Sports: Rebuilding Year for Football
At mid-season, yet to face the toughest part of its schedule, the MSU football team stood at 3-3 and just finding its stride and identity.
The key for John L. Smith, who won eight games and Big Ten “Coach of the Year” honors in his debut last year, was finding a quarterback to fill the shoes of Jeff Smoker, who now plays for the NFL’s St. Louis Rams.
Sophomore quarterback Drew Stanton, his knee injury from the Alamo Bowl still lingering, took over the reigns in the second half of the Notre Dame game and proved he could move the chains, providinf both leadership and an uncanny running ability that one coach affectionately calls “Coyote ugly.”
The emergence of Stanton dramatically improved MSU’s attack. By mid-season MSU fielded the most balanced offense in the Big Ten with 194.3 rushing yards and 214.8 passing yards per game. To the astonishment of some in the media who did not think a spread offense could generate many running yards, MSU ranked second in rushing in the Big Ten.
“It was a point of emphasis for us this year to do that,” explains Smith, not at all surprised by the statistics. “It’s a credit to the offensive front, they’re doing a better job, and I think our running backs are doing a better job as well.
“And then we’ve got a punk playing quarterback who’s running the ball OK too.”
By midseason it became clear that Stanton, punk ugly or not, had began to give MSU an offensive identity, if not a swagger.
Previously, MSU had tried senior quarterback Damon Dowdell for the opener at Rutgers and freshman Stephen Reaves for the next game and a half. MSU’s 19-14 loss at Rutgers was a lackluster effort that exposed the Spartans’ youth, inexperience and lack of depth. MSU’s one experienced unit, the wide receivers, exhibited butterfingers. At game’s end, however, Dowdell missed some opportunities to make the winning play.
Reaves took over at the home opener against Central Michigan and completed 9 for 19 for 183 yards as MSU won 24-7. He threw some beautiful passes, including a 44-yard touchdown spiral to junior captain Kyle Brown. But his inexperience caught up with him in the night game against Notre Dame, a team MSU had beaten in six of the last seven games. Reaves threw three interceptions in the first half enroute to a 31-24 loss. In the second half, Stanton led MSU to its only offensive touchdown (the others came from a blocked punt and a kickoff return by DeAndra Cobb).
Stanton finally earned the start at Indiana, and led MSU in a roaring second-half comeback for a 30-20 win after trailing 20-7 at the half. Stanton ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 172 yards. More importantly, he showed leadership in rallying the Spartans back from its deficit. He had great help from the defense. Keyed by safeties Eric Smith and Jason Harmon, MSU shut down the Hoosiers completely.
The following week, however, the Spartans ran into a Hawkeye buzzaw at Iowa and lost 38-16. Stanton engineered four long drives, but MSU could not quite finish, settling for field goals instead of touchdowns. Two apparent MSU touchdown passes were ruled out of bounds. Despite its sloppiness with bobbled passes and missed tackles, MSU still amassed 449 yards and seemed on the verge of becoming a yard-churning machine on offense.
Sure enough, MSU scored its highest offensive output of the season with a 38-25 home win over Illinois. MSU did not commit a turnover and had just two penalties for 20 yards. The offensive line—led by center Chris Morris, tackles Gordon Niebylski and Sean Poole, and guards Kyle Cook and William Whitticker—proved surprisingly productive, boosting MSU to second in the Big Ten not only in rushing but also in sacks allowed (just 5 in 6 games). Stanton completed 22 passes to 10 different receivers, and himself caught a touchdown pass from wide receiver Jerramy Scott. At game’s end, redshirt freshman running back Jehuu Caulcrick was able to chew up yardage while running the clock down, something that pleased John L. Smith.
Could MSU sustain its emerging offensive prowess and personality in the second half of the season? Could MSU’s defense play up to preseason expectations, even with its key injuries? These questions remained to be answered. However, MSU was clearly beginning to jell on offense and also establishing a reputation as a team that gets stronger as the game unfolds. MSU was outscored 31-14 in the first quarter, 33-23 in the second, 34-24 in the third, but owned a whopping 47-17 edge in the final period.
In an instant poll at the MSU Alumni Association web site (msualum.com), most respondents believed that John L. Smith was the right leader for the MSU football program. In his first full recruiting season, he mustered a Top 20 recruiting class, and the young team was clearly making improvements in his areas of emphases.