behind even when they aren’t.

#3 Aerial attack.  Coach Roushar agreed with me last week when I suggested that the Spartans rushing attack this year does better when set up by the pass.  I want to see a game where passes aren’t dropped, just good solid receiving and watch what is an amazing aerial attack do what it does.  I expect the Spartans to use the air effectively.  I also expect guys to solidify their game as the Spartans hope to use this game as springboard for bigger things, most notably the Hawkeyes the following week.  If the Spartans are going to have a special season (and there certainly is still time for that, they can’t drop passes.  I am looking for Cousins to get his rhythm back and the WRs to catch balls.

 

Prediction…
This Spartan team is back on track.  If they simply play solid, make tackles in space, and don’t drop passes they will walk away with this game.  I expect them to use a great pass/run combination with significantly more passing yards than rushing and walk away with this.

I fully expect the best start to finish game of the season from the green and white and MSU wins this 31-17.

October 12, 2009

Michigan State vs. Illinois Scouting Report and Prediction
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

With the first hint of winter in the air, the Spartans marched into Memorial Stadium on a mission.  Illinois came into the game wounded after three tough losses to three good football teams.  The Spartans had righted their ship with a big win against archrival Michigan after a similar 1-3 start and wanted to continue the momentum.

The sparse Memorial Stadium crowd in the first quarter showed what the fan base thought of the Illini’s coaching staff.  The Spartans took the ball led by dual threat hometown kid Keith Nichol getting his first shot and ran it right down the throat and the mojo of the Illini.

The first quarter came to an end with the Spartans up 14-0, and following up on the biggest stat of the UM win, time of possession, they had once again nearly a 2-1 edge.  The 14-point lead however wasn’t the story.

The Spartans went on to win 24-14 even though they were riddled with injuries, but once again that wasn’t the story.

The Spartan win brought them to 3-0 after the UM game under the leadership of Mark Dantonio, and the bitterness of the Spartan Nation’s murmurs, after their three loss skid earlier this season, was still sore.

After being flat beaten in all phases of the game against CMU, a poor loss against Notre Dame, and being manhandled by Wisconsin, Spartan fans openly murmured about the same old Spartans.  They won’t talk about it publicly.  They will never address it on the record if asked, but it hurt.  This staff has worked tirelessly to repair the broken mental side of this program.  Coach Dantonio warned until people laughed at him for reminding us, “Adversity will come.”

They came in and repaired relationships and got a group of young men to believe in themselves.  They overachieved in their first two seasons.  The job that they did exceeded what anyone thought they could do.  With the disappointing three losses earlier in this season the cries that came reigning down on them did hurt. 

When MSU approached Mark Dantonio to give him a raise he wanted none of it.  He told them to come back at the end of the year.  After the season his only priority was his assistants and he only took a raise when it was insisted that all of the pie couldn’t go to his assistants.

This group has done everything that previous staffs haven’t.  The name Dantonio was hot and sexy last season in college football for programs looking for a new coach, and he wasn’t out there (or his agent) secretly whispering his interest for either a new job or at least trying to milk MSU for more.  That didn’t happen with other the coaches in the last 30 years.

Staff members, over the past two seasons, could have easily jumped from MSU to other jobs as assistants and not one did.  In fact, one of the assistants, I know for a fact, was offered a job for more money from another Big Ten team and he laughed at them.  He wanted to be at MSU. 

After the three losses, some fans called for the staffs’ heads, but really do you think the staff forgot how to coach?  When people demanded Dantonio fire assistants after two, three or four games, did they instantly become smarter about the game then him?  Don’t tell me how much they make.  These men have done this when they couldn’t afford an apartment, and knowing most of them personally, the money they make didn’t make the jeers any less uncomfortable when their children heard it from THEIR fans.

There was nothing wrong pointing out mistakes that coaches make in calls, and over those three losses I know that I certainly did.  That isn’t what I was talking about.  This staff was taken to the woodshed for that skid and this group responded.

The UM win was the biggest for Mark Dantonio, as a head coach, and you saw them take it to the Illini who arguably have more talent than the Spartans, but certainly not the coaches.

One Illinois person told me on Saturday, “If we had your coaching staff with our talent, I can only hope about how good we would be.” 

The Spartan Nation has been put through so much.  They have had to watch coaches profess loyalty and love, while the University rotted from within with politics, and they jumped as soon as they could to another dancing partner.  They have seen staffs that were out of their element rot from within and all through it they have paid millions for tickets and donations and they have done it loyally.

This staff performance the past two seasons, on and off the field, finally gave the games best fans hope.  It wasn’t false hope; it was firmly planted in reality.  The three game losing skid was only several months from the past and it brought up terrible emotions and sadly some old feelings that weren’t fair.

It is never wrong to ask questions.  These coaches aren’t perfect and do not expect to be treated as such.  It is wrong to call for jobs of good men when a football season in a massive rebuilding project doesn’t go as planned.  It is wrong to call out the character of people because of a win loss record and not off the field character issues; something this staff has not even had a hint of.

I have a friend who is an orthopedic surgeon.  He told me a story once about a pediatric patient who was struggling learning to walk after a major operation.  It bothered him greatly as he is a compassionate man.  He told me that day, “What makes it hard is that I have seen so many who have had that surgery and many even worse, that get back walking fast.  They just have that ability to handle pain and that will to walk.  They are willing to go through the pain of recovery to walk again.”

As I stood on the sideline yesterday I looked over at Mark Hollis, the MSU AD, and his son. Hollis’s leadership at MSU has been nothing short of miraculous.  He wasn’t in control under the same old Spartans, but he attacked it when he took the lead.  I looked at the staff coaching like it was the BCS championship even while Kirk Cousins was about to take his final knee in the victory formation.  I saw the smiles of players and the silence of beaten fan base and it wasn’t ours.  I heard echoes of Go Green and Go White in an opponent’s stadium and it was sweet to the ears.

I saw a head coach, who is a man of character and integrity, that only a few short days before had people calling for his head.  He has traveled border-to-border and coast-to-coast of this state trying to fix the damage he didn’t do and heal and repair relationships that he didn’t break.  I saw the man who took a dream job at MSU that he NEVER applied for.  MSU approached him.

I saw a program that may wear the colors and have the mascot of the same old Spartans, but those Spartans are gone.  Those Spartans are not a part of this program.  They are gone.  Questioning this staff for decisions is fine; sadly the only same old Spartans I have seen are some of the fan base.  It is unfair to shoulder this staff whose exemplary efforts have done nothing but dispel those demons with those same monikers.  I have heard from several Spartans before that MSU is famous for eating its own, for attacking from within.  I agree.

I think the Spartan Nation is, in a lot of ways, like my doctor friend’s patient.  We have been wounded, but are on the road to recovery.  We aren’t and won’t be perfect, and when that happens, it is fine to talk about, but it doesn’t mean that we are in the same place as before.  I think the Spartan Nation needs to man up, police itself, and have to possess the want to, so we can walk again and get healthy.

This staff has earned it.  This staff has proven they aren’t the same old coaches, and many of these players weren’t even here for the ‘Same old Spartans’ or weren’t players then.  It is time for the Spartan Nation to keep high expectations, to want excellence, but to stop the post mortise temper tantrums that aren’t fair and, more importantly, detrimental to success.

My wife and I have a good friend who married a lady whose previous husband had been less than ideal.  He told me a few months after their marriage that he was “Trying to make her realize that I am not him.  Stop punishing me for him.”  The same is true for this staff.

We are three and three after the ILL game, not what they or we wanted.  There isn’t one coach or player that would have told you in July that they would be happy with this and their isn’t a fan either.  What we do have is a group of kids that when injures were all over the field, when mistakes happened on Saturday, not one quit.  Not one player or coach was part of the same old Spartans since Duffy left.

They were, however, the ‘Same old Spartans’ from the days of Duffy; hard working, tough-nosed and thrilled to be at MSU.  I guess the next time I hear the ‘same old Spartans’ mantra, I will think of the glory years, not the past thirty.

This staff and these players deserve better, so do the fans.  The staff and players are doing their part, now it’s time for the fans.  3-3 at MSU is not our destination.  In year three of a major rebuilding project, one that isn’t fixing just the JLS years, but the last 30, it is understandable.

Recently Mark Dantonio set a Detroit media member straight who tried the throw the same old Spartans mantra in his face.  Granted the media member was a UM guy, but imagine how coach must feel when he hears it from his fans?

I am glad we are fixing the past 30 years. I am glad that we are on our way back to being the ‘Same old Spartans’.  Three and zero after the UM game and 2-1 against UM in his first three years tells you all you need to know.  Time to get healthy people.  Time to fight through the pain of getting healthy.  This is our team and is being led by our guys.  Thank God we are getting back to being the ‘Same OLD Spartans’.

 

October 10, 2009

Michigan State vs. Illinois Scouting Report and Prediction
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

A look at this week’s opponent…
The Illini come in reeling.  They had a team projected to be much better record wise than they are.  Other than Ohio State, this team has the most raw talent in the Big Ten, top to bottom.  Ron Zook is a tremendous recruiter, but this season has made it clear that he lacks game day adjustment skills.

The Spartans this week get a wounded tiger by the tail.  Coming into the season I fully expected ILL to have a better record right now (I had thought 2-2) as well as to beat the Spartans.  Not because I didn’t believe in the Spartans and the staff, it was because of the Spartans youth and the Illini’s huge talent gap advantage.

When MSU has the ball…
Dan Roushar concurred with me on Thursday that some of the Spartans best success has come when they have used the pass to set up the run rather than the usual vice versa.

The Illini have an excellent DT combination and their defensive philosophy is to use them to tie up defenders and let their LBs roam.  They are very athletic and although the record isn’t good, and the coaching is suspect, this is a team that has plenty of ability to beat the Spartans.

They like every other team the Spartans have faced will attack the line of scrimmage and try to stop the Spartan running attack.  The question is will the Spartans go the air immediately to open up the run or will they stick with the power attack and see if they can impose their will.

Based upon the tendency of this staff, I expect them to try to impose their will.  The Spartans aren’t playing the Illini’s record.  They are playing a very talented group of proud young men.  Because of that, it is imperative for the Spartans to have early success.  Caper and Winston cannot afford turnovers that will give the Illini and their new QB good field position and a chance for some early momentum.

If Kirk Cousins ankle is less than 100%, Keith Nichol’s running talents, will come in nicely by giving the athletic Illini the added headache of accounting for his running talent.

When MSU is on defense…
The Spartans have to show incredible gap patience and stay home and let the play come to them.  The Illini will throw in a myriad of misdirection and passing out of running formations, running out of pass formations and running on passing downs and passing on running downs.  They have a great scheme for the talent that they have, but their coaching deficiencies can hamper that talent.

The Spartans need to get pressure from the their front four and allow their backs to read more than being forced into blitzing.  Which D shows up?  The CMU defense or the UM defense for the first 3 and ½ quarters?

If the Spartan D that played UM shows up they can contain the Illini.  That D swarmed and was athletic.  They were able to get pressure out of their base scheme and not have to bring the house all the time.  If that group doesn’t show up and the Illini get any early momentum this game could get ugly and the Spartans get trounced.

Intangibles…
There are three big ones.

#1 Under Mark Dantonio you haven’t seen an emotional let down from this team.  I don’t expect it, because they have exorcised that demon from this program.  Being around the team this week you don’t see the resolve of last week, but you do see a confidence (not arrogance) that wasn’t there either.  Until this team demonstrates an emotional let down, I will believe that they won’t.

#2 A talented team like the Illini are injured.  They are very talented and I certainly don’t know all of them, but I do know some and they are some good kids.  They have pride.  Just like last week the Spartans were on the edge, they are this week.  Juice Williams is an immensely popular young man on that football team and you have to wonder if the team will enter the game discouraged and angry that their guy was benched.  Juice will play, but what is the mod of the team?

#3 The Illini fans are a great group.  They have given and have done all that is asked of them to return this once proud program to glory.  They are in the mind set right now of the Spartan Nation in 2006.  There is blood in the water.  If the Spartans have a fast start and can kill any emotion or momentum, they will take this depeleted and emotional spent crowd out of the game.  If they Spartans are on fire, this crowd will turn and it will get real ugly.  If the Spartan let them stick around, or get a lead and go to conservative and let them come back, this group is too good to allow to get their crowd on fire.

The Spartans need to come out fast and strong and keep their foot on the gas.  If they don’t the Spartans could lose this and lose big.  This isn’t a team lacking talent and it is important to have them saying, “Here we go again.”  The Spartans have to go all Dantonio and act like the Illini are a WJR radio host.  They have to win the battle of the wills.

Prediction…
In 2005 the Spartan Nation was down, but stuck in with their team.  Even though they folded.  In 2006, the Spartan Nation was spent.  They supported their players, but the last breath of hope was out of their lungs and they had turned on the staff.  That is the condition of the Illini nation.

This game scares me.  If the Spartans go conservative they lose and that crowd comes alive and so do the emotions of those spent Illini players.  I never expected this team to be where they are.  I do however go back to the fact that Mark Dantonio led teams at MSU haven’t had the emotional let down.  I expect him to have this team ready to put a stake in the Illini’s heart.

Because of that, I think the Spartans go down to Illinois and beat the Illini 27-17.  I never expected MSU to win this game at the start and I am worried about it now, but that mind set has a huge impact on a team.  Don’t we know Spartan Nation?

On a side note, if the Illini lose on Saturday, Ron Zook will not be back in 2010 and I expect the Illini to make a strong push for CMU head coach Butch Jones.

October 5, 2009

MSU vs UM Recap
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

I sit here thinking back on the biggest win of Mark Dantonio’s head coaching career and can’t think of one great moment.  The fans were incredible, and truthfully, since he arrived, they are truly at a Big Ten level.  They were fantastic from the start until way after the finish.

Listening to the crowd sing the fight song and cheer their Spartans long after the players were gone and the showers were empty was amazing.  As I was standing just inside the tunnel after the game, I heard one recruit tell another, “That crowd was sick, they are crazy, that was tight.”  I must concur if what he was saying was they were great.  His smile made me think that was good?

The coaching was great, and they had been calling good games previous to this, but the onus fell on them to win this.  They had players who had not performed to what they had done previously and youngsters that had not stepped up.  They reached back and did it and did it well.

The Spartan defense was masterful as they handled, what I believe, is the nation’s best freshman QB.  Forcier is all that he had been advertised.  He wasn’t rattled and he had the poise and presence of an upper classmen.  That D found a way to hold him and even though he made his plays, they contained him.  The Spartans can celebrate today, but can’t be pleased with the prospects of playing him three more times.

 Narduzzi’s trademark enthusiasm was on full display after the game when he said, “It was a heck of a game and I hope you guys enjoyed that thriller. I have to give our kids credit because they went out and made plays today and it was nothing to do with the coaches. The kids played hard, they were jacked up before that game and came out and played with a lot of enthusiasm. I just love those kids to death.”

The offense kept the Wolverines off balance and wondering what was next.  Misdirection toss sweeps, bubble screens and street fight brutality were on display.  Normally, mild-mannered TE Charlie Gantt talked about the physicality, “They came ready to play today. We were knocking them back. They had a good D-line front but I just felt like the O-line really stepped up today and brought it to them. “

The offense gave the defense something they hadn’t this entire year.  A rest.  Treadwell’s gang held the ball for 40 of the games 60 minutes.  Narduzzi had high praise for his counterpart; “Well, half of it was Coach Treadwell keeping possession for however long he did - I don’t know what the time of possession was, but it helps when your offense is on the field all day. I have to give credit to Coach Treadwell, he had them running the ball for 197 yards and running it down their throats pretty good.”

Normally complimentary to anyone, but he and his guys, the modest Treadwell himself addressed the job his guys did holding the ball and controlling the time of possession. “I don’t know if it was the first or second drive where we just had to keep overcoming adversity, and that was so critical. When we are in rhythm, usually that’s when we are hitting on all cylinders and moving the ball down the field.”

Even Michigan head coach Rich M ROD Rodriguez addressed the time of possession issue. “The disappointing part is that we played good defense for a while but it was the third downs that killed us. It was third and longs, a lot of third and longs, cost us. I don’t know how many times the quarterback scrambled and got first downs and that’s very frustrating when you play two good snaps and the third snap they get a big first down. They really controlled the game and never allowed our offense to get into a rhythm. They battled and we battled and we just didn’t make plays when we had to.”

Later, he addressed it even more in his press conference, “The time of possession…that is frustrating. It’s just not getting off the field defensively and not staying on the field offensively. I’ve always said we’ve got to make the other team play some defense, and in the first half they didn’t have to play any defense. They did, but they didn’t have to play for extended periods of time because we weren’t getting first downs and we weren’t stopping them.”

I said in my prediction article on Friday morning that the Spartan mentality this week swayed me to see the win.  Had you asked me five hours after the Wisconsin loss, I would have sided with the Wolverines on who would win this game.  The Spartans were fragile and beaten up after the Badger loss.

Mark Dantonio willed this team to a win.  He will say it is the players’ game because he is modest, but he reached down and willed it.  He refused to let them do anything other than lose.  This group of young men had not had their confidence rattled like this since he arrived and they needed to see that confidence he displayed on day one.  “I can tell you they are all emotional. I don’t know that I’ve had an unemotional win. This certainly is one of the ones you point at and say, ‘Michigan-Michigan State’ and sometimes it defines you. To me, it’s a critical game. That’s just the way it is. I’ve always pointed to certain games when I’ve been a head coach and I try to draw on the rivalries that are important to the people that played in the past.”  

The Spartans certainly wish they were 5-0.  They aren’t.  They are 2-3, but with a big win against their archrival the season is back on track and the previous three losses are more palatable for a program still smack in the middle of a rebuilding program.

Now, all of the emotion and good will should be there for the winning team.  That, however, isn’t to say that there isn’t concerns.  This team has used three freshmen, Chris Norman, Dion Sims, and Blake Treadwell who lost his red shirt for only a few plays, that will not be able to red shirt, that in the crunch time of their biggest game were on the sideline.

Secondly, this game could have easily been a loss when the coaching staff went conservative and the Spartans had three, three and outs in the fourth quarter.  I have asked myself when I hear or read the critics of this staff who can never see a glass half full if they hold their personal lives and careers to the same standards they ask of this group.

It is fair to ask why they went conservative.  You can wonder why they went for a 4^th and four, but then you can’t say they went entirely conservative?  You can ask why the QB took a knee with 2 seconds remaining rather than going for a win?  All of those are germane.  All those, however, have to be looked at in the prism of a win.

I loved that Danny Fortener, who I think has not played enough this season, was involved in the OT interception of Chris L. Rucker.  Rucker, coming into the season, was considered among the best junior CBs in the nation and I had a gigantic smile on my face seeing him catch that interception in the end zone.

There are questions, and there certainly are issues with this team.  They are young.  There will be issues and questions.  They did, however, do what they had done all season and they played hard and didn’t quit.  Unlike the past three losses, the breaks went their way.

Certainly the Wolverines drove home frustrated.  You can’t blame them.  I can also tell you that they drove home sore.  MSU was physical in all phases and they took their fellow Big Ten comrades to the woodshed and they lost a street fight.

Both of these teams are young.  Both of these teams will think about this for the next year.  The biggest difference?  MSU won…again!

October 2, 2009

Michigan St vs. Michigan Scouting Report & Prediction
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

A look at this week’s opponent…

The Spartan Nation has had fun poking fun at the Wolverines for the last year.  That is all good, but they are back on track and they are talented.  They are led by a true freshman QB Tate Forcier, and he is as talented as they come.

Before Spartan fans rip the young man, they need to watch him play, and whether or not you’re a Wolverine fan, he is a talented football player.  He has tremendous vision and poise and is doing a great job staying within the M Rod system.  The system that M Rod runs is very concise in that he is extremely detailed on what he wants his guys to do.

If you were to just watch you would think the UM offensive scheme is a free for all, but in all actuality, it is far from it.

When MSU has the ball…

The Spartans have one of the best aerial attacks and they are facing one of the worst aerial defenses.  As much as the Spartan fan base would love to see the Spartans scrap what they are and go to the air all day, the Spartans can’t win that way.  They have to win the time of possession stat and not by a few seconds.

The Wolverine defense has looked terrible this season, and if the Spartans can actually get the run game going, they WILL win.  The Spartans look to be in good shape on the OL and while a normal fan may follow the ball, watch the OL this week.  If the Spartans own the point of attack, start the celebration.

This certainly doesn’t mean that the offense won’t pass.  It just means that they will pick and choose.  I know for a fact that OC Don Treadwell wants to get more variety going with his receivers, and if the TE has a big day for MSU, that will say a lot.

Look for the Wolverines to get a full frontal dose of Glenn Winston and Larry Caper as they have distinguished themselves from the pack at RB, and with Winston’s punishing style, this could get bloody and messy.

If the Spartans fail to control the line and run, they will lose.  However, I do expect them to control the line and the longer they keep the ball, the less chance the real deal Forcier has to hurt them.

When MSU is on defense…

Pray.

The Spartan’s defense has been shoddy at best this season.  The more film I watch I can see that there are some blitzes that maybe shouldn’t have been called when the Spartans proved they couldn’t get to the QB, but the defensive coaches have had the right schemes called in most cases.

Again, I wouldn’t run CBs off the ball seven or eight yards as they do occasionally, but again, the biggest problem with the defense has been execution.  Guys are not stepping up and making plays. 

I want to add one major caveat here.  These guys are not quitting.  They are making mistakes.  Guys with experience haven’t shown a lot of improvement in some cases, and some guys are young and learning.  The encouraging thing for Spartan fans should be that that the D is playing hard. Their “no quit” attitude should make you hopeful.

The Spartans have to make the initial tackle.  The UM offense is predicated on YAC (yards after the catch) and the Spartans have been horrendous this season when someone other than Greg Jones makes initial contact.

Guys can’t go for the Sportscenter hit. Just wrap up and make the initial tackle. 

Intangibles…

The Wolverines have been impressive.  There is also a learning curve for any true freshman.  This will be a first road test in a VERY HOSTILE environment for the youngster. 

He is also facing a mad and ornery Spartan team that has been most impressive with the “no quit” attitude and a tremendous week of practice.  Those two key components and a defense that is more finesse than physical and is struggling set this up perfect for MSU.

Remember the rule of five.  If MSU wins that, this game is over.  For those who don’t remember it, it has to do with sacks and turnovers.  If the Spartans have three sacks and gives up two that means they are plus one.  If they then get four turnovers and give up only one that means they are plus three.  That would give them a plus four for the day.  They want to get to a plus five ratio at least every game.

Prediction…

I have never hid my respect and like for M Rod.  I think he is super coach and a good man.  I also think that he has done a great job transitioning this program from a pro style to a spread bone attack.  He took a beating for making the transition in one move last year, but he has proven it to be the right thing.

UM football is very dangerous with him at the helm and I am thrilled to see this becoming a major rivalry.  Long time readers of Spartan Nation know that at one point I had predicted 14 games right in a row.  I am in no way afraid to pick against MSU if I think it will go that way.

The Spartans are mad, they are embarrassed, and they are working harder than ever.  In fact, when you watch the film you can see them almost at times pressing or trying too hard.  This has not been a typical MSU vs. UM week.  The Spartans, when asked, have expressed their dislike for UM, but they have been all business.

They are coming out looking for a physical bruising street fight.  UM has pride too, but I don’t think they are ready to deal on both sides with the physicality of what the Spartans bring.  A UM win wouldn’t shock me since the Spartan D hasn’t stopped any real opponent, but I simply don’t see it.

If the Spartans lose Saturday I think there are real prospects of not making a bowl.  That would be devastating to this program.  This is the biggest game of Mark Dantonio’s head coaching career, and I fully expect that kind of effort from a great group of kids and staff.

MSU rights the ship and officially reinstates the rivalry.  MSU 31 UM 28

 

September 29, 2009

Spartan Head Coach Mark Dantonio Faces Biggest Game In Head Coaching Career
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

Mark Dantonio has already admitted that his Spartans 1-3 start, “Nobody saw this.”  After one of the most impressive two years in college football, let alone MSU, Dantonio and his Spartans now face a different problem.

This program, since the departure of Duffy Daugherty, has had some highs, but many valleys and now they stand on the precipice of moving forward or going back…at least in perception. 

Coach Dantonio has talked a lot since he arrived about changing perception.  To his credit, he and his staff have worked tirelessly all over the state to change it.  Coming into this season he had three stated goals.

1. Win the Big Ten Championship.
2. Win their last game.
3. Show up, compete, and win in big games.

All three are good goals.  All three are goals that this program with its fan support, facilities, and wages that it pays should be there.  #1 is mathematically possible, but won’t happen.  #2 is still viable, and #3 will be determined on Saturday.

I have maintained for many years that this rivalry was not “back” until MSU had won two straight years.  I can’t take credit for that “original” thought that goes to my buddy Jack Ebling.  Regardless of credit it is 100% true.

The Spartans have built up two great years of goodwill.  They have recruited like no tomorrow, and if you had looked at Mark Dantonio’s time up until this season you would say he had done everything right.

Since then, the scene has been brutal and the football has been UGLY!  Poor coaching decisions, lack of adjustments, and sadly, indecisiveness.  What Spartan fans loved (and still love) is the commanding presence of Coach D.  When he took over the flimsy reigns of the struggling ship you could sense his command of the situation.  You knew he got it.  Everything he did was right, it was calculated.  After years of knee jerk, hocus pocus, self-slapping chaos, he was the steady Eddie presence that the Spartan Nation needed and wanted.

Now, we are embarking upon our fifth game of the season with a season on the cusp of spiraling out of control as far as expectations and God forbid, a bowl.  Players that once did well now struggle.  Players that it was safe to expect to at least stay the same, if not get better, haven’t.  The indecisiveness at QB has both of them wondering if they are playing to stay in or win.

Nichol and Cousins are two great young men.  MSU can win with either one.  In fact, it is unfair BY ANYONE to blame the failures of this season on QB.  The offense has not been the issue.  The QB situation, however, has been a symptom of bigger issues, which are inside the program.  This should have been settled.  The debate raging among fans and water coolers is not good.  They will say that players aren’t paying attention, but we all know that is disingenuous and foolish.  They are.  This has now become an issue that should be resolved.

Pick one and ride them.  If a change is necessary you make it and stay with it.  This team needs stability.  This team needs a rudder; a rudder that a QB can give.  I frankly have an opinion, but my choice for the spot doesn’t matter.  The QB is the general, and last season when the fans were frustrated with Brian Hoyer Coach never wavered and that helped this team.

Is it fair to Kirk Cousins to constantly wonder if he needs to pick up a clipboard or a helmet?  How about Keith Nichol?  He said all of the right things on Saturday, but being in Madison and watching him and Kirk on the sidelines, the stress of am I or aren’t I was very evident from the sideline.  Naming one of them your starter doesn’t mean the other can’t play and compete at the starter’s job again next spring?

We now are at game five and we wonder if a RB will step up?  Again, I know that Coach D prefers a two RB system, but the logjam can’t be good.  Last season it was incredibly frustrating that no one stepped up for some relief of Javon, but we heard that although it wasn’t ideal, it allowed him to get in a groove. Now our MULTIPLE RBs’ only groove is the one in the grass from the huddle to the sideline because after nearly every play they are running to the sideline for the next RB to come in.

Practicing on a Sunday, closing practice to the media, rearranging the depth chart are all signs that they are trying.  There is no doubt that the countenance around the Duffy is concern and it should be.

Spartan fans are among the best and most loyal in the nation.  They have for years been mocked for their commitment to a program that has been more often used as a toy for politicians.  They are angry.  Ticket prices were foolishly raised this season and they paid them.  Don’t blame the fans for high hopes.  You use them to raise revenue and they want a return.  They were asked to pay more for this Saturday’s Michigan game, because it is a “Premium” game, yet given no discount for the scrimmage with Montana State. 

The Spartan ticket office made a terrible decision, when after offering additional tickets to donors they opened up the remaining tickets to the general public for the Michigan game.  Really?  A decision that reeks of elitism and disrespect for the rank and file non-caviar and champagne fan.  Season ticket holders, who struggle in this economy to pay for their seats and can’t afford the luxurious “DONOR” seats, weren’t offered extras.  They simply opened them to the public and passed over, once again, the blue-collar fan.  Opening them to the general public that included our friends to the southeast.

Wolverines bought up extra tickets, not from the vilified ticket brokers, but from our beloved University itself.  If they blame season ticket holders for all of the yellow on Saturday, you must remember that they, the ticket office, work for Sparty.

This game on Saturday is the biggest of the Mark Dantonio’s head-coaching career.  I believe in him, win or lose, but this isn’t about people like me who are close to the program needing proof that he is the right guy.  Those close know that he is.

This is about the every day, salt of the earth, blue-collar family that knows that their job, if they still have it, is predicated on working hard every day.  It is about progress.  It is about not taking days off, so if layoffs come, they are seen as the guy or gal that can be depended on.  This game is about saving face.

Coach Dantonio said before the year that this season they had to step up and play and win in big games.  Only God knows if this group will make a bowl game.  Whether they do or not, this is the BIGGEST game of the year.  A win allows them a mulligan for the last three weeks and gives them back some room to grow for the rest of the year.  It allows a poor or fantastic finish to be looked back on after the year and to have a line in the sand game they won.

This game is about this staff, getting guys back on track, giving that one player who hasn’t got a chance that moment.  Mark Dantonio takes great pride (and he should) in the continuity of his staff.  When approached by MSU last year for a raise he immediately wanted to take care of his staff first.  I have been around a lot of football programs and NO ONE treats their staff as good as Mark Dantonio.  He needs them to return that this week.  They have to be better on all sides of the ball.

I will talk more about this on Wednesday, but this game is about a group of kids that have played poorly as a unit, but have NEVER quit.  This is one of those games that this staff has to pick them up and dust them off.  We have all seen games that Izzo has simply willed his team to win.  This needs to be a defining moment in Mark Dantonio’s career; a moment when all around him is struggling and he does what he did the first time he met with his team when he came back as head coach.

He entered the room with a group of young men that had been on an emotional roller coaster.  They didn’t know who to believe or trust.  Coach Dantonio looked them in the eye, proclaimed that in year one (2007) they would go bowling.  He had them at hello.  He fulfilled that promise.

Regardless of the season’s final record, Saturday is one of those moments; defining moments, program building moments.  It will be showing up and winning.  In 2007, the Spartans didn’t even belong on the field at Ohio State.  Somehow, Coach Dantonio kept them close and by a miracle the Spartans even had a shot.  That game defined progress and gave the Spartan Nation hope.

In 2008, a team with no right, and sad to say nowhere near the talent, was playing for a Big Ten title at Happy Valley.  There was a glimpse of the future with them even playing that game and the loss was palatable because of how far he had brought them.  That game defined progress and gave the Spartan Nation hope.

Saturday’s game is his 2009 moment.  Unlike the first two seasons defining moments mentioned above, this years can only come with a win.  A win soothes the last three games’ heartache and paves the road for a rough rest of the season or resurgence.  Saturday is 2009’s moment.  This is the game, that at MSU, careers are made of.  Spartan fans don’t clamor for BCS games every season.  They don’t even ask for a win against UM every year.  They want the rivalry back.  They want respect.  They need this game.  As much as the entire State needed Izzo’s run to Detroit, the Spartan Nation needs Saturday even more.

This is about pride, this is about fight, and this is about Michigan.  It is about every fan that everyday doesn’t work among the green walls, but in the real world.  It is about a game being bigger then life, when life has given people little to smile about.  This game is Pure Michigan…State!

September 25, 2009

Michigan State vs. Wisconsin   Scouting Report and Prediction
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

A look at this week’s opponent…
The Badgers come into this game scoring 35 points a game (31 if you take Wofford out of the equation) and with a 3-0 record.  Not a shock.  They are facing a fumbling issue on their team, but they are tough and on a high with a 3-0 start.  They also know that they are facing a dangerous team.  They can’t afford to do what MSU did with CMU and take a week off.

Brett Bielema is a very good coach and his team will be ready.  This one should  be a barn burner.

When MSU has the ball…
Of course the Spartans will try to establish the run.  That is their main stay.  The Spartan offense has been tremendous under the leadership of Don Treadwell.  They will score their points. 

Look for Treadwell to run a balanced scheme.  I have no concerns about the Spartans scoring points.  Glenn Winston and Larry Caper should be a force and their game fits the Wisconsin type attack very well.  You also can’t rule out Caulton Ray’s ability against this scheme.

I look for a lot of TE work in the play action game and with the WR group having one of their best games against the Irish, I look for them to continue their maturation.

When MSU is on defense…
The Badgers come in with their usual tough attack, the same mirrored by the Spartans.  They will attack the Spartans via the power running game, but they like all of the future Spartan opponents watch film.  The Spartans have been terrible against the pass this season and until they can stop someone, all teams with a brain will attack them through the air.

The Badgers have fumbling issues with their TB Clay and the Spartans front seven, if they can make tackles should be able to create some turnovers.  It is very fair to say that the Spartan defense coming into the season was supposed to lead this team.  It hasn’t.

This is a critical game for the Spartans.  If their defense doesn’t right the ship, their rivalry game with Michigan the following can’t look good.  They Spartans have to remember how to tackle, to stick with their technique and finally, the first person has to make the tackle.  Far too many plays are not being made by the first person to engage an opponent.

They Spartans should expect the power run, but a fine mixture of play action passing.  The deep threat that CMU and ND showed shouldn’t be as dangerous with the Badgers, but other problems will be presented to our guys facing a power scheme.

Intangibles…
To be very frank the defense is not as good as many of us thought it would be.  That is on me.  You trust me to provide good analysis and when it came to our D, I didn’t.  They have been disappointing. 

In my favor, the offense has been better than I thought, but I certainly didn’t project them to be bad at all.

Here is the good news from this team.  These players have worked hard, and there hasn’t been one young man, who is a contributor that I have seen hang his head.  There have been mistakes, but no finger pointing.  There have been lapse in judgments, but you also have others guys, on other sides of the ball standing up for their teammates.

These kids want this win so bad.  With the offense rolling, I can’t imagine the defense being any worse.  At some point they have to improve…at least some.

 

Prediction…
Coming into the season, I said that this game was a wash.  I gave the win in my prediction to the Badgers because of the home field.  The Badgers are not as good as I thought they would be by this game (I have watched all of their games multiple times) but neither are the Spartans.

I do expect MSU to turn the corner and get the season back on track.  The Spartan offense however is much better (and I thought they would be good) and the Badger D isn’t.  The MSU players showed a lot in how they have handled themselves and adversity and I say MSU 31 Wisconsin 30.

September 20, 2009

The Day After…

To say that anyone is pleased in the Spartan Nation right now would be a fallacy.  From everyone inside the football building to everyone outside of it, the Spartan Nation sits this morning frustrated with a football team whose record is 1-2 without a sure “get back on our feet” win left on the schedule.

It is disconcerting.  It is frustrating, but as we always do, win or lose, let’s probe into it.

The Good…

How about the Spartan offense?  Two weeks in a row with enough points to win and maybe, even more importantly, we saw something yesterday. I won’t even address the people who have tried to take the QBs to task.  Whoever you are, you don’t know football.  You are probably the same people who said Hoyer couldn’t play and he is now backing up Tom Brady in New England while getting rave reviews from Belichick.

Both of our QBs looked very good.  The coaching staff had the brakes on them last week and this week they came out without that and look what happens.  I know that Mark Dantonio wants his team to be a run first, but today they went with what the Irish gave and they looked great.

If the Spartans continue to do what they did today and not stay set in their ways, that offense alone should give fans hope for what is ahead.  There are things that can be nit-picked, but when your offense puts up over 450 yards and scores that many points, it is only nit-picking.  I won’t do that.

This unit is VERY young and they are performing at a high level.  Drops are still a concern, but the youth of this explosive group has to give even the most depressed members of the Spartan Nation today hope.

The brakes were off Don Treadwell today, and once again, after a week of finger pointing at him from other people, he shined.  I stood by Treadwell last year when people got angry with the play schemes.  Treadwell calls what he is allowed to call.  He does that.  Today you saw what he can do, and he did it.

This team was on the verge of getting blown out early, and fought back to have a chance to win it.  They played with heart and no quit.  They fought. 

The Bad…

The special teams continue to be a great concern with this team.  I have no worries about Bates or Swenson (place kicking and punts, respectively), but I do with the team’s coverage on punts and coverage on kickoffs.  I can assure you that NO ONE is hurting today like Brett Swenson in a good kick that hit the goalpost.  He did everything right.  This game was not lost on that kick.

Kickoffs have to get deeper into the opponent’s end of the field, and whether it is punts or kickoffs, these units are simply not getting it done.  Missed tackles, poor technique, and assignments are not good.  Mark Dantonio has done a superb job of teaching (rightfully) the Spartan Nation that the punt is the most important play in football.  His team now has to cover them and the kickoffs much better.

Other than Swenson as a place kicker, and Bates’ natural talents with punting you have to recognize the kick return talent of Glenn Winston.  He was masterful and when running lanes weren’t open, he made them by running over people.  That still doesn’t change that our special teams as an entire entity are not good.

The Ugly…

The Spartan Defense.  Awful!  I am shocked to be three years into this regime and writing that.  The front seven couldn’t stop the Irish, who continually ran right at them and gained huge chunks of yardage.  The DBs leave me miffed.  I said before the season that as this unit went so went the season, and we can see after the last two losses that teams are lining up and attacking them with ease and delight.

This unit, continually, makes technique and simple mistakes that have cost them the last two ball games.  Don’t get me wrong, this team wins as a group and loses as a group, but the DBs are the weakest link in the chain.  The front seven have to try to do more to accommodate their mistakes and they are looking worse than they are. 

I have got a lot of email in the last 14 hours since the game ended and a lot of people are saying things like: “Same old Spartans”  “Is John L. Back?”  I think it is fair to look at this defense that we have seen the last two games and ask, “Are we better than we were three years ago?”  It is unfair after the last two games to declare JLS is back.  Mark Dantonio has done a lot in his time here.

He overachieved in his first two years. He has taken us to two bowl games and beaten UM.  If you want to attack him (and I consider is JLS back doing that), considering all he has done off the field with these kids, that is your choice.  You can be disappointed.  You can ask is our defense better than it was three years ago?  Those are all germane and fair.

The people comparing this entire program to where it was when the previous staff was here shows that they are not close to the program, and they also have a lack of perspective of where they were when this group arrived.

The heat is on this defense and the coaches.  They have to fix this.  They have to make the adjustments or teams will continually attack the DBs with ease and turn each game into a 30+-point race (like the JLS years), and that would make no one more miserable that Coach D.

Mark Dantonio warned the Spartan Nation as expectations rose to dramatic levels that this was a rebuilding project and that adversity would come.  When the media voted MSU third in the Big Ten (I didn’t), I said then it was a testament to the faith people had in this staff.

Again, it is fair to ask what has happened to the D.  To be frank, it is one thing to look and see that the right schemes are called.  It is another when poor technique and mistakes are so abundant. 

This is not the same old Spartans.  You saw (especially on D) a lot of mistakes.  You didn’t, however, see guys not trying.  You didn’t see stupid errors (only 6 penalties for 40 yards) and gross personal fouls like you did on Notre Dame.  You saw guys who made the errors playing hard, unlike teams of old.

I want to end with this.  Before Mark Dantonio arrived you saw players who after a loss would joke and play, talk about where the parties were.  This is no revelation, but the DBs were awful yesterday.  As they left they were distraught.  These young men, either, aren’t good enough to play at this level, or simply are trying hard to make plays, but I can attest this to you.  They care.  I saw tears, and I saw personal anger towards themselves.  I saw guys on offense trying to consul the defense and I saw no divisions.  There wasn’t finger pointing as in the days of old.

They win as Spartan, and they lose as Spartans.  They may not be the best in the Big Ten, but one thing I can take, as a guy that walked up the tunnel with them and talked to them as they left, is that for all you “Same old Spartans” crowd, they are a team.  None of them lost their character or integrity.  None of them stopped being a great kid.  Each of them talked about letting you, the fan, down.

Each of those DBs talked about how bad these fans must feel, and that they let you down.  Angry with themselves, they worried about you.  These aren’t the same old Spartans.  They are far from it.  They are a team that has to get better.  They are a team of high quality kids working hard in the classroom and the weight room and on the practice field.  They are a group of kid who didn’t play well yesterday on national TV, but never stopped the fight.

We can debate their play.  That is fair.  We can ask how to fix it, that is relevant.  We can look to coaches and ask the tough questions.  But no one need question this team and their heart.  They are hurting.  They fought tough.  They weren’t good enough and have a lot of work to do, but they are our Spartans.  I am proud that none of them quit.  I am proud, maybe you aren’t close enough to the program to see it, but in just over two years Mark Dantonio and this staff have gathered a team of guys who don’t quit, work hard, and are a team.  That doesn’t equate to a 3-0 record so far, but it does tell me that we are on the right track.

Everyone is down, and there will be a lot of tough questions to answer.  That is fair.  I also can attest that we have a team of great kids and a head coach who won’t let them show up on Saturday and quit.  We are all disappointed.  We are all frustrated.  Let’s keep it there and not directed at a group of kids who fought and did their best.  Make no mistakes it wasn’t good enough and, ultimately, kids and coaches are judged on wins and losses.

There are nine games to fix this.  It must get done.  Unlike before, however, we have a team and staff with the mentality to fix it and the integrity to point fingers at themselves rather than others.  After the third game of a major rebuilding project in year three, I am frustrated.  I also have hope and can see a strong foundation.  That is nothing like the past.  It isn’t sexy, but it is substantive and I can live with that, even if I don’t like it.

You can watch all of the Spartan and Irish post game videos of both the press conferences and inside the locker room when you go to SpartanNation.com and click on the Hondo’s House ICON on the left.  All of them are 100% FREE.

September 14, 2009

A Final Look Back at MSU vs. CMU
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

There is no doubt that all the games on the schedule count one.  After last year’s UM win, Mark  Dantonio echoed those words, first made famous in the Spartan Nation by George Perles, to anyone who would listen.

After Saturday we can all breathe a sigh of relief that it is true.  When the season started I said that this was an 8-4 or 10-2 depending on how some groups stepped up.  I said that I would split the difference and go 9-3.  I still stand by that.  Coming into the season I saw Ill, Wiscy, and PSU as losses.  If the Spartans were to pick up one of those or grab an upset of PSU, wouldn’t Saturday’s loss still hurt, but be much more palatable?

Sadly, my job of watching the film was much more a job since Saturday.  I have seen the game multiple times, spoken to players and coaches, and here are some thoughts.  After this we move on to Notre Dame; I promise.  I usually point out players or certain plays, but to be frank the game was so bad, I will simply address each of the three parts of the game.

On Offense…

 

The Spartan offense scored 27 points.  In a four-quarter game that is more than ample to win a game.  You can’t fault them for that.  However, there were some glaring issues that they could have corrected and should have to push that number higher.

Not allowing their QB to audible out of situations in which called plays are certain failures is unacceptable.  It sends a message to your players, the fans, and the media that you don’t trust them to make the right one.  I know, for a fact, that they do trust them so take off the brakes and let them win. 

Nick Saban said, after he had been at LSU for two seasons, that he had learned not to play so conservatively.  This staff has had to be conservative to survive.  The fans complained, but there is no doubt that they wouldn’t have had the success they did in the first two seasons by not playing that way.  Teams know that now.  Montana State and CMU both loaded the box expecting the Spartans to try to impose their will.  They didn’t.  They have to adjust their game plan.

Jim Tressel is well known for scouting himself, having his DC look at the play of the offense and his OC looking at his defense.  He always tries to chart his tendencies.  Coach Dantonio has learned from him.  The MSU offense (started last year) continually has their best success on the left, but run far more to the right.  Saturday was so frustrating because they continued to run right when their best runs came from the left.  They have to look at this tendency and fix it.

The Spartans have a very large playbook.  Only a minimal amount was used on Saturday.  I have been asked many times if they were “saving” it for ND.  Well, if they were, they just lost to a MAC team.  I understand about saving the playbook.  I agree with it, but when what you are running isn’t working you have to open it up.  The CMU defense had no answer for the TE attack. 
I know for a fact that the Chips coming into the game were incredibly fearful that if they had to blitz and load the box the Spartans would kill them with the TEs.
CMU was SHOCKED that MSU didn’t try to attack with bubble screens and the TEs when they loaded up.  So was I.  The Spartan offense has been shown for two years.  People know everything that they have done in those two years.  You have to make adjustments.

One member of the CMU football family told me after the game, “I can’t believe that they didn’t use their TEs.  No option, no screens?”  It wasn’t Coach Jones, but the Chips walked away from Spartan Stadium thankful for the help the Spartans gave them for the win.

Lastly, CMU was surprised that the limited times the Spartans attacked downfield they had success and didn’t “stretch” the field more often.  Not always receptions, some were dropped and some overthrown, but they were always there.  The Chips’ shock was that the Spartans didn’t keep going back at it.  Again, it didn’t work so they moved away from it.  You can’t draw back your attack when it doesn’t work.  It was there; they needed to stick to it more than they did.

The unit scored 27 points, had over 300 yards of offense, and no turnovers.  It isn’t the players’ fault they couldn’t audible or the playbook didn’t get opened. 

Special Teams…

 

Aaron Bates is the best punter in the Big Ten.  Not even room for debate.  Sadly, when it doesn’t get downed this team has to stop them.  Bates can’t kick it and make the tackle.  The punt coverage team was not good.

Brett Swenson is the best place kicker in the Big Ten.  There is nothing else to say, he makes his kicks.

Kickoffs are struggling.  Swenson and Conroy have to figure out how to get it into the end zone or get a better hang time to keep teams pinned back.  If they can’t and IF Muma can, they have to look at burning a red shirt.  It is early and that is a far too important part of the game to ignore while you try to red shirt a kicker.  IF Muma can, and Swenson and Conroy don’t, fix it.

The Special teams had a bad day to be nice.  Swenson, as a place kicker, and Bates are what we said they were, the best in the Big Eleven.

Defense…

 

When you watch the film, on multiple occasions, you saw the right scheme called.  Narduzzi can’t make plays.  With that said, the Spartans backed off of the blitz and were dazed with the Chips hurry up.  The Chip squad was shocked that the Spartans backed off the blitz and saw that as one of their keys to winning.  This was one of the worst performances of the team and the coaches since the new staff arrived.  The Chips didn’t do anything new or special against MSU.  Everything they did the Spartan staff had all summer to watch and plan for.  By the defensive staff being taken back, that is on them.

There is no shame to struggling against a good offense like the Chips, MAC or not.  There is something wrong with being caught off guard and not recovering, as well as a failure to adapt and make the necessary adjustments.

We saw missed tackles and poor technique the entire game.  This unit needs a kick in the rear.  I expected this performance in year one, not three.  This is a team that is still rebuilding so I don’t expect perfection.  This is a team in year three of that rebuilding and I didn’t expect this.  Coach Narduzzi isn’t a good coach; he is a great coach.  He will fix this.  I am glad he leads the Spartans D and I trust him.  This was his and his unit’s worst performance in 28.  He deserves the benefit of the doubt and I give it to him.

You saw the power of the audible when Dan Lefevour did that almost every play and even Coach D addressed that when he did. The Spartans didn’t “check out” of what they had called.  The Spartan defensive performance, from the coaches on down, was a failure on Saturday.

I have never seen a coach, a businessman, or any human who is perfect.  Although John Smoltz was my wife’s fourth grade boyfriend at St. Gerard’s and I am always reminded of how, “Johnny was such a great guy,” and I am told he was and is perfect.  These coaches had a bad game.  They will recover.  It is unfair for the imperfect to demand it.  If it becomes the rule as it did under the previous two MSU coaches, then we have a problem.  It isn’t and hasn’t.  Relax folks.

This was a bad game.  I fully expect the team to be ready for Notre Dame.  The Spartans can beat the Irish.  I will wait until later in the week to see how the Spartans are dealing with it to make a prediction.

A bad game doesn’t destroy a program or ruin it.  The fans have every right, as the coaches and players do, to be down.  They will show the Spartan Nation a lot this weekend.  Again, I am not predicting a win or not yet, I am saying that we WILL NOT see a repeat of last Saturday this Saturday.  I can assure you of that.

The Fans…

 

I have not hid the fact that I am close to Butch Jones.  I am proud to be his friend.  I can tell you that he was shaken by the boos that reigned down on his team after the game on Saturday as his team went to the center of the field to gather, hold hands, and offer a prayer.  The Chips do it after every game win or lose.

Butch approached me after the game when Mark Dantonio was still in the locker room and asked me to tell Mark that it was a prayer and that it was in no way disrespectful.  I passed it on to Coach D and Butch actually talked to him about it later.  I was disappointed in a student section that is among the nation’s best. 

There are a lot of things about this game that can be said.  We could have filled pages with critique and criticism.  It is best to just call this an exception and not the rule.  If the Spartans don’t recover then I think the meltdowns among the fan base are germane.  This team will be ready.  This team will fight.

I personally find the meltdowns of the fans offensive.  These are not the same old Spartans.  Anyone who says it hasn’t been watching this team for the previous 27 games to this one.  This stunk.  It was bad. 

A reason for hope?

 

As I stood on the field after the game, I felt the same sick feeling I had in 2003.  Louisiana Tech had come to MSU and the team had performed as bad as they did Saturday.  So what is the reason for hope?  They then went down to South Bend and won. 

Divine Intervention…

 

I have always tried at Spartan Nation to tell the story behind the story. Butch Jones’ tremendous win on Saturday had a magical moment, and I want share with you a personal moment he and I shared as he hugged me on the field afterwards.  I got a lot of email ripping me for my friend and I hugging on the field after the game.  I don’t care, but here is why.

As Jones walked off the field, he came over to me and gave me a hug as tears poured down his cheeks.  He showed me something in his hand.  I have shared with the members of Spartan Nation that a few weeks ago his father passed.  Butch and his father were very close.  Butch’s players had taken from his office his father’s final hospital wristband that he had removed after his father passed. 

Butch shared with me that as they lined up for the onside kick, the players held the wristband up and declared this one was for his dad.  Butch’s raw emotion that he displayed with me, as a friend and not a member of the media, was more for the gratitude of his players somehow allowing him to share that moment with his deceased father. 

Butch Jones is a class act.  He and Mark Dantonio run completely opposite schemes but are nearly identical in character and integrity that define both men.  I am proud to be both of their friends.  I certainly didn’t want a CMU win, but if one had to come, it couldn’t have been to a higher class of person than Butch Jones.  Hats off to you Butch.

Hyde the women and Children…

 

In the 3rd quarter with 2:20 to go, the Chips had a 2nd and 10 and Marcus Hyde got a 15-yard penalty for a helmet-to-helmet hit on the play.  I was watching the game on my binoculars and as soon as the hit came I said to those sitting next to me in the press box that it was a penalty.  Mark Dantonio disagreed with me, but it was.  It was helmet-to-helmet.  With all that is being done to protect players and all the warnings about leading with your helmet, it was a dumb play on a player already down, but lying on top of your guy.  Good call.

The one man more down than the Spartan Nation?

So you think the Spartan Nation is down?  How about billionaire T. Boone Pickens?  He gives hundreds of millions of dollars to Oklahoma State, and they are rated in the top five of the country and take a loss to the Houston Cougars!  Ouch!

September 13, 2009

Michigan State vs. CMU:  A Tale of Two Teams
By Hondo S. Carpenter, Sr.
Editor and Publisher of www.SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine.

Saturday the sacred cathedral of the Spartan Nation, Spartan Stadium, became home to the most disappointing loss to the Mark Dantonio era.  One team came in with a superb game plan, expertly coached, young and hungry.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the Spartans. 

First, let me congratulate the Chippewas on a tremendous game plan, terrific adjustments, and a great win.  My following comments do not in any way take away or disrespect their win.  To say it nicely, the Spartans had the worse loss of the Mark Dantonio era; maybe not by the sheer amount of points they lost by, but by the fact that they looked undisciplined, lackadaisical, and quite frankly, many of them acted like they didn’t even want to be there. 

I mentioned to readers of the Phalanx Forum that there was something that happened at the end of the third quarter that I would elaborate on in this article and here it is.  At the end of the third quarter the Spartans dropped their heads and walked to the other end of the field.  Remember at that point the Spartans were in the lead.  They acted as if they would rather be anyplace else besides on that field.  The Chippewa players, collectively, all sprinted to the other end and when they got there jumped into the air wildly into each others’ bodies fired up with the enthusiasm of a 5th grader and his friends ready for a pick up game after school.  It was at that moment that what we had been sensing for three quarters had manifested it. 

The Spartans expected the Chippewas to roll over because they were facing the mighty Spartans.  Unfortunately for the Spartan Nation, the Chippewas either didn’t get the message or, quite frankly, didn’t care.  They could sense their opponent was not ready for a fight and they were.  In sports, euphemisms can be overused, but this one was true at that moment.  The Chippewas were hungry and they could smell blood in the water. 

There are a lot of reasons why the Spartans lost Saturday.  Pat Narduzzi admitted the staff was out coached and they were.  The unforced and undisciplined penalties and mistakes were inexcusable and many other areas of concern came to light. Those will be discussed in detail in my final analysis that will come Sunday after watching the tape many times. 

Mark Dantonio and this staff certainly are not bad coaches, although they had a bad game.  The players are not bad kids or athletes, but they had a bad game.  The sky is not falling on Spartan football.  I have said many times since the conclusion of the 2008 season that Mark Dantonio was doing a tremendous job rebuilding the program, but that it certainly is not a completed project. 

Coach Dantonio echoed my warnings that adversity would come and that this program was not complete.  He was right.  That is O.K.  The Spartan faithful have never asked for perfection from a leader.  This fan base is intelligent and understands how far we have come and have to go.  Today was not continued progress.  Today was a loss that they shouldn’t have had.

This was only the second game since the arrival of the new staff where they truly lost a game they should have won (NW in 07 the other).  This was the first game since the arrival of the new staff that the players have played collectively undisciplined, uninterested, and disrespecting of their opponent.  I took a lot of criticism when I said prior to this season in the magazine that regardless of what people thought this is not a Big Ten championship team.  I stand by that.  I also said that it is a good football team, and I still stand by that. 

Mark Dantonio is not building for the 2009 Big Ten championship.  He is building for the future and for many years to come. 

Today was a disappointment.  Today every member of the Spartan Nation should be frustrated, but today is not the end of a program and certainly nothing that should cause the fans to lose faith in our leader. 

I pressed Offensive Coordinator Don Treadwell after the game for the failure of his quarterbacks to audibalize when power-running plays were called and the Chippewas had stacked the box.  I even followed up my original question and he made it clear that when runs were called the quarterbacks were not allowed to overrule it.  Therefore, when Keith Nichol or Kirk Cousins stepped to the line of scrimmage with 8 or 9 Chippewas drooling and praying for a run it is not the fault of young quarterbacks that they are not empowered to fix an obviously correctable situation.

I will ask Dantonio on Sunday if the decision to empower the quarterbacks to audibalize is his or Treadwell’s, but clearly it is not the fault of our young gunslingers and that error rests on this staff alone. 

I can understand the argument that you don’t want young players to get overwhelmed.  I also understand that this is Big Time football and why a QB competing for a starting spot can’t actually call a bubble screen, slant pass, option or pitch out when the opponent clearly is expecting the power run with the box stacked, bewilders me.  How can you have a QB competition if they are not allowed to compete?

I can truthfully say I don’t put this loss on Don Treadwell and the offense alone.  27 points and 0 turnovers along with 316 yards of offense is plenty to win you every game.  We must not forget critical penalties, poor passes, and dropped balls certainly contributed.  Defensively, mental mistakes, poor technique, and simply being out hustled are not key components to victory.  On defense, the Spartans had a good game plan.  They simply failed to execute it. 

I’ll never forget when my daughter came home from school after her first day of kindergarten.  She looked up at me with her beautiful blue eyes upset after her first day of school.  When I asked my little princess how in the world she could be upset after only one day of school her answer was simple. “Daddy, I don’t have a good teacher.  I can’t read yet.”  My daughter, now, is an honor student in high school.  Obviously, her kindergarten teacher and all those she has had since have been excellent, but there has been a learning curve.  There is one also in this program.  Coach D warned us that there would be days like this and he was right.

I will get in much more detail and analysis with both sides of the ball, special teams, along with individuals, and coaching staff later in my Sunday column, but for now it is fair to be disappointed.  It’s not only legitimate but it’s fair.  If the problems we saw exposed today continue, then certainly this would be elevated to more that just a disappointing experience. 

There is nothing wrong losing a football game to a well-coached good team.  There is something wrong with it, however, when the effort by both coaches and players doesn’t match that of your opponent.  There are 10 more games left in this season.  A loss to CMU can be forgotten with a big win over a team that maybe we shouldn’t have beaten, like a Penn State or a bowl game.  This one stings.  This one hurts.  This one is frustrating.  This one, however, doesn’t ruin a program, ruin a season, or change a simple fact. Unlike before, we have a tremendous head coach who we know will fix the problem. 

I respect the man who is building this program and the staff and players he has brought in to do it.  It doesn’t change the facts and those are simple.  This loss in year three is unacceptable.  This loss can’t and shouldn’t happen.  This loss came to a program whose facilities are so far below what MSU has that their coaches’ wives considered running a hot dog stand at their spring game to raise money for a cold tub.  A cold tub. 

I for one have great confidence in the direction of Spartan football.  I have great confidence in the man trusted to lead it.  I also think that this was a disappointing performance.  Those happen when a team is rebuilding.  Those happen when a team is in the rebuilding process.  This was Coach Dantonio’s 27th game at the helm of Spartan football.  The years before he came were littered with losses like this.  This was his first.  He deserves a mulligan while rebuilding.

That doesn’t mean that players, schemes and perhaps strategies were exposed today.  They have to be fixed.  If your QB at MSU is unable to see a box stacked and not know running up the middle or off tackle is a sure fire failure, then your QB shouldn’t be here. 

I was at Dan Lefevour’s first game.  He has grown into what he is today.  He has called audibles and changed plays since that first game.  This isn’t a season we win the Big Ten.  Why not let our sophomores grow into what Lefevour has been for three seasons by trusting them?

Nichol and Cousin are not true freshman.  Stretch the field.  Call audibles and let your horses run.  If you have to burn a red shirt to bench a player and send a message that people who continually make mistakes get benched, you do it.  I would rather a young player make a mistake out of zeal, then an older player continue to make them and be rewarded with more playing time. 

I am not worried.  I am not in any way concerned about these men or the future.  They will fix this. This is a good staff.  Like their players they have to get better and improve.  You play the game to win.  You do not play to not lose.  The coaches and players having fun on Saturday were not ours.  The coaches and players going for the W and not playing not to lose wasn’t ours.

Sadly the hungry team with a fire and a zeal that was thrilled to play in a big time stadium on national TV wasn’t our team.  Sadly the coaching staff taking the risks and rolling the dice to win the game was not ours.  Sadly this was a loss.

Life is full of bad performances for all of us.  Let’s just fix it and move on.  A win Saturday in South Bend goes along way to heal this wound and a victory over Wisconsin and UM washes it away.

Please remember to go to www.SpartanNation.com and click on the Hondo’s House ICON on the left side to watch hundreds of videos from all of Spartan Sport for free!

September 11, 2009

Michigan State vs. Central Michigan University
Scouting Report and Prediction
By Hondo S. Carpenter Sr.
Editor and Publisher SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

A look at this week’s opponent…

The Chips are led by one of the best young coaches in the nation.  Butch Jones has taken, what many agree, was a good job of coaching by the former head coach Brian Kelly, and done a far better job than Kelly ever could.  On and off the field Jones has done a superb job and clearly will have his pick of jobs in the future should he choose to leave Mount Pleasant.

Jones’ mentor, as far as system, is UM head coach Rich M ROD Rodriguez. Similar to M Rod, people mistakenly categorize his offense as a pass happy spread.  Neither are.  Jones would much rather see his star QB Dan Lefevour run the ball rather than throw.  Jones may have a spread system, but he is a grind it out hard-core old school coach.

In the spirit of full disclosure, Jones is a close friend and I admire his character as a coach, but even more as a father, husband, and man. He took a CMU program that had been through tough times, both in how the school and their former coach treated them, and held it together and rebuilt it.

Last season Jones had my vote as college coach of the year.  With a startling amount of injuries, he just kept playing.  He moved guys from positions where two, three, and four guys had been injured to positions they had never played before.  Even with that, Jones led them to another bowl and yet again an amazing record.

Jones has better players in Mt. Pleasant that some Big Ten schools, and he has proven to be an amazing recruiter and more importantly, a great developer of talent.  Very few schools can go get the complete marquee player, great coaches nowadays are made in who can develop talent.  Jones has a keen eye for it like the Spartan Nation’s Mark Dantonio.  In fact, their schemes may be different, but both men’s commitment to faith, family and football make them near mirror images of how they run their programs and conduct themselves.

CMU has a very good football program despite a lack of what I feel is a commitment to it from the athletic hierarchy.  That is a testament to Jones who literally is cutting his teeth doing so much that is far beyond what should be required a coach of his stature.  Look for Jones stature as a premier coach to only get better if a school could pry him from Mt. Pleasant as he would almost most assuredly go to a school with a better commitment to football at the administrative level.

The Chips are very young, but Jones has had them all over the country from between the hedges in Athens, Georgia last year against the #1 Bulldogs to Arizona earlier this year.  Jones’ teams are solid, disciplined and committed to toughness and they will not beat themselves in Spartan Stadium on Saturday.

When MSU has the ball…

The Chips defense will attack the Spartans. They are fast. They are not the most physical defensive line in the nation and will be able to overpower the Spartan OL.  If the Chips can get a pass rush without blitzing in Saturday they not only can beat MSU, but they will.  That is a big if and I am convinced that they can’t.

The Spartans last week used a very bland and vanilla game plan.  I was shocked, and at times angry at Spartan fans that filled my inbox with complaints like this:

Hondo
I walked out of Spartan Stadium disappointed on Saturday.  Our offense looked stale and predictable with almost no running game.
Max

Unfortunately, Max’s email was not the exception.  First, I would say that anyone who wanted to see MSU run more of a scheme doesn’t know football.  Why show your hand?  If the Spartans can get a good lead early this week be prepared for blander.  Why show your arsenal if it isn’t needed?  Why give Notre Dame more tape to look at showing more of your weapons?

Second, I have to hold back laughter at anyone critical of the Spartan rushing attack.  The Bobcats put eight and at times NINE men in the box to force the Spartans to pass (and they did for 318 yards and FIVE TDs) and take away a Dantonio staple which is running.  Even with the critics they ran the ball with a multitude of backs for 175 yards on 40 carries for a 4.4 average.  Last year Javon would have gotten all the carries and Spartans would have walked away singing his Heisman praises.  Here is a hint, a 4.4 average is better than Javon had (4.0 last year) and was a great performance.

The Spartan receivers dropped eight passes and had two more that weren’t drops, but fell to the ground incomplete when the receiver ran the wrong route.  In fairness, both passers had two bad passes.  This week will be a good one to see how the dropped pass soap opera either gets fixed or at least addressed.

This week I expect the Spartans to put more runs specifically geared towards the QB to be installed in the game plan.  That should lean towards the strengths of Keith Nichol, but that advantage for him is slight, as Cousins will surprise some people with his running talents also.  Again, if the Spartans can create some separation early this could all be thrown out, as the Spartans would again want to hunker down on a lead and revert back to last week’s game plan.

This game comes down to the line of scrimmage.  I don’t see the Chips having the manpower, as young as they are, being able to stop the Spartans.  They will have no choice if the Spartans run more with the QBs and that will open the passing game and when that happens this one is over.

 

When MSU is on defense…

The Spartans are going to attack Lefevour.  He is a great QB, but if he has a kryptonite it is being “forced” into decisions.  Arizona last week used speed to make him make mistakes.  He has a lightning quick release and a brain like a mensa super star. They have to make him not use that brain.  They have to have pressure on him and to punish him physically.  When he runs they have to use their aggressive attack to hit him hard.  I have only seen it once with Lefevour, but when he gets pummeled physically he will think twice about tucking the ball and running.

Like any good football team you have to stop the run.  Lefevour is way too good to be shut out.  He will make throws and he will score points.  The secret is to keep a relentless attack.  I look for more of last year’s “chaos” attack where Narduzzi goes with no down lineman, and I look for Greg Jones to spend more time in the Chip backfield and on Lefevour than the back judge.

The Spartans will use a lot of the “Viper” formation, which is a 3-4 scheme and should get Adam Decker a lot of time as an outside DE.  I look for CMU to try to avoid Greg Jones, and Decker should have a monster game.

The Spartans have no problem winning this game if they stop the run and get enough pressure on Lefevour.  They will, but the Chips will make a valiant effort.  This will be a very good football game, but in the end the Chips will not have the horses to win this race.

 

Intangibles…

There are three for this game.

1. Butch Jones has added to his staff this year former Spartan DL coach Steve Stripling. Stripling angered many Spartan fans when he jumped ship early in the JLS reign for UM.  Many saw it as a slap in the face of the Spartan Nation (I agree) as he jumped for what he thought was a better opportunity. How is that choice working out for you coach?  Stripling is a good coach, but certainly is not a hero in East Lansing.  I know, for a fact, that there are a lot of people in the program that took his jumping ship to an archrival as a big slap in the face of the Spartan Nation and are reminding people of his act of betrayal.
2. George Perles lost to CMU twice and told me, “It is very difficult when you play these games.  All of those kids wanted to come to MSU and are so fired up and motivated that this is a real tough game and the records get thrown out for that fight.”  The Chips have 52 players from Michigan and 15 others from Big Ten states.  All of them think they should be here and you know that is extra motivation.
3. The Spartans cannot play sloppy or undisciplined and win this game.  Coach Dantonio has them ready, but it still is a concern with so many young players.  Remember the rule of five.  If MSU wins that, this game is over.  For those who don’t remember it, it has to do with sacks and turnovers.  If the Spartan have three sacks and gives up two that means they are plus one.  If they then get four turnovers and give up only one that means they are plus three.  That would give them a plus four for the day.  They want to get to a plus five ratio at least every game.

Prediction…

I look for the Spartans to establish the run forcing the Chips to have to move more men in the box and the Spartans then pulling away.  The Chips, however, need to keep it close and get into the fourth quarter so their star QB Dan Lefevour can work his magic.

Coach Jones will have a great game plan, but not the horses to win this fight.  Make it MSU 31 and CMU 14.

Remember this readers.  At www.SpartanNation.com we have hundreds of videos including all of the interviews with players and coaches before the game and after from the locker room and all of our content is 100% free.  See you there!

September 8, 2009

MSU vs. Montana State Post Game Analysis
By Hondo S. Carpenter Sr.

MSU vs. Montana State Post Game News, Notes, and Analysis
Although I am exhausted, I have watched and re-watched the game multiple times and have come away with these thoughts.  Now you can read them and I can go to bed.
 Offense:

•  QBs  I think you had to be pleased with both QBs.  I don’t think either one did anything to hurt themselves.  In fact, after watching the game multiple times I did find this interesting.  Both of them threw two bad passes, a more than acceptable problem as no on can be perfect. 
• WRs  The frustrating thing is that again both of the quarterbacks had four great passes dropped.  That means out of the 35 total passes MSU made yesterday, only four were badly thrown and eight were catchable balls that were simply dropped and here is another stat.  Two of the balls that were not deemed catchable and NOT called poorly thrown were when the receiver ran the wrong route and the QB threw to an exact spot and the WR was not there.  Great day for Blair White who would get an A, but as a unit, when 29% of the passes thrown are drops and missed by bad routes, you can’t call that a success.
• RBs  What can you say about Caulton Ray?  Clearly an A performance.  He showed balance and a great ability to keep it.  He showed great technique and one thing that will please his QBs and coaches was him picking up the blitz and pass blocking.  Some will look at his under 100 yard performance and think how this could be an A.  They had a lot of other backs get reps and I don’t mean the mop up duty at the end.  Caper and Baker both got reps that Javon would have gotten alone last year.  Great day for Caulton.   Rock Baker looked good at times, but remember that he is a true freshman.  He won’t play much if he doesn’t secure the ball.  He almost lost it on more than one occasion and had the sideline bail him out.  I am not worried at all.  He is very young and will fix that.  He is a fast and good player and it was nice to see him out there.  Caper is also very complete. You saw glances on Saturday of how he can plant his foot and go.  He and Baker will be very good, but Ray showed us on Saturday with a tremendous performance that he isn’t going to lie down.  He, at this point, is clearly the #1 guy.
• Cousins’ Vision  Kirk Cousins showed something that I am unsure how many of you caught, but it was impressive.  In a 3rd and 10 with 1:23 to go in the 1st Q he looked to his third receiver before throwing the ball for the amazing first down.  He has very good vision.  At times, he can flash an incredible pocket patience that Spartans would have to think way back to find another QB that possessed it.  That patience was not always on display, but that could be better attributed to youth and the butterflies of a first start.
• Nichol’s Ability to Stretch  On Dion Sims 2nd Q TD, Keith had pressure and moved out of the pocket, stretching it.  In the past (read my spring game analysis) he would have took off running, he felt that he had eluded the rush and had a perfect pass.  That great ability to move away and buy time is gigantic.  At this level, everyone can rush, but NO ONE can cover all the receivers for a long time.  That impressed me.
• Caulton Ray Shows Off  I already eluded to his A game, but here are a couple of evaluations that impressed me.  He attacks the hole.  He would consistently get the ball and almost immediately be at full speed and attacking what looked to be a blocked line of scrimmage.  He still attacked it and when the hole opened at the last second he was there to take advantage of it.  He showed a lot of maturity.  A lot of young backs would try to cut away, and he didn’t.  His balance and kamikaze attacking had to make some coaches smile.
• Sims  He is only a TRUE freshman, so he gets a pass on some technique issues, just like Baker and Caper, but Sims did something more than catching a TD to impress me.  On a 3rd and 2 in the second quarter with 12:32 to go, he made two big blocks in a tight space.  The Spartans didn’t get the first down, but what he did was make the first and second block.  In a tight space that was amazing.  He still has a way to go, but that showed a flash of great talent and what the future holds for this amazing athlete.

Special Teams

• Swenson  Of course, Swenson showed us what we already knew.  He is Mr. Reliable.  He can do it all.  He is the steady Eddie and is what most team’s dream of when it comes to a kicker.  He just does his job with no drama.  He is so humble and so good at his job that it can simply deflect attention from himself.  He is such a great asset to this program.
• Keshawn Martin  He is very young and very talented.  He was given a true spot of honor with this staff when he was selected to return punts.  He was, however, too indecisive when returning them and on two occasions had poor technique that could have really cost the Spartans.  On one punt he fair caught the ball, misread it, and had to catch it while leaning back.  He could have easily missed that ball and, with Bobcats all around him, given up a huge play.  You square your body and catch the ball, not reach back.  Again, he is new to this and young, but his indecisiveness with running and the previous mentioned play are concerns.  There was another one that he made a mental mistake on.  He couldn’t get to a ball on a punt return so it bounced near him.  When you can’t get to the ball and it is going to bounce like that you get away from it.  The oblong ellipsoid that we call a football bounces in a lot of weird ways and when you can’t get it, you get away.  If it bounced and hit him or a teammate that was Bobcat ball.  At the 7:06 mark of the 2Q, Keshawn let the ball bounce at the five and into the end zone.  Not a problem.  A punt returner lets balls inside the ten go.  The problem is, again, poor technique.  He has to sell that he is making the fair catch.  He has to waive his hand high, move up to the twelve or thirteen yard line and pull defenders away from the bouncing ball trying to avoid them downing it inside the ten.  Luckily the Bobcat special teams were not good and they didn’t get the ball downed.  Luck lasted one week, because we don’t play Indiana and every other team on our schedule would have downed it at the three.
• Forget Sportscenter  In the 2nd Q, Kendell Davis-Clark (KDC) had a chance to make a great tackle; instead he went for the Sportscenter hit and didn’t get a tackle.  That was not good and will surely get some attention in film session.
• Aaron Bates  He is good.  Enough said. 
• Dan Conroy  Readers of Spartan Nation were not shocked to hear his name ringing throughout the high cathedral of the Spartan Nation on Saturday.  He has worked so hard and did a very good job kicking off.  He also hit a field goal while he had to have butterflies in his belly.  It was a great day for the young Conroy.
• WWE in the High Cathedral?  Rocco Cironi and Joel Foreman looked like Hawk and Animal in the WWE yesterday.  They abused the Bobcats and, at times, it looked like they were playing pinball with the bobcat OL.
• Don’t do that!  It certainly had to be a terrible lay off for Rocco Cironi being out all spring. He had a very good game for the Spartans, but as a fifth year senior he also had a big mistake that didn’t hurt the Spartans this week, but could later in the year.  In 2nd Q, 1st and ten for the Spartans, when the play was over he kept pushing and stepped over the line on the play after the whistle.  The NCAA is watching extra curricular play this season close.  If the game had been closer he would have gotten a flag.  Rocco knows better and even though this is a violent game, you can’t make dumb penalties.  He got away with one, and knowing him, as I do, I don’t think it will remain an issue, but it is one to point out.

 

Defense

• Chris L. Ruckered  I have sung the praises of this young and talented CB for some time.  He received two pass interference penalties on Saturday that were both a joke.  Neither of them warranted a flag.  He showed something, however, that was very impressive.  He knew both calls were a joke and he didn’t stop being aggressive.  He kept playing hard.  In that case, most CBs would back off thus giving the offense an advantage to attack.  It was not an option on Saturday as he kept playing hard and is by far an elite CB.
• Marcus Hyde  We have already talked about guys going for the Sportscenter hit in special teams and we will have more coming up in a moment, but how about the Anti Sportscenter boring tackle.  Marcus Hyde made man open field and textbook boring tackles that his coaches love.  Hyde simply did his job.  It was fun to watch him and it will allow Coach Narduzzi to reach in to his magical bags of tricks as the season progresses and make some interesting schemes knowing Hyde can be put on a island with a guy or a spot of the field and be trusted to make the play.  Marcus, your plays may not make Sportscenter, but they will buy you more time and trust and those are priceless.
• Jeremy Ware  As a senior, you expect those players to make the right plays a far superior amount of time.  Two plays within seconds of each other by senior Jeremy Ware will be frustrating and exciting.  The good.  In the 1st Q with the Bobcats pressuring, he stepped up after a big mistake (I will profile that next) and his coverage broke up a big play.  The bad.  A few plays before that with 5:17 to go in the 1st Q at the MSU 42 he hit the receiver looking for a Sportscenter hit and he didn’t go down.  Thankfully, Jon Misch came over and made the textbook tackle.  For a senior starter, that won’t go over good.  Another play one quarter later was also disturbing.  In the 2nd Q with the Bobcats facing a 1st and ten at their own 19 the play came to him. He, again, went for a Sportscenter hit and because of his mistake they gained 13 yards instead of what would have been only five.  The schedule gets a lot better now and those mistakes keep drives alive and cost games.
• Rolf Roars  David Rolf made a big play and the youngster showed a flash.  In the 2nd Q with a 1st and 15 with 14:45 to go at the Montana 34, he shed a great block, stepped up, and made a big play.  Those flashes show why he was moved to his hand on the ground and why he will be a great talent as he continues to take advantage of these reps.
• Rod Jenrette  Jenrette will get the chance to continue to do what he does and that is make plays.  He had a couple of mental errors, but with being away from the game for a year, that was expected.  Overall, he had a good game.
• Ish  Ishmyl Johnson had a very good game when he got reps. He had a great play in the 2Q when he was playing the 0 technique.  He stood the center right straight up with his overwhelming power and great technique.  He single-handedly took control of the OL.  That was a truly great play.
• Hoover  Again, he took advantage of his reps. He has some things to learn, but he showed that he is growing into his spot with some very good reads.
• Norman  It is amazing how this staff is using him like they did Jones.  They put him in situations where they only asked him to do one thing until late in the game.  He was very good in his specials, but in one play early in the game, the Montana State QB got the ball away, but Norman sawed him in half.
• Jerel Worthy  Readers of Spartan Nation and, more specifically, members of the Phalanx Forum knew that even though the public depth chart said Kevin Pickleman would start, we informed them early in the week that Worthy would and Pickleman wouldn’t play.  Jerel is young and certainly isn’t polished, but you saw a young man that can make some plays.  To borrow an NFL term, that young man has huge upside.

 

Game Balls and Grades

• Coach D had his team ready and hungry.  He was able to get a lot of players on tape and get experience.  Most impressive, he had a chance to score again at the end and worked the clock to zero.  The Spartan Nation loves him, and his peers respect him. A
• Narduzzi has a superb game plan and played so many guys all over the field. A
• Treadwell didn’t show much, which is a plus and still had an offense that put up 44.  A
• Blair White: A
• Greg Jones: A
• Danny Fortener: A
• Adam Decker played hard and even put his hand on the ground.  A
• Aaron Bates: A
• Alex Shackleton, Mr. Consistency, lived up to his name. A
• Joel Foreman: A+
• Brett Swenson: A
• Dan Conroy lived his dream and earned it.  He didn’t have it given to him.  He could be this year’s Blair White inspirational story.  A
• Chris L. Rucker, Superb player:  A
• Rod Jenrette played through personal adversity to play the game he loved.  A
• Caulton Ray: Cream rises to the top and yes he can run, but the little things earned him an A.
• Fans; Large, loud and in charge:  A
• Trenton Robinson played hard and disciplined.  A

 

 

September 4, 2009

Michigan State vs. Montana State Scouting Report and Prediction  
By Hondo S. Carpenter Sr  
Editor SpartanNation.com and Spartan Nation Magazine

A look at this week’s opponent…
The Spartans will welcome for the first time into the high cathedral of the Spartan Nation, Spartan Stadium, a 1AA (I still call it that no matter what the NCAA does to change the names so as to confuse people) opponent.
They are, of course, the Montana State Bobcats led by Coach Rob Ash who has a career 189-109-5 record.  He is entering his third year with the Cats.  Coach Ash’s teams are marked for great discipline.  The lone exception to that would be last year in a 69-10 thrashing by Kansas State, a game that Coach Ash was quick to address when I spoke to him from his Bozeman office on Thursday, “I think we do everything here with great discipline, but that one game sure wasn’t that and you saw it get out of hand.”
Ash is a well-respected coach and currently serves on the AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) Board of Trustees.  I sat down earlier this week for an exclusive interview with MSU Head Coach Mark Dantonio that will air on my TV program on Saturday and when finished Dantonio gave praise to his colleague, “They are very disciplined.  They have played in a lot of big venues and they won’t be in awe.  They will button it up and play hard.”
I asked Ash about the fact that his team has already played some well-respected 1A teams and about the fact Dantonio mentioned their lack of awe.  “I think that was a smart acknowledgement by Coach Dantonio.  Our guys are young, but we have about 60 guys that have been in those environments.  I think we all, coaches and players, are thrilled to be playing in the setting, but I don’t think they will be intimidated.”
In a lot of ways, Ash is similar to the man at the helm of the Spartan Nation.  He is a no-nonsense tough disciplinarian who has a strong paternal relationship with his players.  While speaking to Ash I had to ask him about his time in Ann Arbor.  He received his Masters Degree from there.  He was shocked that Spartan Nation had done our research and noticed that. “I want to congratulate you all.  I had gone all week and not been asked by your media about that.  I figured with the rivalry between you all I would have heard about that by now.”
It was while in Ann Arbor finishing his Masters (not in coaching) that Ash had an epiphany about what he wanted to do with his life.  “I attended 14 games in my two years in Ann Arbor.  I even came to East Lansing once for a concert, but I don’t remember what it was.  I realized that I was going in a different direction with my life and that football was what I loved and coaching was my passion.  I fixed that quick and here I am.”
 
 
When MSU has the ball…
The Spartans are not settled at QB.  The race for a true starter will continue as it is until one of them distances himself.  When the Spartans have the ball the Bobcats will run a traditional 4-3, but they do have a rover back that will remind some of JLS’s bandit.  They also actually have a DE that is called their bandit who also will do more free lancing.  Again, however, their “rover” will be more of the JLS bandit from the defensive backfield.
They will try to create pressure on the Spartans’ young QBs, but meaning no disrespect, this game isn’t about them.  The Spartans are far superior in talent and as long as they play disciplined, this will be a nice game for a lot of Spartan youth to be served.
When Nichol is in, watch for discipline type play and mistakes.  Look for him to continue to wait to pass and not go to his feet too quickly.  He is a gunslinger and can occasionally make throws off of his back foot without using proper technique.  That worked in high school, but it won’t in the Big Ten.  In fact, at Oklahoma they liked his freelancing talents, but his occasional tendency to use less than stellar technique is what cost him the job to Sam Bradford.  Nichol has learned from those mistakes and look for him to showcase that against the Cats.
When Cousins is in the game, look for him to show maybe a little bit more of his free lancing skills.  Cousins is very accurate and disciplined.  The coaches would like to see him use speed and agility a little more.
Of course, the Spartans have to address the OL and look for starting LT Rocco Cironi to test his shoulder and elbow and play, but once he does look for them to get him out and give a lot of reps to youth.
The RBs are the least of the Spartans concerns.  They have three good ones with Ray, Caper, and Baker, but each will get a chance to show what he can do.  Look for the crowd to really have some ohh and ahh moments with this talented tandem.
I am anxious to see WRs who catch the ball.  I have no concerns with the TEs, but this group has more to prove than anyone.  They have been rode hard all of last season, the spring, and even this camp and it will be nice to see what they do when the lights come on.
 
When MSU is on defense…
The Spartans have such a far superior defense.  The talent that will start the game and play well into the three deep is impressive.  Look for the front four to get pressure on the Bobcats.  If we walk out of the high cathedral on Saturday with all groups of MSU lineman having dominated the Bobcats and pressured him all day like a door-to-door vacuum salesman, then it was a good day.
I am anxious to see the LBs after the starting three play.  I want to see that second and third string.  Sicking Greg Jones on these 1AA cats could be considered cruel and unusual punishment and, if the game were in Bozeman, could get Narduzzi and Tressel arrested.  Once the Spartans take command, look for Jones to be taken out, and he won’t be happy.  He would be mad if he missed a Sunday school flag football game.
Coach Ash described his team’s defensive philosophy to me by saying, “We are sound and stay in our gaps and in the right place.  We will attempt to keep the game in front of us and force the ball inside.”  That is a great philosophy, and if he does, he may not like it when his players come off the field asking for someone else to force a TE or RB from the Spartan stables into the plan.
The Bobcats will use a lot of one back and move the TE to FB, but they are balanced.  I am not so sure we will see a lot of that however.  Once this gets out of hand, look for them to simply run the ball to attempt to shorten the game.  Early on they could take the Boise State approach with some unpredictability.
 
Intangibles…
If JLS were the coach at MSU, I would be scared.  His teams traditionally played down to the level of competition.  They would have struggled against a well-coached and disciplined Montana State team.  This isn’t Smith’s team and that won’t happen.  Dantonio exercised those demons and they aren’t part of this team’s make up anymore.
Montana State is well coached and they do have excellent players.  This Spartan team is ready for it.  Coach Dantonio didn’t overlook these guys with eyes ahead.  This team is one year away from truly being overhauled, but they are close and they won’t slip up.
One GIGANTIC intangible is that they have so many players two and three deep fighting for playing time, that even if Coach Dantonio called off his first team and made massive substitutions, he won’t stop his players from gaining meaningful game experience.
His second and third string will continue to dominate and attack, and the Bobcats will see unleashed on them three strings of hungry Spartans.  Again, that isn’t disrespectful.  Coach D won’t leave his starters in to humiliate them, but his second and third stringers very well may.
Montana State got paid $650,000 to play this game.  Good for them.  They will have earned each and every penny when they leave.
 
Prediction…
Again, Montana State is a good football team.  They also, however, are over-manned at every position.  With the Spartans two and three deeps as hungry as the ones this could get real ugly, like me as a runway thong model ugly.
A lot of Spartans will play and the fans will see some youthful mistakes and some serious coaching and correcting of those mistakes.  In the end, the Bobcats will play hard and represent well, but the Spartans will take care of them easily.
Make it MSU 55 and Montana State 13.