Spartans can't linger on 'What if?' with Purdue coming up next

EAST LANSING — What could have been?

That is the question Michigan State remains left with after losing to Michigan.

What if those tipped passes on defense had been interceptions instead of drive-propelling completions?

What if Andrew Dowell didn’t bite on Shea Patterson’s option fake? What if his brother, David, read the Michigan quarterback’s decision to keep it a fraction of a second sooner?

What if Brian Lewerke’s arm was healthy? What if Mark Dantonio turned to Rocky Lombardi sooner?

What could have been?

It will also go down as an epithet for the Spartans’ entire season.

What if Justin Layne batted away that touchdown at Arizona State?

What if the coaches changed the offensive blocking as they did at Penn State a week earlier in the loss to Northwestern?

What if all of the injuries — starting with Cole Chewins and Josiah Scott during preseason camp — never happened?

None of those can be answered of course. Not from the Spartans’ 21-7 loss to Michigan on Saturday or any of the myriad of issues throughout the past two months.

Yes, there were more memorable moments in the battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy, both before and during the game. That game always provides its share of drama and hostility, childishness and vitriol from both sides. Emotions soar with talk of “taking candy from a baby,” “little brother,” a "he said, he said" pregame confrontation or defacing the opponent’s field with a railroad spike or cleats.

But there is zero time for MSU to dwell on that.

This isn’t 11 years ago, when Dantonio first arrived and needed to make a statement after Mike Hart’s initial “little brother” comment, the one that Chase Winovich regurgitated Saturday.

“Let's just say I won't comment on that,” Dantonio said back in 2007 before continuing to go off, at a time when his nascent program and a languishing fan base needed an emotional boost after yet another soul-smashing, oh-so-close-but-not-quite loss to the hated Wolverines.

Dantonio on Sunday night somewhat did the same about Jim Harbaugh’s postgame comments in which he called MSU and its coach “bush league.”

He would not comment on Harbaugh, but he said the pregame pushing and shoving “to me was sort of juvenile.”

As he tried to do that morning in 2007, Dantonio made a point to remind everyone what matters is what comes next.

Purdue. Just like it was that year.

“I reminded our staff it’s been the other way around in the past, and we got to rally back,” Dantonio said Sunday. “We gotta get things in order and beat Purdue. So our focus will be about what’s next and coming.”

The Spartans are 4-3 overall, which puts them in decent position for a solid bowl game — so long as they can overcome the continual injuries that have hit nine of the preseason's projected starters on offense, as well as a number of others in the two-deep.

Saturday’s outcome can’t erase the Spartans’ past decade of dominance, though U-M exhibited many Dantonio-like traits in beating the Spartans.

There was the overwhelming difference in time of possession, which is generally the hallmark of MSU’s offense when it is working right.

There was the brutish blocking up front to grind the defense down with the run, then hit it over the top with some timely deep passes.

There was the physical front seven on defense that kept Lewerke, dealing with an injury, on the move, and the smothering defensive backs that clung to Spartan receivers like MSU's “No Fly Zone” secondary did for years.

And then there was the “money down.” That’s what MSU calls third down, where its defense takes pride in stopping opposing offenses.

The Wolverines’ defense shut the Spartans’ offense out on all 12 third-down attempts. That's something Dantonio says is a “weight on you” as a coaching staff, especially when that has been one of the points of pride within their own program.

And yet, he also tried to spin it as a teaching point for the final five games, attempting to turn those “what-ifs” into “what-will-bes.” Even with all of the frustration.

“I go back and say this happened to other people we’ve played before — I’m not just pointing to this game,” he said. “We’ve been on the other end of the spectrum before, and we’ve celebrated the fact. Now, we’re on this end of the spectrum and we have to endure it.”

Related:

Can Michigan State football's offense regroup in time for Purdue?

Couch: Michigan State football stares at a psychological and physical breaking point

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!