Michigan State football made-up mailbag: Should Rocky Lombardi start at QB against Purdue?

Here is this week’s installment of the Michigan State sports made-up mailbag — real answers to questions you didn't ask about Spartan football, basketball and beyond.

He we go ...

Should Rocky Lombardi start at quarterback in place of Brian Lewerke against Purdue?— Messiah from Scooba, Mississippi 

The answer begins with understanding the condition of junior Brian Lewerke’s right shoulder. By playing this week, is he risking further damage? If the answer is yes, then there are no more questions. He sits.

If the long-term injury risk involved in playing is not much more than usual, then it comes down to effectiveness. Lewerke was not effective against Michigan — completing 5 of 25 passes. I don’t think redshirt freshman Rocky Lombardi or true freshman Theo Day would have done a lick better against Michigan’s defense, given the magnitude and intensity of the game and the ferociousness of the opponent. Lombardi and Day would have been more prone to a foolish turnover in a game that was 7-7 in the third quarter. So starting Lewerke, who’s won in big moments, made a ton of sense, as long as it didn’t jeopardize his future.

But this week, if Lewerke again doesn’t throw in practice Monday through Thursday, the ball should be in someone else’s hands on Saturday. If not, it’ll say a heckuva lot about what MSU’s coaches think of their two younger quarterbacks. Because last week’s version of Lewerke has no chance of producing enough points to beat a Purdue team that just thumped Ohio State 49-20 and has scored more than 40 points in each of its last three games. MSU, with a healthy Lewerke, hasn’t scored 40 points all season.

If Lewerke starts and is well shy of 100 percent, the leash should be short. Even if Lombardi or Day aren’t ready to be efficient passers, sometimes new blood can provide a jolt to an entire offense. Consider Connor Cook’s debut in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl six years ago. He went 4-for-11 passing, but the offense just had a different bounce to it. If Lewerke can’t throw with accuracy and zip, a change is worth a shot. That likely means Lombardi. But with the new redshirt rule that allows players to play in four games and still keep their redshirt year, playing Day is an option. 

Whose fault was the pregame ruckus at midfield at Spartan Stadium? — Coach Bolden in Pullman

Everybody’s. Because if this had been Purdue or Rutgers playing MSU or Michigan, Devin Bush and Co. wouldn’t have been at midfield or would have gotten out of the way and, if not, MSU’s players would have unlocked their arms and gone around their opponent. But this wasn’t Purdue or Rutgers.

There were elements to the entire fracas that seemed planned — From MSU’s players wearing their helmets during the walk (not unprecedented but they were definitely prepared), to Michigan’s players being out their earlier than opponents usually are (I’d be curious whether their warm-ups on the road usually begin then), to a professionally captured photo of Bush, one man alone, staring down an entire team of Spartans.

Then, after the game, from Bush in an on-field television interview: “All that talking, all the celebrating they were doing before the game, they just fueled the fired. We love that. This is what we do. If you want to talk that talk, we’re going to walk that walk.”

It made for great theater, but Bush claiming that MSU is the program talking and celebrating pregame is pretty rich. The orchestrators of “StakeGate” in 2014 would like a word with you, Devin.

If you missed the whole thing, the Spartans’ usual pregame 100-yard team walk, with their arms locked, collided with several Michigan players warming up on the field. As MSU’s players approached Michigan’s Bush, Lawrence Marshall and Lavert Hill near midfield, the three Michigan players let it be known they didn’t like being walked through, standing their ground. When MSU’s players ran back the other way toward the tunnel, the Michigan guys continued to yell at them. Bush then dug his heals into the Spartan logo for a while at midfield.

Afterward, Jim Harbaugh accused Dantonio of walking with a smile 5-yards behind the whole thing. Dantonio said that was BS. He was 5-yards behind the thing, though. It’s hard to tell on the video if he was smirking.

It doesn’t matter. It’s part of the fun of it — the skirmish itself, the bravado from Bush, and the middle-school reactions from Harbaugh and Dantonio. None of it is a great example of sportsmanship. But if you’re looking for that, this ain’t your rivalry.

UPDATE: Jim Harbaugh rips Michigan State for field walk (again)

How does it feel to hold this L?— Chase, 334 S. State Street, Ann Arbor

Chase reached out on Twitter Saturday night, too, asking if I could “Hold this L (or loss),” after MSU’s loss to Michigan. He was responding after I tweeted his postgame TV interview during which he reached back into the archives of MSU-Michigan smack talk and uttered the phrase, “Little Brother.” I had advised on Twitter that being silent in victory was the better look for him, considering recent history. 

His tweet reached a lot of folks, mostly Michigan fans, who, you might imagine, reached out to me with a variety of pleasantries.

I have no issue with Chase having fun at my expense. His was a harmless dig, civil and funny. Chase doesn’t understand what a lot fans don’t — that many of us who cover these teams actually don’t care who wins, despite assumptions otherwise. We often pick against the teams we cover, as I did before this MSU-Michigan game and, when it suits my selfish storyline or deadline needs, I’ll root against MSU, as I pointed out in a column last week. 

But his lack of knowledge on this pales in comparison to many of the Wolverines fans who used his tweet to tweet at me, insisting the Spartans’ loss was my loss and I was hurt by it. If you scroll through my Twitter mentions, you’ll get a sense of several things: The venom and divide in this rivalry; the arrogance of some fans who have nothing to do with wins and losses; the lack of reasonable thought from our unread electorate, which explains so so much; and how many people think writers are cheerleaders for the teams they cover. 

On that last front, part of the issue is that there are lots of fan media everywhere — part-time bloggers, unabashed homers, radio hosts who bleed their school’s colors on air and, as one colleague described another subset, weekend warrior journalists. There’s nothing wrong with it, but if you’re an athlete like Chase and you’re around enough of this, or you’re a reader and you’re engulfed by websites like Bleacher Report, SBNation or FanSided, which are mostly fan-written, it can all blur together. Or if you’re a fan who reads a writer who covers another team only when your team plays that team, you’re likely to see things incorrectly.

For example, my colleague Phil Friend wrote a piece, headlined: “Devin Bush, Jim Harbaugh get under Michigan State’s skin with ‘childish’ antics.” I shared it on Twitter. It wasn’t an opinion piece by Phil — there’s a difference between a column and story. And it was a fairly balanced story, considering the information he had. I didn’t write it. But, in the Michigan fan social media world, you would have thought both us were pushing an agenda. Phil went to Ball State. If you think he gives a rip about the nationalistic fan silos in this state, you don’t know Phil.

There’s nothing to be done to change folks’ minds — if they don’t read your work regularly or only read headlines or don’t follow you on social media. Memo to young writers: Willful ignorance and incivility is to be ignored. It’s harmless, unless you take it to heart.

Will Bill Self coach Kansas against MSU in the Champions Class on Nov. 6? — Apples from Detroit

It’s a fair question. Self and Kansas are suddenly caught up in the college basketball federal fraud case, with the attorney for one of the one men charged claiming that Self approved of a sizable payment made to recruit Silvio De Sousa. It’s the text messages shown in court that might bury Self. Not legally. But it could prompt the NCAA or the Jayhawks brass to investigate further and take action. 

First, my level of surprise is somewhere beneath zero — and I think that opinion about Kansas basketball is shared by others who cover the sport or the recruiting side of it.

For it to unravel quickly and take down someone like Self seems unlikely. And given that the folks above Self at Kansas probably aren’t stunned, I’d be surprised if he’s not on the bench to start the season against the Spartans.

RELATED

• Couch: Michigan State football stares at psychological and physical breaking point
• Brian Lewerke says shoulder injury is no excuse for poor play
• Couch: 3 quick takes on MSU's loss to Michigan, including a sickening injury to Felton Davis

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.