Couch counter-take: Beating Michigan would make MSU's problems go away
This is a recurring weekly column analyzing the analysis of MSU football by other writers and pundits.
EAST LANSING – If Michigan State were to beat Michigan Saturday, “It would be a huge morale boost for a group of players and coaches who are upset and frustrated. It would give Michigan State fans bragging rights (or, more accurately, trolling rights) for another year. And yet Michigan State would wake up on Sunday morning with the same problems it had on Friday.”
Those are the writings of my friend Kyle Austin of MLive.com in his weekly Monday morning MSU football column, this week titled, “Not even a win over Michigan makes Michigan State’s problems go away.”
Yes. Yes it would. Almost entirely.
Kyle is a smart guy and thorough journalist. And he makes the point that an MSU win Saturday “doesn’t suddenly turn the program into the Michigan State of 2013-15 once again.” That “It doesn’t make this season anything resembling a success.” And that “It would still face a much more difficult climb back to the place it stood last fall, when it won the Big Ten and went to the College Football Playoff.”
I get that. All of it. But Austin underestimates how tied MSU football’s rise is to its ability to flip the script in this rivalry, how deep this rivalry is rooted in the psyche of both programs and their followings, and how much a win Saturday would change the narrative surrounding MSU’s football program and season. If the Spartans beat the Wolverines, find me a problem that isn’t solved.
Suddenly, everything is seen from a glass-half-full point of view.
- This tough season is a rebuilding year, a mere blip.
- Struggling youth becomes endless potential
- Fading seniors become a proud senior class
- A likely 4-8 finish starts looking like maybe 6-6.
- Panic becomes tranquility. Angst becomes optimism.
- Next year becomes anticipated.
- Sales pick up for the book by Jack Ebling and Joe Rexrode about last year’s game, “The Perfect :10,” which becomes the perfect Christmas gift for both the Spartan and Wolverine in your life.
- Mark Dantonio still owns Michigan, even with Jim Harbaugh.
Again, find me a problem from the Spartans’ perspective.
Now, know this: MSU isn’t going to beat Michigan. But if it did, Spartan society is problem-free. If the two presidential candidates were MSU fans, they’d pack up and go home and sign on for another eight years of the current administration, deciding there was nothing to fix, nothing to change, other than the 22nd Amendment.
“A win over Michigan wouldn't take away the fact that Michigan State still has a roster with too many underperforming upperclassmen and too many freshmen who aren't ready for the big time yet,” Austin continued in his column. “This doesn't figure to be like 2012, when … after going 7-6, Michigan State was ready to compete for a Big Ten title the next year.”
“It's difficult to see this team doing the same in 2017,” he continued. “It doesn't have a standout unit to hang its hat on. Its talent base is too young and its problems are too widespread to think there's a quick fix here.”
Austin is correct that MSU doesn’t have one thing to hang its hat on right now. It doesn’t do one single thing especially well. That’s why the Spartans will ultimately be annihilated Saturday. They don’t have a strength — not at Michigan’s level — around which to tailor the game plan.
I do think MSU is closer to being sound at most positions than it appears and really strong at a few. By “close” I mean by next season. The offensive line is the one spot where MSU might have lingering concern.
But if MSU somehow wins, it’s a carefree Sunday for the Spartans. A carefree Monday. Carefree Mondays for a while, actually. As Dr. Leo Marvin prescribed Bob Wiley in the 1991 film, “What About Bob,” MSU and its fans could “take a vacation … from their problems.”
Lastly, the inspiration for counter-take columns came from reading one of Drew Sharp’s columns, one of his many opinions with which I disagreed. Drew passed away Friday. On Thursday at MSU basketball media day, our last conversation was about this weekly column. He, of course, didn’t mind the debate or disagreement. If anything, he welcomed it.
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.