Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Saturday Night Football in Lansing

I still am not sure how Notre Dame won Saturday. I almost turned the game off and went to sleep. When they were down 16 points at the beginning of the 4th quarter it was bad. When the wind switched and the hurricane switched directions it was worse. How do you score 19 points in the 4th to win when the weather is that awful?

A story that helps you understand how John L. Smith, the MSU coach, just doesn't get it. Last year when MSU beat ND in overtime in South Bend, the Spartan players planted a MSU flag at midfield. That was an attempt at an incredible insult to Notre Dame. After Notre Dame won Saturday John L. sent 3 of his biggest players to midfield to protect against revenge. That says a couple of things to me. 1. John L. already had a plan in place to do when they lost. He was already prepared to lose. 2. He doesn't understand Charlie Weis. MSU's biggest 3 players are nothing for an Irish player to fear compared to what Coach Weis would've done to them. In a game where John L. Smith looked bad from a coaching point of view his actions afterwards just make him look dumb.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure how they came back to win it, either, but it sure was crazy. Well done on ND's part. It reminded me of Michigan's comeback on Minnesota a couple years ago.

I am firmly convinced the collapse against ND will be a piece of what chases him out of the job after this year. That was a monumental collapse. ND deserves credit for coming back, but John L. Smith and his team deserve huge criticism for collapsing like that. Comebacks always involve both teams, in one way or another.

Good point on the plan for losing thing. I hadn't noticed his protecting midfield, but that is a bit odd. Maybe he should have worried about actually winning the game; that would easily prevent lots of things.

Tell me: is MSU capable of having a strong football program anymore? It just seems like they bumble around and tease people with some wins. I feel like they've wasted a superb quarterback. Part of me wishes Stanton had gone to a real football school so he could have achieved a lot more.

Anonymous said...

That was a fun one to watch, for sure. I hadn't heard the story about the flag planting protection ordered by Smith. What a loser. After that coaching masterpiece, his mind should have been on something other than who's putting a flag where.

jellyfish

Paul said...

A really good coach that stays can turn any program around.