MSU not yet elite
Spartans fall to Penn State; possibly will head to either Capital One or Outback bowl
By Jacob Carpenter (Last updated: 11/23/08 8:36pm)State College, Pa. -— In a few days, when the sting of Saturday’s 49-18 beatdown in Beaver Stadium wears off, the MSU football team will be able to reflect on its 9-3 season. The No. 22 Spartans (9-3 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) can take pride in likely becoming the first MSU team to reach a New Year’s Day bowl game since 2000, when the Spartans stunned Florida with a 37-34 win in the Citrus Bowl (now known as the Capital One Bowl). MSU will either receive a berth in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Fla., or the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla.
“We just kind of let it slip away (today), so that’s a negative,” senior running back Javon Ringer said after Saturday’s game. “But on a positive outlook, we still accomplished some great things this season and we’re still blessed to be playing in a January bowl.”
MSU’s bowl position hinges on whether No. 10 Ohio State (10-2, 7-1) receives a Bowl Championship Series at-large bid.
The Buckeyes’ fate, in turn, hinges on whether No. 17 Oregon State wins its final game, which would make the Beavers champions of the Pac-10 and likely push No. 5 Southern Cal into the final BCS at-large slot.
Regardless of how the BCS horse race finishes, the Spartans expect to build upon Saturday’s experience in Florida, likely against a Southeastern Conference foe.
“It’s a disappointing loss to lose like this,” senior quarterback Brian Hoyer said. “But if anything, we’ll be prepared to go out and redeem ourselves in a January bowl game.”
Not yet elite
This season, MSU was favored heading into nine games and emerged victorious in all nine.
But against elite teams that oddsmakers predicted to knock off the Spartans, MSU struggled to prove it deserved a spot on the national stage.
Against Ohio State and Penn State, the Big Ten’s two superior squads, MSU had its two worst showings of the season, losing by a combined score of 94-25.
In each game, the performance gap was as large, if not larger, than the final tally indicated and the Spartans dug themselves into large halftime holes.
“(When) the stakes have been high here, we get very excited to play, we’re very focused, we work hard to get ready to play the entire week,” head coach Mark Dantonio said. “There’s confidence there, but we just can’t seem to catch on fire and play ourselves back into a football game.”
Dantonio said a solution to Saturday’s beating was to continue to coach players, recruit strong talent and play with the same intensity MSU has shown all season. Although no MSU player who spoke after Saturday’s game was thrilled with the outcome, some recognized that the experience of playing elite teams will benefit the Spartans down the road.
“That’s something that I’m sure we’ll emphasize for next year and this upcoming offseason,” junior free safety Danny Fortener said of his team’s execution against top teams.
“It’s the things that they did and not what we didn’t do. We’ve just got to make big plays and they made more than we did.”
Trench struggles
On a cold day when heaving a spiral can be difficult, MSU knew it was important to establish a running game and then balance it out through the air.
Yet the MSU front five weren’t able to win at the point of attack against a set of quick Penn State defensive ends and two strong tackles in the middle.
As a result, the Spartans were held to 35 total rushing yards and Hoyer was under pressure in a consistently collapsing pocket all day. He was sacked three times and completed 25-of-40 passes for 206 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions.
“Their (defensive) ends were really rushing wide and fast, and that really forces you to step up in the pocket,” Hoyer said.
“Sometimes you step up and there are guys on the insides that are getting pressure, too.”
Although Ringer tied the school record for touchdowns in a season Saturday with his 21st scamper for six in the second quarter, he was never able to break loose from the Penn State front seven. Ringer tallied 42 yards on 17 carries and never had a run of more than nine yards.
“Their defensive line played pretty good against our offensive line today,” Ringer said.
“You cannot have a running game unless your offensive line establishes dominance up front. Period.”
Brian
11/24/08 8:02amDoes anyone remember the last time MSU beat a Top 25 team? That’s right 2005 against Notre Dame. There is no doubt that Dantonio has started to help turn this team around and the team and players had a great season, but until we can pull off a win against a Top 25 team, MSU will not be considered an “elite” program.
Hondo
11/24/08 8:41amBrian you must be a solid 2.0 student because your memory just isn’t that great. Try and think back maybe a month, (I’m not sure if you can get past yesterday) but MSU beat Northwestern who was ranked at the time and is ranked now. Nice work Brian, nice work.
Hondo
11/24/08 8:46amI usually like your writing Jacob, but you made a major mistake in this article, MSU is not guaranteed the Capital One Bowl or Outback Bowl, the Alamo Bowl is still very much a possibility as Iowa could jump MSU. If you actually did some reporting you would understand. Maybe you should contact bowl reps and see what they have to say instead of just making assumptions.
student
11/24/08 9:11amWhoever wrote in the name of Hondo is wrong. MSU is guaranteed a New Year’s Bowl Game. The worst we could have ended up after the PSU game was a third place in the Big Ten, as we are now that we lost, and 19th in the Nation as the new BCS rankings show.
I don’t know if OSU could get an at-large BCS bid but I doubt it.
After all, it looks like the Spartans will be heading to Tampa to play the Outback Bowl.
Great thing are in the future, Spartans!!
GO GREEN!!
Charles
11/24/08 10:52amActually student you are wrong. The conference rankings have little to do with the bowl selections. The Rose Bowl gets the conference champion, after that the other bowls are free to choose which team they want based on some criteria. The Capital One and Outback Bowls get the 2nd and 3rd picks of the Big Ten teams and can take any bowl eligible team remaining as long as the team they choose doesn’t have 2 more conference losses than the best available team.
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Reginald Sheehan
11/24/08 11:04amWhy can’t we all just get along. Lets just wait and see what happens when the bowls are selected on Dec. 9. We are ALL Spartans, we should support one another, and cheer on the team no matter where they go. They can use ALL of our support. NO BASHING ALLOWED!!!!
MSU Chicago
11/24/08 12:40pmMSU is not going to get jumped by Iowa or NU. MSU will most likely play South Carolina in the Outback bowl. Thats great news because we can beat SC and get the 10th win and a bowl game win all in one. No one in their right mind will take Iowa over MSU. Period.
bobo
11/24/08 1:07pmWhy would Iowa jump over us when we won against them?
jp
11/24/08 3:49pmTheoretically, Iowa shouldn’t jump us, since we have a better overall record, better conference record, and we won head to head. But the committees for these bowls can invite whoever they want (provided the team is bowl-eligible and their conference is under contract, of course), and that seems to be the problem here. It would seem academic at this point, but Iowa is apparently lobbying hard for the Outback Bowl, and the LSJ is under the impression that MSU is hurting itself by waiting to see if OSU gets a BCS berth (which would put us in the Capital One Bowl) instead of pushing for the Outback Bowl now.
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Hoyer Blows
11/24/08 4:20pmWhoever said MSU has not beaten a ranked team since Notre Dame is a fool. I pity the fool.
The fact is that we obviously aren’t as elite as OSU and PSU. A lot of that stems from quarterback play. I am so glad to get Hoyer out of there next year. He is a joke. Our receivers need to stop dropping so many balls as well. Johnny Adams will have a year of experience under his belt, while Greg Jones could be the best linebacker in the conference. He was the only good defensive player in that game.
At least we won 9 games and will continue to get better. Dantonio is a blessing to the program.
Bill
11/24/08 5:59pmDid it really take a blowout loss to Penn State to realize that MSU is “not yet elite”? A 45-7 home loss to Ohio State must not count…
ss
11/25/08 2:07pmBill,
Get the Fk out of this board and drink some more rats poison and OH BTW, 3-9 season calls for a celebration and congrats you pompous wolvie.
Bill
11/25/08 3:14pmHey ss: Before you act like a mindless moron as you did in your post, take a moment to stop and think that I might actually be an MSU student…because I am.
The quality of being an MSU student does not obligate a person to have their head in the clouds by considering that MSU is even remotely close to being “elite”.
Kevin
11/26/08 2:22pmIowa travels better than MSU (in football). The 2005 Outback Bowl with Iowa sold out in 1 day (a record). By comparison the 2003 Outback Bowl between Michigan vs Florida took 9 days to sell out. If Oregon St wins the Pac-10, Ohio St is out of the BCS bowl picture. If that happens, Ohio St will go to the Capital One (Ohio St travels extremely well too) then it’s a toss up between Michigan St and Iowa. There is no chance Northwestern gets selected ahead of either MSU or Iowa. I think MSU will still get the nod but to say that MSU travels better than Iowa fans is totally inaccurate.
Andy
11/26/08 2:50pmMSU fans beware… Iowa has won 3 straight and 5 of their last 6 games including a win against Penn State. Iowa is also arguable the hottest team in the Big 10 right now. Bowl reps from both the Capital One and Outback have been quoted in saying that team momentum plays a big part in their decision making process. That being said, who would you pick… MSU who just got thumped by Penn State 49-18, or an Iowa team who just sent 30,000 fans to the Metrodome and smoked Minnesota 55-0? Congrats on a great season, but don’t make your travel plans quite yet.
MSU
11/26/08 3:40pmThe Outback bowl has a fan poll up on their website asking which matchup fans want to see. Iowa has a big lead over MSU right now :(.
www.outbackbowl.com
Check out the right side of their page for the banner.
Ron
12/03/08 3:42pmYou can take this to the bank:
Ohio State will get a BCS bid.
Spartans next in line . . . beyond dispute!
Capital One Bowl beckons Green and White.
So sure I have two tickets already on the 40 yard line…
Big Ten side of course. Strictly as a hedge, I “covered”
with purchase of tix to Outback and Champs — but I can
resell them at a profit and pay my way to ORLANDO.
I was there when we beat University of Florida
on Jan. 1, 2000. Thrilling game, with another one
about to unfold vs. SEC’s best of the rest. Bring ‘em on!