Youth is Served as the Spartans Fall Just Short to Notre Dame, 33-30
Earlier this week, Coach D told Spartan Nation we’d find out a lot about the 2009 Spartans when they lined up against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame this Saturday. Now only hours after the final painful moments of the Domers’ 33-30 victory over the Spartans, we’re left to analyze what we’ve got. There remain a lot of questions about this team going into Big Ten play, but today we probably received more answers than the disappointing final score reveals.
First Half
It didn’t start well for the Spartans. Right out of the gate they looked jittery and uninspired. Three key drops early (2 in the first drive, 1 near the goal line) did not display the poise and focus the Spartan Nation was looking for out of the gate in such a big game. This was Notre Dame, arguably the biggest game on the Spartans schedule, and the team came out with look of a Deer in headlights. That to me was the first sign of the Spartans’ youth being served.
Early on the Defense struggled with too many missed assignments, missed tackles, and a lack of QB pressure from the Defense. The shaky Defensive beginning didn’t do anything to squelch the Irish’s growing confidence in its Offense. It’s further evident after this one that when given time, Jr. Irish QB Jimmy Clausen can make all the throws for, and has more than a few potent offensive targets to find down the field.
I would’ve liked to see the Spartans call a time out on their first Defensive drive of the game, sometime around the 13:25 mark of the 1st. Why take a time out so early into the game you ask? Every minute counts, every drive counts, and every point counts. The Spartan D was shaky, winded, and very vulnerable at that time. The Irish went on to score relatively easily on those first two drives. Since they couldn’t break their building early momentum through play, it might have been worth a time out there to reset the Defense and let everyone collect themselves.  The difference between a touchdown and a field goal obviously meant a lot in this one. The 1st was probably the Spartans worst quarter of the season thus far. But right at the end of it, they began to gather themselves and turn it around.
The 2nd quarter was probably the best of the season for MSU, and had they won, would’ve likely been looked back upon after the year as the turning point of the season. The Spartan D started to play mad, and with emotion, seeming to wake up to the idea that they were playing Notre Dame and it was time to get back into the ball game.
The decision to insert Rs.-So. QB Keith Nichol seemed to be timed perfectly early in the 2nd. Notre Dame did not handle the adjustment well at all. Nichol displayed the ground ability the Spartan Nation knows he’s got to go along with a respectable arm. And ND seemed to overreact, committing a successive string of penalties, and instantly playing from back on their heels.
As the Spartans built momentum after taking the lead and recovering an onsides kick, their youth began to appear. On a well designed and executed screen play, Rs.-Fr. RB Caulton Ray was caught and stripped from behind in the middle of a decent gain. I think we could probably chalk that one up to youth as well. It’s funny about screens, most fumbles on those plays appear to be caused from behind. No doub that Ray and the rest of the young Spartan backfield will learn from all their experiences in South Bend today.
The fumble gave the Spartans another chance to respond to adversity. After rallying in the 2nd, the Spartan Nation hoped they’d keep playing and competing with the emotion and focus they suddenly found. They didn’t disappoint, closing the half out strong and regaining the lead. I thought the coaches used a couple time outs wisely at the end of the half, both at the 55, and 10 second marks. Unused time outs wouldn’t have done the Spartans any good in that situation, but using them helped assure the 17-16 half time lead.
Second Half
Coming into the 2nd half I imagine a lot of the Spartan Nation felt MSU was on track to win another one in South Bend. But someone forgot to tell the wounded Irish. Without future NFL First Round WR So. Brandon Floyd, who appears lost for the year with a broken collar bone, and with a hobbled and slowed Clausen, the Irish came out firing in the 3rd and scored again on their first two possessions of the half.
Midway through the 3rd, there was a very key 3rd down and 5. Two Spartan defenders had a chance to stop the Irish short of the 1st down, but neither could wrap up as ND notched another set of downs. That was a big missed opportunity to get a stop at a key point. Shortly after that play, however, Notre Dame stand out, and now clear #1 WR, Golden Tate dropped a sure touchdown that would’ve put the Irish in control. Tate’s drop showed that “the drops†aren’t uniquely an MSU bugaboo.
As the game carried on deep into the 4th, MSU had its chances to take control of the game. As Coach D said in post game interviews, a missed interception opportunity really hurt the Spartans upset chances. A botched route by WR Golden Tate left a Jimmy Clausen pass floating down the sideline with no Irish receiver present. The only player on the field in the vicinity of the pass was a back pedaling Spartan Jr. DB Chris L. Rucker. Unfortunately for Rucker and the Spartans, he couldn’t bring the ball in for the game changing turnover. That play has to be made in order to beat the better teams on the Spartans’ schedule. Everyone in the Spartan Nation knows that. The game was right there to be had. Though Rucker must be feeling immense pain from letting that one go, he has all the ability and opportunity to use that disappointment as inspiration to finish off the rest of his career playing better. There's a lot of football for Rucker left to play.
Given another chance, Clausen continued his gutty effort and demonstrated his progress from the MSU game last year, where he flashed the ability to be very accurate with many different throws when given time to set up. Sadly, Clausen was given way too much time through out much the day, as the Spartan Defense really struggled to get any consistent pass rush from its front four. When you can’t get enough pass rush from the front, you’re often forced to blitz from all over the field, which leaves holes in different spots for a savvy veteran like Clausen to find. The Defense looked shaky much of the day, consistently beaten by the run, and shredded by the big pass, even though ND was without its best offensive threat (WR Floyd) for the 2nd half.
As the game pressed on, the Spartans youth began to show at key times and in key moments. For example, the block in the back on the late 4th quarter ND punt, which ended up being called for a fair catch, was inexcusable.  There’s simply no way you can commit that penalty in that situation. Rs.-Fr. Brynden Trawick will no doubt learn from that play, and from the overall experience of playing in his first big time college football game on the road. The penalty really hurt, as every play in this game, and especially the 4th quarter, built up to the dramatic finish.
The Final Finish and Lost Opportunity to Win
When watching that final drive, which was played nearly perfect by Rs-So. QB Kirk Cousins and many of the other Spartans on the field, I was surprised there was no effort made to run the ball. Obviously the Spartans had a long way to drive, but after the momentum of it built, and especially after they broke into comfortable Field Goal range, I was left looking for the run or draw play. There was enough time on the clock to run the ball. This is a team built on running the ball, which had more success doing so today than in the first two games of the year, yet the run was essentially abandoned when the Spartans needed points the most.
I don’t think you can say the Spartans lost the Notre Dame game of 2009 on a bad three play string, which include a missed wide open touchdown pass, a time out burnt in order to beat a delay of game penalty, and an ill advised off balance pass into the middle of the field which was picked off to essentially end the game. But I think you can say they lost their chance to complete an impressive and program building comeback in that unfortunate stretch. That’s not to say the team and program didn’t grow today, because they did. But it is to say a win in that situation would likely have jumped this team’s growth a few steps closer up the ladder to the elite in the country.
The MSU QBs had had an excellent day going into that final drive. Though young mistakes spread all across the field for the Spartans all day, they really hadn’t hit the crucial QB position too hard.  Kirk Cousins was 25 for 32 this afternoon, throwing for 302 yards and 1 touchdown in a game he didn’t even take every snap. But as sweet an afternoon as it was for Cousins, that last three play stretch likely turned the whole thing sour for a while.
Perhaps being over excited by how open Cousins had an uncovered Spartan in the back of the end zone, he tried to be a bit too perfect with the pass and sailed it out of reach. That was part one of the Spartans disappointing three part ending. Part two appeared to come in the form of youthful disorganization. The Spartans took too long to get set for the next play, might have had too many men on the field, and were forced to burn their last time out. Part two was painful because coming off the missed touchdown pass, the clock was stopped. That might have been the time for a draw play, or a basic run to keep the Irish honest. Instead MSU couldn’t take advantage of the stopped clock, and a time out in pocket. And after the last time out was used, the Spartans had to adjust to the fact that a running clock was now a factor, and they might face the prospect of running out the field goal unit under the strain of the play clock.
Sadly that opportunity wouldn’t come to the young Spartans, as Cousins dropped back, didn’t appear to see what he wanted initially, and was suddenly sliding around the pocket a bit frantically looking to make another play. He threw across his body from an unbalanced and unset position, floating the ball a bit towards the middle of the field and a couple too many Irish jerseys. After the Irish Defender secured the interception, the Spartans three part ending tragedy was done.
Identity Appears
The effort wasn’t there from the Spartans at the start of this one, but once it arrived, it came to stay. The team played with a purpose and new found emotion that youth can bring. But that youth probably cost them the game today. And that’s to be expected at times with such a young team. But this is no time to panic, and it’s no time to start ripping off Red Shirts in hopes of squeezing out an extra win or two in the ’09 season. The foundation is still being poured.
This is a time to develop the youth that the Spartans showed today. The last two years the Spartans have been anchored by upper class leadership in the skill positions from the likes of NFL rookies Javon Ringer and Brian Hoyer. Now the skill positions are filled with upside that is still quite green. When MSU returns to South Bend in 2011, it will be a far more veteran team, likely to display the lessons learned from today’s stinging defeat.
There’s probably no better definition of a team’s identity than their record. Not to quote Bill Parcells again, but you are as good as your record. The Spartans are a young 1-2 football team with a lot to play for in future, starting with the 2009 Big Ten opener in Madison next week.
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