Sports: Spartans End Strong, Get Aloha Bid

Nick Saban earns his third straight winning season and bowl bid after routing Penn State for a 7-4 record. At 7-4, with six straight sellouts at Spartan Stadium, decisive wins over Notre Dame and Penn State, and a Jeep Aloha Bowl invite, the 1997 football season was clearly a success. Although many fans were left to wonder 'what might have been' had MSU connected on two field goals, coach Nick Saban can take pride in 1997 as another significant step in his efforts to establish the MSU football program.

In the season's finale, some 80 percent of the national ABC-TV audience saw MSU rout No. 4-ranked Penn State 49-14, with running backs Sedrick Irvin and Marc Renaud gaining 238 and 203 yards to set an all-time NCAA record for a tandem rushing performance. That dramatic season-ending triumph saw MSU's offense and defense come together in what must have seemed to Joe Paterno as some Grand Guignol nightmare. MSU's sheer domination in the game capped a season that unfolded like an emotional roller coaster.

Before the season, most experts ranked MSU in the Big Ten's 2nd division. Then, beginning with The Sporting News, which picked MSU 18th nationally and 4th in the Big Ten, the Spartans kept climbing in the polls before playing a game. Fans must have seen the rise as they bought more than 60,000 season tickets--a record.

As MSU raced to a 5-0 start, blowing out some teams by halftime, a breakthrough season seemed at hand. But a four-game losing streak, including two heart-breaking near misses, brought expectations back to reality. A new pre-game signature item--a Spartan Chariot pulled by two beautiful white horses--helped to stamp the 1997 season. In its first two games, against Western Michigan and Memphis, the Spartans raced into 42-0 halftime leads and never looked back. The final scores, 42-10 and 51-21, did not measure MSU's overwhelming potency, since the second halves saw mostly second-stringers gaining experience.

All-American offensive tackle Flozell 'Hotel' Adams injured an ankle in MSU's second snap, however, thus limiting his ability to completely dominate the line. Was MSU that good, or merely a 'rabbit killer'? At South Bend, facing perennial national power Notre Dame, MSU beat the Fight Irish convincingly as running backs Sedric Irvin and Marc Renaud each gained more than 100 yards. MSU looked solid everwhere. The ground game netted 222 yards, quarterback Todd Schulz went 12-of-18 for 107 yards, special teams were competent, and the defense proved stingy.

Even the fans looked good, as a huge Spartan contingent was at hand to witness Notre Dame's first loss in its newly-expanded stadium. Two routine wins followed. MSU prevailed 31-10 over Minnesota during Homecoming, with 'Air' Schulz throwing for 304 yards and three TDs when the Gophers stacked eight or more defenders on the line of scrimmage to stop the run. MSU handled a feisty Indiana team 37-10 at Bloomington, with sophomore star running back Sedric Irvin making big plays on a punt return and two touchdown drives. MSU surged to an 11th ranking nationally, unleashing a tremendous build-up for the upcoming intrastate matchup against undefeated Michigan.

But someone forgot about Northwestern, Big Ten champions the past two years. While Michigan came back to beat the Hawkeyes to stay undefeated, MSU may have looked past the Wildcats, which had floundered to a 2-5 start. The Wildcats played with surprising effectiveness at Evanston, jumping ahead 16-7 in the first half with inspired play. Despite committing two turnovers in the second half, MSU won the period 10-3, allowing only a 48-yard field goal. Trailing 19-17, MSU moved 65 yards in four minutes to set up a winning field goal with five seconds left. But Chris Gardner's 28-yard attempt was blocked. Not only did the loss subtract from the showdown against Michigan, it triggered a four-game losing streak during which MSU--highly disciplined in the early games--committed more than its share of turnovers, procedural penalties, and special teams errors in punts, kicks and kick-offs.

Though it was no longer a battle of unbeatens, the Oct. 25 clash with Michigan remained huge. ESPN sent its celebrated 'GameDay' crew--Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit--to broadcast live on campus near Demonstration Hall and to expose MSU to more than a million viewers. In addition, Sports Illustrated published a feature on 'Spartan Life' that week just as ESPN had done in video. The national exposure was significant for a rising program.

MSU played a good first half against the Maize and Blue, eking out a 7-3 lead with a fake field goal TD toss to 'Lone Ranger' Irvin. Late into the half, MSU pinned the Wolverines on their five-yard line, but a defensive misalignment allowed a 51-yard run. Another untimely offsides penalty helped sustain Michigan's drive, which ultimately resulted in a touchdown and a 10-7 lead. With four of five offensive line starters injured, MSU struggled on offense. The opportunistic Wolverine secondary killed drive after drive, nabbing six interceptions--the mirror opposite of what happened a decade ago when MSU grabbed seven interceptions enroute to the Big Ten championship. Some 82 members of that Rose Bowl team were on hand for a halftime salute, but their presence could not turn the tide. Michigan, which later ascended to No. 1 in the national AP poll, pounded out a stifling 23-7 win.

MSU's offensive troubles continued against Ohio State, another team ranked nationally in the Top Ten. Though the Buckeyes brought plenty of firepower--including alternating quarterbacks and the Big Ten's fastest receiving and tailback corps, MSU handed them a 37-13 win on a platter--giving up an early interception and a blocked punt, each resulting in an immediate touchdown. Quarterback Todd Schulz, who can throw with laser-like accuracy, threw a second interception and admitted to a loss of confidence after the game.

But it was the bizarre ending at Purdue that proved the most ruinous. The Spartans outplayed Purdue in every phase of the game--200-131 in rushing, 220-189 in passing, 32:53-27:07 in possession. Schultz rebounded, notching 17-of-21 completions for 220 yards and a touchdown. He threw 10-for-10 in the first half. Senior tailback Marc Renaud gained 115 yards and a TD in relief of an injured Irvin. Leading 21-10 with 2:13 left, MSU attempted a 39-yard field goal. Murphy's Law unfolded. Purdue blocked it and returned it for a touchdown, then recovered on onside kick and drove 55 yards for another. With 40 seconds left and trailing 22-21, MSU still gave itself a chance to win with a 43-yard field goal. But Gardner's kick went spiraled wide left. 'This is about as disappointed as I've ever been as a coach,' Nick Saban noted afterwards.

But MSU chose not to fold. Rallying behind its seniors, the Spartans pledged to win its last two games. They beat cellar-dwelling Illinois 27-17, and then, with both Apocalyptic fury and precision, put everything together in its post-Thanksgiving dismantling of the Nittany Lions. The whipping of Penn State served national notice that a new force is being assembled in East Lansing again. Stay tuned.