Michigan State’s Comeback Stuns Even Ardent Spartan Fans
October 27th, 2006 by Shawn McKnowan
The situation was nightmarish.
Somehow, with 8:00 to go in the third quarter, Michigan State had managed to fall behind to Northwestern by a score of 38-3. My friend Chris and I were sitting in the bleachers in Evanston, pawing through an old Wall Street Journal and wondering why we were still there. I don’t think we were talking much by that point, except to wonder aloud whether head coach John L. Smith had already been fired via headset.
Then, as you may be aware, Michigan State f*%king won.
My team, the team I watch every Saturday, the team that lets me and my dad and his dad down somewhere between 5-8 times every season, scored 38 unanswered points in a quarter and a half.
They scored five touchdowns and a field goal in seven possessions, none of which lasted longer than four minutes, to win, 41-38. This sort of thing has never happened before in Division I-A ball, and I have no idea how it happened last Saturday. But I’m really glad I was there for it.
Backing up a few steps, it’s important to have a good handle on the state of the MSU football program to really grasp the bizarre magnitude of this comeback. Viewing from a distance, you may be aware of macro trends, such as “Michigan State’s football program is consistently in shambles,” but there’s more at play here than that. As I see it, there are three primary characteristics of MSU football circa 2006:
1. MSU does not come back from double-digit deficits. We cough them up with impressive regularity (see: Notre Dame ’06, Michigan ’05, Ohio State ’05, etc.), but we absolutely do not come from behind to win football games.
2. MSU can usually be counted on to do each of the following every season: a) win two games we have no business winning; b) lose three games that we have no business losing. This phenomenon is what makes our teams more interesting to watch for the casual observer than, say, Minnesota, who is just consistently mediocre. Michigan State is mediocre over time, but on gameday itself, we are usually either amazing or a train wreck.
3. During the John L. Smith era, MSU fans have come to expect one of two types of seasons: a) those that start off promisingly, and then spin into an uncontrollable and shameful loss-vortex during the Notre Dame game, and b) those that start off promisingly, continue promisingly for a few more games, and then spin into an uncontrollable and shameful loss-vortex during the Michigan game. Last season, when we beat Notre Dame in South Bend, was an example of season type B. This year, after losing to Notre Dame, we experienced crushing defeats at the hands of Michigan, Ohio State, and, um, Illinois (see point #2b above). So 2006 certainly appeared to be a textbook example of season type A.
Somehow, though, those kids turned all that around, however briefly, in Evanston. State bucked all three of the characteristics described above by coming back from a huge deficit, beating a team we should have beaten, and putting the brakes on another season-long collapse.
Drew Stanton (above) looked like the best quarterback in the Big Ten again, and nobody gave up. As the fourth quarter went on, a victory seemed somehow both impossible and inevitable; every three or four minutes, we were in the end zone again until Chris and I finally looked up and saw a lead on the scoreboard. By that point, we both agreed that John L. deserved another year.
For that alone, it was a really, really strange afternoon.
September 21st, 2007 at 11:20 am
that game was frickin nuts i was in the northwestern side. i could not believe what i saw