Getting blown out by the conference doormat is tough for any player to swallow. After the Spartans suffered a 46-21 loss at the hands of Indiana last Saturday, fifth-year seniors Kyle Cook and Drew Stanton struggled to find answers for why the team was misfiring. Junior defensive end Ervin Baldwin couldn't understand why opposing offenses looked so dominant against the Spartans' defense.
But no player took the loss harder than Sir Darean Adams. Once the final whistle blew, the junior strong safety went to the locker room and changed out of his sweat-soaked No. 27 jersey and into a shirt and tie. But a quick shower wasn't enough to rinse away the exasperation that stemmed from a loss that was — arguably — the biggest blow dealt to MSU football in years.
"I didn't execute at all today," Adams said as he stood in a storage room in the bowels of Memorial Stadium. "I feel that game was all my fault. I'm sorry to everybody. My loss, my fault, and I swear to you — I promise you — it won't happen again."
That's a heavy burden for Adams to place on his shoulders, considering he was the Spartans' best player on paper. Adams tallied six total tackles (including 2.5 for a loss), a sack and a 38-yard interception return. He nearly had a second pick when he jumped in front of a pass in the end zone to prevent an Indiana touchdown.
Maybe he was just caught up in the frustration of the loss. Of all the MSU players, Adams is most likely to wear his emotions on his sleeve. It may sound like a cliché, but it's true: You can take Sir Darean Adams out of a game, but you can't take the game out of Sir Darean Adams.
"I did a lot better than what I thought," Adams said Monday, after having time to dwell on his performance, "but still, though — I had one where the dude stiff-armed me twice on a play and went for eight yards on second down. … Instead of third-and-one, it could have been third-and-nine — if I make that tackle.
"I'm hard on myself. I don't like making mistakes."
So even Adams admitted he overreacted a bit.
"He was frustrated, obviously," junior linebacker Kaleb Thornhill said. "I was frustrated too, but it's not all his fault."
But if a player who performs so well is shouldering all the blame for what clearly was an abysmal performance by everyone, what level of accountability are his teammates — whose production paled in comparison — holding themselves to?
"We had guys that messed up on every play, and you just can't have that," Thornhill said. "We need to execute better, that's the bottom line, and if we don't do that, we're going to continue to lose games."
With Wednesday's announcement that head coach John L. Smith will be gone at the end of the season, it's now up to the players to make sure no error goes uncorrected. They need to take Adams' approach and apply it not just to themselves, but also to each other.
"In practice, when we mess up, we have to get after a guy and yell at him a bit and tell him that it's not OK to mess up," Thornhill said.
With the way the MSU defense has given up points, it's not difficult to imagine what Adams has been going through after every game the last few weeks:
1. Blame himself entirely
2. Study the film
3. Realize his performance wasn't quite so bad
4. Repeat
Adams said his teammates are taking notice of the level of accountability he holds himself to — and it might even lead to some feisty practice sessions.
"A lot of people are kind of fed up," he said. "We're always going into halftime losing. People aren't doing their jobs. Me, as a junior, and some of the seniors, to some of the other guys, we're like, 'Take pride. If you don't love this game, you shouldn't walk on the field.'
"A lot of people are ready to practice, ready to go out there. I think this week there might be a couple fights. I don't like nobody catching the ball on me, doing anything on me. I think a lot of people are taking that in."
Cook said it's all a matter of self-reflection.
"You have to look at yourself," he said. "You have to look at the mirror every morning and say, 'Did I do everything I could to win that game?'"
