Chris Vannini
This year’s MSU football team would have beaten last year’s team.
Now, obviously, you can look at the records and see that last year’s team won nine games, compared to six this season — but this year’s team was better in almost every statistic, and if a few breaks had gone the other way, the teams’ records could have flip-flopped.
Last season, the Spartans squeaked past Iowa on a fourth-down stop. Later in the year, they got by Wisconsin on a field goal that Badgers coach Bret Bielema allowed then-junior kicker Brett Swenson to prepare for by calling a timeout when the Spartans were scrambling.
This season, the Spartans were unable to recover an onside kick against Central Michigan that would have clinched the game, sophomore quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a late interception in the red zone against Notre Dame and Iowa scored a game-winning touchdown on the final play.
Last year’s team got lucky, this year’s didn’t.
Statistically speaking, this year’s team was much better offensively and just a tad bit worse defensively. This year, the Spartans scored 29.6 points per game and allowed 25.1, while scoring 25.1 points per game and allowing 22.1 last year.
In the passing game, the Spartans were the Big Ten’s best this season with 271.2 yards per game, and also were the conference’s best in passing efficiency.
Last year, the Spartans threw for 213.3 yards per game, mostly from then-senior quarterback Brian Hoyer.
Believe it or not, this year’s (sometimes) seven-headed running attack actually was slightly better than last year’s, led by All-American running back Javon Ringer. This year, the Spartans ran for 135.9 yards per game, averaging 4.2 yards per rush, while last season’s team ran for 130.2 yards per game (3.3 per rush).
Last year’s offensive line was better than this season’s, so that wouldn’t explain the improvement in the rushing game.
On the defensive side of the ball, this year’s rush defense vastly improved, allowing only 112.8 yards per game, compared to 142.8 in 2008.
The pass defense is where the only big regression occurred.
Last season, the Spartans allowed 213.4 yards per game in the air and grabbed 14 interceptions, but this season, MSU allowed 251.6 yards per game and had only five interceptions.
The regression is extremely confusing considering the entire defensive backfield returned this season with experience from the 2008 campaign.
And as a side note, last season’s opponents included eight that went to bowl games, while this season featured seven bowl-eligible teams (Notre Dame declined a bid).
The comparison between these teams might seem irrelevant — at the end of the day, wins and losses are all that matter — but it’s important to realize the football program has not taken a huge step backward this season (on the field, of course. The off-the-field incidents after the season were not factored in).
Three straight bowl games is quite an accomplishment at this school — no matter the bowl. The Spartans have found on-the-field consistency that hasn’t been seen since the Nick Saban days. Saban’s teams had average seasons in his first years here before finally breaking out with a 10-2 season in 1999.
The foundation has been set for Dantonio, and the team still is young at skill positions. If the off-the-field problems are resolved, I see even brighter days ahead for this football program.
Chris Vannini is a State News football reporter. He can be reached at vanninic@msu.edu.
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