Spartan Nation Needs to Use Common Sense As Expectations Build for 2010

 I recently wrote that I expect the Spartan football team under the leadership of Mark Dantonio to go 8-4 in 2010. I could see nine wins and if things go

 

I recently wrote that I expect the Spartan football team under the leadership of Mark Dantonio to go 8-4 in 2010. I could see nine wins and if things go correctly even seven if certain players don’t progress or in case of a couple major injuries. Any of those three records would constitute, in my opinion, a good year.

 

Nine would be great, eight would be good, and seven decent. I have also said that a six win or less campaign would be a step back. Having said those opinions, here is my thinking on the Spartans 2010 schedule.

 

Spartan fans expect and want a lot from Mark Dantonio right now. He is one of the Spartan Nation’s own. He has begun reconstruction of a once proud program, and they have responded by buying tickets, donating and supporting him.

 

When I remind Spartan fans of how young this team is I get email or watch people roll eyes at me making excuses and that is not the case.

 

For the sake of this discussion, like them or hate them, I think we all can look at Ohio State as the top of the Big Ten and what the Spartan Nation hopes to become. The Buckeyes are always in the hunt for the BCS and every year competing and often winning the Big Ten title. That is a fair goal. Any endeavor you attempt it should be to get to the top and in the Big Ten Ohio State is that.

 

When the Spartans kickoff the 2010 season, their starters on both sides of the ball for the first time in years will have Big Ten talent players at ALL twenty-two starting offensive and defensive spots.

 

There will be two very big differences between MSU and Ohio State however, and let’s look at them both.

 

1)     Depth MSU will have talent at all starting 22 spots, but OSU has them at 66+ spots. Meaning that OSU has talent well past their third strings that are at a big time Big Ten level. Now in fairness, MSU has more than 22, but it isn’t a lot more. At OSU there is an exception from time to time, but almost everyone red shirts and starters are almost always juniors and seniors. They do an incredible job of playing the younger guys for experience (as we have noted here many times), but for the most part the bread and butter guys they count on are upper classmen. Of the MSU 22 (two deep) defenseman 15 are sophomores and freshmen and that is before this year’s class arrives on campus. Max Bullough is included, but he is on campus now. Of the 22 offensive players in the two deep, 11 of them are freshmen or sophomores. Mark Dantonio has done a great job upgrading talent, but depth isn’t built over night.

2)     Experience The Spartans will have critical and young players with little or no Big Ten experience. Whereas Ohio State can ease guys in, MSU can’t. Many players who have great talent will play this season, but young players make young mistakes. At OSU they have the privilege of easing guys into the rotation. We have written often about how Jim Tressel plays a lot of players so that they are always gaining experience. Dantonio hasn’t had the luxury. He red shirted a lot of players last year that will be called on immediately this year to compete and play. They will and they are talented. There will be some from the 2008 class who will be red shirt sophomores this year that don’t have any or very little experience. In the OSU system, Blake Treadwell, Jerel Worthy, and Dan France would just now be getting to see the field. At MSU three of the top four defensive tackles could play at OSU, but would only this season get reps on the field. They wouldn’t be critical components. The MSU DT Kevin Pickelman would just now be getting a chance to even play significantly. The Spartan four DTs are talented and gifted, but none of them are upper classmen with a wealth of maturity and experience under their belt.

 

Coming into the fall the Spartans will have AT LEAST five starters that are sophomores or freshmen and OSU has two on defense. The Spartans will have AT LEAST 15 in the two deep compared to OSU having seven.

 

Looking at offense, the numbers are even more staggering. The Spartans will start two and OSU will start one. The Spartans will have 11 in the two-deep and OSU will have four.

 

I understand fans wanting to compete immediately with the teams like OSU. That is a germane goal. It is not realistic to ask this team to compete for something when apples are compared to oranges.

 

The Spartans are young and talented. That is what it is. Spartan fans should be noticing the talent is there, the coaching is there, and this program has the building blocks to compete. When our two deep starts looking like OSU (and it is on the way) we will start competing with them for BCS games and Big Ten titles.

 

The Spartan Nation is on the right track, but the hay isn’t in the barn yet. Relax Spartan Nation; it is coming, just not there yet. You can call this excuses, you can call it kool-aid, or you can see it for what it is: common sense.

 

The Spartan Nation has wandered in the wilderness for a long time awaiting football greatness to return. Don’t ruin it by getting impatient when we are a short time from being where we want to go. The Spartan Nation isn’t there yet, but they are getting closer every day.