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Column: Michigan State's inability to finish teams will determine season

October 1, 2018
<p>Sophomore linebacker Antjuan Simmons (34) dives to push Central Michigan wide receiver Devon Spalding (25) during the game on Sept. 29, 2018 at Spartan Stadium. The Spartans defeated the Chippewas, 31-20.</p>

Sophomore linebacker Antjuan Simmons (34) dives to push Central Michigan wide receiver Devon Spalding (25) during the game on Sept. 29, 2018 at Spartan Stadium. The Spartans defeated the Chippewas, 31-20.

Photo by Matt Schmucker | The State News

On Saturday afternoon, Michigan State had a chance for a dominating win.

The 20th-ranked Spartans were facing a one-win Central Michigan team, with its lone victory coming over Maine, an FCS team — a 17-5 win at that.

So when MSU (3-1, 1-0 in Big Ten) was leading 31-3 with 4:18 left in the third quarter, it looked like the Spartans were going to finally blow out an opponent.

And then the fourth quarter happened.

CMU would rally off 17 unanswered points, including recovering an onside kick from Kaden Keon after a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tommy Lazzaro to wide receiver Julian Hicks with 13:29 left in the game, and a 29-yard pass from running back Jonathan Ward to quarterback-turned-wide receiver Tony Poljan with 6:44 left to make it a final score of 31-20. 

“We expected them to have a pass or some type of trick play off the option, so they did not disappoint,” coach Mark Dantonio said in his postgame news conference. “Again, it just made it deflating, I guess you could say. But, credit Central … you know, 31-3, they stayed on it.”

You could credit Central Michigan for staying on it, but CMU ranked 127th out of 129 FBS teams in scoring going into Saturday, averaging 15 points per game. MSU has the No. 1 run defense in the nation, and while it has the 123rd-ranked pass defense in the country, the Spartans still beat Central by a mere 11 points. And MSU is now a third of the way into the season.

However, Dantonio said close games, no matter the opponent, are just how games are played in East Lansing.

“If you don’t think games are tight around here, just look at the history,” Dantonio said. “That’s been the nature.”

And Dantonio’s not completely wrong.

Against Utah State in week one, the Spartans kept it interesting, beating the Aggies 38-31 due to a 13-yard run by running back Connor Heyward with two minutes left in the game. The following week in Tempe, MSU couldn’t pull away from Arizona State and eventually fell to the Sun Devils 16-13 on a last-second field goal.

Then, last week against Indiana in Bloomington, the Spartans had a 28-7 lead going into the fourth quarter. The final score: 35-21.

“I think sometimes we play down to our competition, which we can improve upon,” said Heyward, who rushed 15 times for 48 yards and a touchdown against CMU. " 'A win is a win.’ He (Dantonio) says that all the time. You can’t take those for granted.” 

Heyward is right, especially this season when MSU hasn’t been able to put teams away.

“It just sucks we can’t finish off teams,” quarterback Brian Lewerke said postgame. “I really want to be able to do that. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that at some point.” 

It’s not completely the offense’s fault, and defensive coordinator Mike Tressel knows it. His defense has allowed 31 fourth quarter points in the last two games.

“I’m definitely not happy with the fact that we gave up points in the fourth quarter,” said Tressel, who’s also the linebackers coach. “That shouldn’t happen. This is actually what we talked about at halftime, we need to play our best in the fourth quarter. We haven’t done that this year, so that’ll be a focus — playing our best at the end.”

And if MSU has any hope of making it to Indianapolis for the Big Ten championship, it needs too.

Especially with what Dantonio calls “the meat of the schedule” coming up: Homecoming against Northwestern (1-3, 1-1 in Big Ten) Oct. 6, at No. 11 Penn State (4-1, 1-1) Oct. 13, home against No. 15 Michigan (4-1, 2-0) Oct. 20 and home against Purdue (2-3, 1-1) Oct. 27.

“If you play well in October, you’re competing for a championship in November,” Dantonio said. “That’s our goal, to compete for a championship in November.” 

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To compete for a Big Ten championship, MSU will need to put teams away late in games, and stop committing turnovers (T-82nd in the nation with eight) and unforced penalties (T-70th with 31), which co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner said has been addressed and now needs to “stress it” to the team.

“We need to tighten up, I guess from a discipline standpoint or a focus standpoint,” Warner said. “Whether it be offsides or whatever the case might be, it just comes down to focus.”

If the Spartans don't listen to Warner's advice, they'll fail to reach Indianapolis. 

As defensive tackle Mike Panasiuk said after CMU, "It's time to buckle up."

“It doesn’t matter if we’re playing Central Michigan, Alabama, Clemson, or anybody, we’re gonna go back and watch the film and try to correct those mistakes,” Panasiuk said. “We’re trying to be perfect, but we just gotta keep improving.” 

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