You root for coaches like Michigan State’s John L. Smith. He has gone paragliding off the Matterhorn, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, skydived, run with the bulls in Pamplona. He worked as a disc jockey at a country western station in Lansing, Mich. He’s from Idaho Falls, Idaho, for Pete’s sake.
But this walking story-telling machine is getting better known for his Spartans’ free falls in the second half of games. Saturday night’s 40-37 collapse to Notre Dame is the third of near-mythic proportions for Michigan State in as many years.
Two years ago, it led Michigan 27-10 with 8:43 left and lost 45-37. Last year it blew a 38-17 lead at Notre Dame before finally winning in overtime. Then Saturday, it frittered away a 37-21 lead with 8:18 left.
This is all the evidence of a program that lacks mental toughness and discipline. Smith doesn’t. He once spent an off season doing basic training with the Marines. But Saturday his Spartans had the opportunity to give him some job security and make Notre Dame as much a part of the national title picture as yesterday’s Irish stew.
Yet eight Spartan second-half drives produced four punts and three turnovers. MSU had three straight holding calls from the Irish 30. Its returner downed a kickoff at the 12. Its alleged future first-round draft choice, Drew Stanton, threw off-balance into double coverage, producing the winning TD on an interception return.
“We probably should have come back and started to throw it earlier,” Smith said. “We have to make better calls and better plays.”
But he can’t lay this on offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin, the former San Jose State head coach. It rained all through the second half. Michigan State had a lead to milk and had rushed for 335 yards at Pittsburgh the week before.
Maybe his players could take some of the guts it took their coach to throw himself from a plane and use it to protect a three-touchdown lead.
Irish exposed – again
Don’t feel too cocky, Irish fans. Your team isn’t playing like a national title contender. It’s 80th nationally in defense (342.50 yards per game), gave up 248 yards on the ground to Michigan State and six TD passes over the past two weeks. Brady Quinn has thrown two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns.
Despite Saturday’s comeback, the offense struggled. It had only 13 first downs and was 1-for-11 on third-down conversions. It blew a point-after. Still, the 16-point comeback was the school’s biggest since Joe Montana erased a 22-point turnaround against Houston in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1979.
SEC’s Bermuda Triangle
What’s up with the voodoo that kickers seem to face in the Southeastern Conference? Leigh Tiffin’s Twilight Zone day in Alabama’s 24-23 double- overtime loss at Arkansas – two missed field goals that would have won it in overtime and a missed extra point that lost it – isn’t isolated.
Last year at Louisiana State, Auburn’s John Vaughn missed 5-of-6 field goals in a 20-17 overtime loss. And the year before at LSU, Oregon State’s Alexis Serna missed three extra points in a 22-21 overtime loss.
Maybe Tiffin can take heart. Last year, Serna rebounded to win the Groza Award as the nation’s top kicker. But Tiffin, a walk-on from Muscle Shoals, Ala., might not get a chance for redemption. Junior starter Jamie Christensen is due back soon from a groin injury.
Too much information
If there are worse things than his team enduring a seven-game losing streak at Ohio State and never scoring more than seven points, Penn State’s flu-ridden coach, Joe Paterno, might have experienced it Saturday. He had to leave the field in the second quarter because of what he called, um, “The old GI disease.” Asked how hard it was to miss the game from seven minutes left in the first half to the final play of the third quarter, Paterno said, “Well, it was easier than if I had stayed.”
Stanford nearing bottom
If you build it, they won’t come. That was the echo bouncing around nearly empty – and brand new – Stanford Stadium, when only 15,000 to 18,000 fans watched the pitiful Cardinal roll over in a 36-10 drubbing by Washington State.
Stanford rebuilt its stadium this year, taking it down from 85,500 to 50,000 to feel more like a snake pit. Maybe instead they should add a few pit vipers to their secondary.
Second-year coach Walt Harris is paying for awful recruiting by his predecessor, Buddy Teevens. The 0-4 Cardinal has been outscored by Oregon, Navy and Washington State 121-29, and lost to San Jose State by a point. At halftime Saturday, Stanford had gained 42 yards.
Footnotes
It doesn’t get any easier, Colorado. Missouri, your host Saturday, leads the nation in defense, allowing 175.25 yards per game. … Remember Hal Mumme, whose run-and-shoot offense revitalized Kentucky in the late 1990s? His New Mexico State team leads the nation in passing at 420.67 ypg….Bumper sticker seen at Oregon State, where Mike Riley is struggling to replace Dennis Erickson, whose Idaho Vandals visited Saturday: “I Tailgate for Dennis.” Oregon State won 38-0.
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
