Seidel: Dantonio, MSU show their guts in bid for glory vs. Ohio State
Spartans were right to go for victory, not tie, against Buckeyes
EAST LANSING – Heck, yes, you go for it.
You go for the win, not the tie.
Especially in this situation.
“All week long, I said if we are close at the end, we are going for two,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said Saturday after his team lost to Ohio State, 17-16. “I fully expected us to get that two-point conversion, so that’s what we did.”
There was no hesitation on his part.
Not in this miserable, frustrating season.
Not when you are facing the No. 2 team in the country.
So that’s why the Spartans went for a two-point conversion with 4:41 left instead of kicking the extra point. It was the right decision but clearly not the right play. Personally, I would have made sure to get ball into the hands of LJ Scott — this dazzling, red-hot, hard-charging, tackle-breaking, defender-hurdling, one-man highlight show of a running back.
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Instead, the Spartans called a pass play, putting the game into the hands of quarterback Tyler O’Connor, which was a tremendous risk considering he had struggled on this cold, wet, extremely windy afternoon.
O’Connor dropped to pass, looking for tight end Josiah Price. “I was locked in on Josiah,” O’Connor said. “It’s kind of the main read. He usually finds a way to get open.”
Not this time. The Buckeyes had two guys on him.
O’Connor looked at tight end Jamal Lyles, who was in the end zone. Lyles tried to slide into a small window. O’Connor forced the pass — because he had no other choice — and it was intercepted.
“You gotta kinda have to force the issue like that on a two-point play,” he said.
Still, the game wasn’t over. The Spartans had another chance, which was shocking.
Dantonio was hoping to pin the Buckeyes deep, but that didn’t work because of a bad kickoff, and the Buckeyes took over on their own 37.
“The kickoff should have been a hard squib, down into the deep part of the field,” Dantonio said. “We didn’t get that done. It was a mis-hit, I guess, which flipped the field for them.”
Still, the Spartans had one last chance. They got the ball back on their 20 with 2:04 left.
The Spartans didn’t have any time-outs, and O’Connor was sacked and then intercepted. “We ran two pass plays and had two open guys — two!” Dantonio said. “One on each play. So, you gotta make the throw, and you gotta make the catch. It all fits together.”
As it did indeed fit together, in the end, for the Buckeyes.
“It was a tough day at the office right there,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. “We’ll take the win against a team that we know very well on the road, in November — 10-1 and get ready for our rivalry week.”
So, as the Buckeyes start to concentrate on their showdown against Michigan, the Spartans are left with the sting of another loss.
But the Spartans can take several lessons from this game. They didn’t quit. They didn’t give up. They showed resilience and fight. They were hanging in there and competing against one of the best teams in the country.
Dantonio has kept this team together despite the losses. Despite playing so many young players.
“I am proud of the way we come to work every day and the way we come out and play,” Dantonio said. “We play with excitement. We play with toughness and a lot of effort. You gotta make the plays.”
In the end, that’s how these Spartans will be remembered. They didn’t make the plays when they needed to.
Still, you can see improvement. This defense played its best game of the year, and Scott was tremendous.
“I think it does mean something,” Dantonio said. “I think it’s the old adage, ‘Sometimes, you aren’t as good as you think you are; other times you aren’t as bad as you think you are.’ ”
Someday, all of the inexperience will turn into experienced, veteran players.
Someday, this painful season is going to help these young players.
It should harden them. At least, it had better.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel/. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!
