In football rivalry games, emotions often run high. Such was the case in MSU's game against Notre Dame on Saturday, when a late hit caused a sideline scuffle and an MSU investigation.
Senior quarterback Drew Stanton was running out of bounds into the Notre Dame sideline in the second quarter when he was hit and got pinned under the opposing team's bench. A melee ensued when several Spartans tried to go into Notre Dame's bench to assist their quarterback.
When things were settled, only MSU senior wide receiver Matt Trannon was called for a personal foul penalty, negating the late hit penalty on Notre Dame's Chinedum Ndukwe.
"All I saw was one of the (Notre Dame) coaches grab Matt from the back and pull him away," Stanton said Monday. "(Trannon) wasn't doing anything, he wasn't harassing any of the players, he was just making sure I was all right."
Film of the incident provided by MSU Sports Information on Monday showed a Notre Dame administrator pushing Kerry Reed and Javon Ringer away from the sideline. After Trannon was pulled away, the receiver rushed back into the Irish bench, where the situation escalated and Trannon's helmet was ripped off.
Video also showed Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis telling officials he was punched in the face, causing MSU to investigate the accusation. Nothing on the video showed Weis being hit.
"If you look at the complete video from every angle possible, below and above, at no time does he come in contact with any player from Michigan State," said John Lewandowski, MSU sports information director and director of communications.
Notre Dame downplayed Weis' comments on Monday.
"Coach Weis never insinuated that a Michigan State player was the one that hit him," said Brian Hardin, Notre Dame's director of football media relations. "For all he knew, it could've been friendly fire, and he was not making a big deal of it whatsoever."
After the officials separated the two teams and handed out the penalties, MSU head coach John L. Smith threw his hat down in anger and ran down the sidelines to the nearest referee.
"I got upset because I thought the officials didn't handle the call right," Smith said Monday during his weekly press conference. "I'm going to stick up for our guys. … They're over there to protect (Stanton) and get him out of there."
Je-who?
One of the biggest question marks still lingering from Saturday's game is why junior running back Jehuu Caulcrick wasn't used more often in the fourth quarter.
After carrying six times for 99 yards through three quarters, Caulcrick carried the ball just two times in the fourth quarter. Sophomore running back Javon Ringer had five rushes for 28 yards in the final quarter.
"Should we probably have used Jehuu more? Yeah," Smith said. "But at that point in time, there's nine (Notre Dame defenders) in there, and they're coming with pressure, and we're not totally convinced we're going to run the ball downhill."
Once Notre Dame brought more defenders to the line, Smith said the team opted to run the ball more on the outside, where the quicker Ringer is preferred.
Point of no return
Stanton's interception that was returned for a touchdown to give Notre Dame a 40-37 lead might be remembered as the play that lost the game, but the kickoff return to start that drive could be remembered as the most confusing.
After receiving the ball at the 6-yard line, senior cornerback Demond Williams returned it to the 12-yard-line and took a knee, giving the Spartans the ball deep in their own territory.
MSU had its hands team on the field in case Notre Dame attempted an onside kick.
"On the onside kick, you're not really supposed to get hit," Williams said. "It was a bad play by me. I should've got a little more yardage than I did."
Smith said the confusion arose because of the amount of time left in the game. The hands team usually recovers the ball with little time left, and the offense is able to run out the clock. But when there's more time left — like the four minutes remaining in Saturday's game — the kick returner can get more yards than usual, Smith said.
"That was our fault," Smith said. "That wasn't explained clearly."
