Kevin Thomas takes his first shot as a guest author and says NO EXCUSES to MSU football!

"The last two losses fall on the coaching staff and the players. The Spartans have players, they have talent on this campus and they always have. For those doubting the Junior College players that John L. Smith recruited---one needs to look no farther than Devin Thomas, Jonal St Dic, OG, and in the past-Kerry Reed , DeAndre Cobb, and Julian Peterson from the Saban era to realize that JC players can have an impact in college football. The reason being is that some need a season or two out of high school to grow or shine, others were highly-touted coming out of the prep ranks but need some time to get their academics in line. Kansas St. actually turned their program around with Junior College players in the past and many powerhouses  recruit these players-even USC and Florida. People blaming JLS for these losses need to look in the mirror and be honest with themselves. While DC Narduzzi has said we should get football players from anywhere as long as they can play, our head coach Dantonio says we only need them to fill spots and in emergencies. As far as I can tell, the Spartan football team is always in emergency mode and always just steps above life support. MSU simply needs to get the best football players period. As much as we can criticize JLS for horrible defense, he does know talent and is a scout for the St Louis Rams. Devin Thomas and St. Dic prove he knows a thing or two about recruiting and to say we have to wait until Dantonio gets is own players is as idiotic an analogy as one can get unless you were Terry Hoeppner taking over a depleted Indiana squad a few years ago. MSU has always had talent, they can never seem to get it focused.

Spartan fans just want to get everyone on the same page and they aren't-defensively the Spartans were pretty good the first four games but outside out of UAB game and a few key plays here and there, the offense struggled. But they were much better offensively against Wisconsin and Northwestern until they decided to have monumental defense collapses against the Badgers and Wildcats. Typical of MSU not to get everyone on the same page and to leave fans and alums frustrated as usual.

Narduzzi said the players were not ready "MENTALLY" or "PHYSICALLY" for this game. Isn't it the coaches responsibility to make sure they are ready? Obviously the defensive coaches must have been reading their press clippings after the first four games because the last two weeks they were nowhere to be found and more frightenly-had no answers or corrections for Northwestern after a sieve like defense against Wisconsin. Linebackers were jumping into holes to stop the run but got burned on the perimeter. Spartans were blitzing against short quarterback drops and not getting there. In fact, it looked like the defensive coaches hadn't even studied game film for this one.

More discouraging is the fact that Dantonio has a defensive pedigree and tutored under Jim Tressel while at Ohio State. Excuse if I am wrong, but I never see a problem with 'theOSU'

stopping anyone on defense, so I wonder if he was paying attention. And if you tutor under a great coach as a coordinator, does that always make you a good head coach? Sure, Ohio State can put a fence around Ohio for the best players in that state, but at least they have a

x' and o's clue on defense to go with it. What make this situation more frustrating, was that the offense was starting to finally step up and brilliant efforts (all on offense) went for naught.

I understand the character and attitude are different this year, I understand that Dantonio is well liked by the players and they want to win for him. I also understand that if things don't change, he will be following the same legacy of Bobby Williams and John L. Smith since

people are tired of the false promises and five-year plans that have become the mantra in

accepting mediocre football in East Lansing. Only 67,000+ people showed up for the Northwestern game in an era where MSU needed someone to breathe life and excitement into the football program. They bypassed first Urban Meyer and then Brian Kelly for JLS and Dantonio and that is something that this MSU administration...and unfortunately the fans, will have to live with if they don't turn this around quickly...with the fans being the biggest losers as usual. There is one certain thing we can say about MSU football, and that is the honeymoon is officially over for the Dantonio era."

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