Max Demara takes a shot as a guest author to address Saturday's Spartan loss!

Spartans Lose Game but Gain Confidence

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Michigan State lost a football game on Saturday afternoon. By all intensive purposes, it was a game they could have won. It was a game they should have won.

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Yet they still gained confidence.

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But let’s not forget that Madison, Wisc. is a tough place to play. Rarely do teams just walk in there, win and then leave. The Spartans played tough given the tough environment they were faced with. They answered Wisconsin touchdowns with touchdowns of their own, they matched them field goal for field goal until the end. The game featured over a thousand yards of offense between the two teams. The Spartans could have easily gone into a shell and folded when the Badger lead became ten. Instead, they decided to keep fighting.

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That is indicative of their coach. Don’t forget, in John L. Smith’s first trip to Camp Randall Stadium, the Spartans were embarrassed 56-21. That team was outplayed, buried under an avalanche of points. 2007’s version of the Spartans hung tough.  They battled all game. They made it closer than most of the experts predicted.

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Most importantly, they gained confidence. Coach Dantonio knows his team can play with the big boys. The team itself knows they can. They hung with the number nine team in the country for four full quarters. Even when they made penalties and costly mistakes, the defense refused to allow a touchdown and simply give in. They had the ball only trailing by three with a chance to win driving into Wisconsin territory late in the 4th quarter.

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How many times have we been able to say that the last four years?

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When you are building a business or even a football program, results cannot be expected overnight. There will be days when profits decline and days when the stock is high. The good will often come gift wrapped with the bad. Today was one such day for the Spartan football program. Fans and experts will identify all that went wrong and all that could have been.

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What we really should be doing is looking at what was. The Spartans have a chance to come out next Saturday at home against Northwestern and play angry. They can make up for what happened yesterday. The heart of this team will be their response to this new little slice of adversity.

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They have the confidence to respond correctly.