The Top Five Moments of the 2010 Michigan State Football Season
by KJ@theonlycolors on Dec 15, 2010 7:54 PM CST
in Michigan State Spartans Football
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PrintWe're coming out of that strange limbo period in the college football season when the season's not actually over so you don't want to do too much backward-looking analysis but the bowl game's too far in the future to seriously delve into preview mode. This season has represented the apex of my college football fandom levels, but this part still doesn't work for me. Bowl games feel more like offseason barnstorming events than an integral part of the season. Maybe I'll feel differently when I see MSU take the field against the defending national champions on New Year's Day.
Anyway, the plan is to start up with the Alabama/Capital One previewing soon. Meanwhile, let's look back at the games already in the books. Below, I've compiled the top five moments of the most exciting MSU regular season since, well, ever.
5. Keshawn Martin Takes It to the House: Michigan State 34, Wisconsin 24
What was a pretty big win at the time got even bigger as the rest of the season unfolded. Based on the final regular season AP rankings, this was the best win any team in the country posted this season. (You were just starting to let go of your shafted-out-of-the-BCS angst, weren't you?) And it was a fairly methodical win, as MSU outgained the Badgers by 150 yards to overcome a minus-3 turnover differential. MSU did trail through the first 6 minutes of the second quarter, though. Martin's 74-yard TD return gave MSU a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
I watched this game from the second row of the north end of the west upper deck, which was a good perspective to see that the Wisconsin punter had outkicked his coverage and the MSU outside blockers had contained the two gunners. Once Martin caught it, it was off to the races.
Moments four through one after the jump.
4. Denicos Allen Takes It in the Gut: Michigan State 35, Purdue 31
This wasn't necessarily a game-changing play. MSU had outscored Purdue 15-3 over the last 15 minutes and there were still 5 minutes left in the game, so they may very well have scored anyway. But it made things that much easier.
I was sitting in the south endzone (the end on which the play occurred). My morning-after description of the experience:
I don't usually know exactly what to be looking at (other than the ball) when I'm watching a football game, but I do know that, when your team only sends three guys after the punter, they're playing for the return. I was, therefore, somewhat shocked when there was no punt for Keshawn Martin to field and the crowd started going berserk. Denicos Allen didn't care so much about the set-up-the-return plan.
It would have been strange for a 10-2 MSU football season to be a source of emotional pain, but losing this game would have put us in exactly that position (assuming the team had still gone on to beat Penn State). Thank goodness for the Purdue personal protectors' lack of, you know, blocking, Denicos Allen's beeline to the punter, and Kirk Cousins' second-half precision passing on a bad ankle.
3. Mark Dell Breaks Free: Michigan State 34, Michigan 17
You could go with Edwin Baker's 61-yard touchdown run, which was the first burst of momentum for MSU after a TD-less opening quarter, but it was Dell's score that gave MSU a two-score lead early in the second half, putting them firmly in the driver's seat against the Wolverines.
My seat was directly extended from the opposite end of the end zone Dell scored in, which was a great vantage point to see Dell break free in the final 10 yards off the double move. I was briefly worried that the sunlight shining at the corner of the field would interfere with his ability to bring the ball in. It obviously turned out alright.
Honorable Mention: Larry Caper plowing through a crowd of defenders to score on an 8-yard TD run, putting MSU up by 21 in the 4th quarter and leaving no absolutely no doubt who the more physical team was that day.
2. B.J. Cunningham Hauls It In: Michigan State 35, Northwestern 27
I can't brag about the great seats I had to watch this one. My family had arrived in Orlando for a vacation that morning. I had managed to follow most of the game up until the end, watching portions at two different TGIFs and having my wife relay play-by-play details as she watched the game on her cell phone as I drove a rental van across Orlando. At this particular moment, though, we got a little lost while following the other vehicle in our party and she had to switch the phone over to get directions. So I totally missed this live. Which is probably a good thing, since I might have driven the van into a ditch.
Honorable Mention: The "Mouse Trap" that got the comeback rolling. Silly punter, season highlights are for quarterbacks.
1. Aaron Bates to Charlie Gantt FTW: Michigan State 34, Notre Dame 31
In a very technical sense, the "Little Giants" play wasn't as big as the ones above. If you flip the result of this game and hold everything else constant, MSU is still a Big Ten co-champion and still goes to the Capital One Bowl. But this was obviously a seminal moment in how the season developed, giving the team momentum going into the Big Ten season (without its head coach on the sidelines for the next few weeks) and perhaps giving the team the confidence it needed to pull off the comeback wins that would follow. [/non-wonky sports-writers-believe-it's-all-about-emotion analysis]
Final instance of gloating regarding seat location (the advantage of not having season tickets was that I saw an MSU football game from every possible vantage point this year): I was sitting toward the top of the lower bowl in the corner Gantt scored in. My approximate train of thought as the play unfolded: He's going to miss he's going to miss it's a fake it's a fake no one's open no one's open HE"S OPEN TOUCHDOWN WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Honorable Mention Big Picture Moment of the Year: Brian Linthicum recovers the onside kick. Michigan State 28, Penn State 22. Big Ten champions.
Missing moments? Ranking quibbles? Personal 2010 MSU football memories? The comments section is yours.
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Looks like a great list.
Honorable Mention
Cousins to Cunningham on 4th and 1 vs Wisconsin, though we may have won even if we did not convert. Johnny Adams pick in the first half against ND. Looked like they were going to go up 14-0, then the pick and we storm down the field to tie it up behind Le’Veon.
Trenton Robinson with the pick against PSU….oh I know, too soon.
The first half of the last play, yes. That single play should have earned him both a Biggie and a Slappy.
I've got this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left-hand side.
Bradley-Terry rankings for college football and basketball: because there aren't enough computer rankings already.
That whole drive culminating in the 4th down score by Cunningham was superb.
Seriously, three monster third down conversions followed by the score on 4th down after just missing on third-and-goal.
I think Martin’s conversion on 3rd-and-15 in the Big House that set up Bell’s TD run might be the play of the UM game, or at least an honorable mention. We were still down at that point.
Hey! I'm tryin' to eat lunch here!
Martin catch and run is a good one
Although more of a key play than a great moment (a distinction I didn’t do a great job of drawing above).
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Dec 16, 2010 7:20 AM CST up reply actions
That's a fair distinction.
You definitely need some benefit of hindsight to identify how key that play was. In fact, there was a fumbled snap right before Bell’s TD run, if we had actually lost that snap Martin’s catch-and-run would not have been nearly so pivotal as it turned out to be. The TDs certainly have the edge in in-the-moment coolness.
Hey! I'm tryin' to eat lunch here!
Little Giants,
for all those…intangible…reasons.
Little Giants was so good, my friend from Ohio State called me during a road trip to make sure I’d seen it. Needless to say, I was watching at a local bar.
So many good options this year...
Personally, I’d have to go with:
Seeing the confetti get dumped on Dantonio and the team celebrating a Big Ten championship in Happy Valley.
The final soul-crushing, clock-killing drive against Wisconsin.
Little Giants, because I couldn’t stop laughing after it happened. Just a classic moment.
@ KJ
He’s going to miss he’s going to miss it’s a fake it’s fake no one’s open no one’s open HE"S OPEN TOUCHDOWN WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
These were my sentiments exactly…except probably 50 decibels louder. My commotion even woke up my fiancee, who was ‘too tired to stay up to watch the end of the game’…some State grad she is
This kid down the street, I think his name is Denard, keeps throwing footballs at me when I wear my Michigan State jersey...I just don't get it!
pretty much
except my pre-snap thought was “he’s not set they won’t it off horrible coaching”…little did I know.
Both of you!!
My wife, I and buddies have season tickets in the south end-zone. I was screaming snap the ball!!! Oh my god the muffed it .Holy Crap it’s a fake!!!!!!!!!!!!!Oh my god etc etc!!!
Similar for me
Mine was something along the lines of “snap the ball there’s only 3 seconds on the play clock and 47 is plenty long enough oh okay they got it off wait what the heck HOLY CRAP IT’S A FAKE HOLY CRAP HE’S OPEN PLEASE DON’T DROP IT WOO TOUCHDOWN HOLY CRAP!”
I've got this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left-hand side.
Bradley-Terry rankings for college football and basketball: because there aren't enough computer rankings already.
haha
my thoughts were more along the lines of “why are all my friends so worried? He’s going to make it, he’s going to MAKE IT, HE’S GOING TO MISS IT, its a fake, he’s open, WHOOOOOOOOOOO”
by zeke4heisman on Dec 16, 2010 11:29 PM CST up reply actions
I endorse your list and the ranking order- that’s about how I would’ve listed them.
I made it to my first 2 MSU games in a few years this season, and they both turned out to be doozies: ND and @ NW – couldn’t have picked a better pair of games to go see.
Seats for ND were around the 15 yard line, right across the aisle from the student section, and right behind the hoops team and all the past basketball players and recruits that were there – Cleaves, Bell, Randolph, etc.
At NW, I was around the 5 yard line, near the endzone where Cunningham caught the winning TD.
Death to S.O.S.
I’d like to cite four seemingly unremarkable yet important plays for their role in putting an end to the Same-Old-Spartans trope, if not forever then for one season at least. Their significance, really, is in their lack of drama as they put an end to games that in the past, perhaps, might have ended in some gut-wrenching and improbable horror.
One of them has already been cited: Linthicum simply falling on the onside kick and extinguishing Penn State’s last hope of a comeback. With a seemingly open field in front of him I was worried he might try to run it in. No drama.
Others are:
Stopping Gilreath for a 14-yard gain on 4th and 17 to end Wisconsin’s last drive and finalize the win.
Gordon’s interception of Persa to seal the Northwestern game.
Norman’s interception of Henry to kill Purdue’s last hope.
Little excitement but lots of maturity. Good to see.
Agree completely
And I think you can lay it rest beyond this season. Although I was already prepared to do that. I know some people think of the SOS mantra as applying to MSU teams losing games they shouldn’t. There was some of that, but frankly every program loses games they shouldn’t from time to time. To me the issue was more about how the teams would let entire seasons slip away after facing some adversity.
That has not been the case under Dantonio. In fact this team has risen to the occasion at some point in every season before this one to salvage a bowl game and at least a respectable season.
Let’s review:
2007 they jump out to a 4-0 start. They proceed to lose 5 of their next 6 games and everyone thinks “here we go Same Old Spartans”. Instead they rally to win two close games, one on the road and make a bowl game.
2008: This team is clearly more experienced than the year before. They start winning close games and after an opening season loss, rattle off 6 straight wins. They are clearly outclassed against OSU, but rally from that beatdown to win 3 straight and go to their first New Year’s day bowl game in almost a decade.
2009: Expectations are high, and clearly this season was at least a mild disappointment. But if this was truly the Same Old Spartans, there is no way they would have rallied from a 1-3 start and then rallied again after a terrible loss to Minnesota.
So yes, there have been disappointing losses for MSU under coach Dantonio. But they have never let a season slip away like past teams have. My hope is that next year if the team stumbles in a couple of games people don’t start trotting out the SOS routine. It’s simply not fair. Great programs around the country end up having down years. Florida is 7-5 this year. Texas is 5-7. So as much as I want this team to win 10,11, or 12 games every season it probably isn’t going to happen, but that doesn’t mean there’s been some kind of regression to teams of spartan past.
by trivialstuff16 on Dec 16, 2010 9:22 AM CST up reply actions
SOS = JLS + Bobby
Without those 2 bumblefux, the meme is dead
(I’m sure we’ll see some in the media trot it out again next year, but our schedule is absolutely brutal, and I don’t really expect another 10 or 11 win season)
Don't let Saban off the hook
People forget that the SOS label STARTED with him and his terrible blown games.
97 Purdue and 98 Minnesota are two games I still can’t believe we lost. Not to mention 95 PSU, 97 NW, 98 CSU, 98 Purdue, the 99 Purdue/Wisc debacle. (Side note: purdue sure was some kind of nemesis to old boy saban 1-3-1 with all three losses being truly terrible.)
Good stuff
Robinson taking a knee in the endzone after the interception would have been an even better way to kill off the S.O.S. meme, though.
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Dec 16, 2010 9:22 AM CST up reply actions
Absolutely
I wonder what the collective volume was of Spartan fans across the country yelling “Get down!” during that play? It was pretty high at my Dad’s house, where I watched it.
To truly Kill the S.O.S.
It’s not the team which really needs to change. The team has proven itself in many ways to start to shake the moniker—though one great year does not an eraser make. It’s the fans… the folks in the stands who groan and get nervous in when the game gets close or simply start boo’ing or calling the players idiots when they make mistakes instead of being a little more encouraging—telling them to shake it off. The fans who get in the fights and drunken arguments at opposing stadiums. The fans who figure a 7-5 season would be overly optimistic for the Spartans this year. We’re the ones closest to the team and best able to help crush the S.O.S. idea.
As it turns out the S.O.S. as it’s thrown around isn’t just a label on the team, it’s a label on all of us. What this football team this year has shown us is that the team is growing. Right along side them every one of us can believe a little bit more, and grow a little more, and carry ourselves with just as much class as any other school’s representatives in the Nation. If we really want to help the team and the School bury the S.O.S. we all need to raise our own level of support and pride when we represent.
It’s really easy to point at this comment and say I’m full of it… the negativity is contagious— but keep hoping that when Herbstreit says, “S.O.S.” he’s not at all thinking about the fans… keep thinking the um and nd fans don’t really think we’re peons, they only hate the team… keep telling yourself nobody says S.O.S. and makes jokes about burning couches…
It’s a scary thing… we’ve all been disappointed in the past, but aren’t you all a million times happier thinking how a great season was possible and attaining it than shooting for a .500 mark and barely hitting it… sure if the team would have lost a bunch we’d be down, but at least you’re not a flatliner with the same reaction win or lose… and how cool is it to have role model like Coach D to take the cues from. Someone not arrogant, just a hard working guy with a chip on his shoulder, and a lot of class. A lot of the um alum aren’t just wishing they had a coach like Dantonio because of his recent success, but simply for the fact people don’t look at the head coach and think he’s slimy like RichRod.
For support, could you imagine the effect if every one of us just dropped a note to Coach D saying simply, “I’m really proud of your work and the Team and of being a Spartan – please let the players know.” Maybe dump a few mailbags on his desk just before the team leaves for Orlando… give him something to really let the players know we are all proud of them.
The team still has some work to do over the next couple of weeks and the next few years to help bury the label as it applies to them… but how perfect does the team have to be for each one of us to erase the S.O.S. from our vocabularies? As it turns out the team is probably not going to be perfect in every game for the next decade and beyond. However, we can each remember that a stumble is not a fall and trust that each time the team does get knocked down they’ll get back up… just like Coach D is teaching.
(Individually we’ll probably come to the point where we can say the S.O.S. are dead in a few seasons… maybe it’ll be after Boisture throws an interception—but you’ll hear those in the stands around you shouting, “Shake it off, we’ve got ’em…” or similar instead of just swearing over and over about the crappy game.)
by Withshieldoronit on Dec 16, 2010 9:05 PM CST up reply actions
Not a fancy play but.....
I really think Bell’s play where he got hit behind the line of scrimmage hard and still fought for positive yardage was huge.
That was the first of a great two-play Bell sequence.
Just to provide a little more context, it was a screen on 3rd-and-11, and Bell shrugged off a big hit from Mr. Big Shot 5-Star LB Manti Te’o to pick up 12. Then he scored on the next play behind some beastly blocking.
Hey! I'm tryin' to eat lunch here!
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