Historic victory is not John L.’s saving grace
For a person that grew up in the church, the song “Amazing Grace” was the song that popped in my mind on last Saturday.
But most importantly, the song had a profound effect on Michigan State coach John L. Smith, who until last Saturday had everybody in Spartan Nation ready to drop-kick him out of East Lansing due in part to major choke-jobs during his tenure, the most notable a 16-point chokejob against Notre Dame on Sept. 23rd in East Lansing.
And the cause celebre’ for Detroit radio personality Mike Valenti (a Michigan State grad) to vent about the Michigan State coaching staff and the inefficent play of Drew Stanton and company in a monsoon.
When the Spartans fell behind 38-3 at halftime in Evanston against Northwestern, pretty much the entire Spartan Nation was ready to do just that, drop-kick John L. out of East Lansing and hire another buffoon as their coach (possibly Steve Maricucci).
Then in a simple twist of fate, the Spartans came back with a fury in the third quarter, making up for the countless miscues that the Spartans made in games against Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, and the second half of the Notre Dame game.
Blocking field goals and punts, rushing the quarterback, connecting on passes, running the ball with precision thanks in part to the offensive line.
And forgetting about the John L. situation.
Of course, everyone in Spartan Nation seem to think that the players were trying to save John L.’s job by doing this and of course, pat themselves on the back for not being another punchline in a long line of failures by the Michigan State football program in the last 40 years.
Not so.
According to a column I read on Yahoo! Sports, the seniors on the Spartans gave a motivational speech during halftime, not John L.
Well, you wouldn’t expect anything from a guy that slapped himself in the face after losing to Illinois on September 30th to motivate a bunch of youngsters in the first place, would you?
Uh………
Nope.
The reason why the Spartans won this game is because the senior leadership on the team found an answer (something that John L. doesn’t have) to correcting the mistakes that the Spartans made in their four straight losses.
They knew that if they lost to Northwestern, they would have to win three of their remaining games to become bowl eligible, something that hasn’t happened since 2003 when Jeff Smoker took them to the Alamo Bowl and faced Nebraska.
So when you think of the historic comeback by Michigan State against Northwestern, think of this.
The players were the ones that were motivated to win.
Not John L.
But meanwhile, somewhere in Louisville…………………………………………..
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