Mark Dantonio stood by himself, the 39-yard mark at Michigan Stadium a line of solitude and smoldering.
There was 2:33 left Saturday in the 13th-year Michigan State football coach’s worst loss to rival Michigan. The 14th-ranked Wolverines had just tacked on another touchdown. Cornerback Kalon Gervin got out of position, Cornelius Johnson strolled down the sideline as Dantonio stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at the scoreboard as the remaining fans hooted and hollered.
Michigan 44. MSU 10.
Two straight to the Wolverines.
Five straight losses this season.
The biggest defeat against U-M since his old boss, Bobby Williams, got fired after a 49-3 blowout in 2002.
[ MSU in rough shape, and probably won't be much better next year ]
Those preseason dreams of another Big Ten title on a blustery November day as far away as the summer sun, when Dantonio urged his players to “Chase the Moment.”
Instead, Saturday proved to be a moment of reckoning.
“I definitely didn’t think that would be the situation we’re in right now,” senior quarterback Brian Lewerke said. “But here we are.”
Dantonio’s message has been on repeat now since the Spartans last won Sept. 28 against Indiana. They need two more wins to reach bowl eligibility, heading to Rutgers next week (noon, FS1) after being outscored, 181-61, during a downward spiral with losses to Ohio State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Illinois and now U-M.
Questions have been swirling about what Dantonio’s future might hold, if he would consider retiring after this season. He remained resolute about what needs to happen in broad terms, but both he and his players sounded unable to pinpoint how to correct things in short order after nearly two months of failing to fix them.
“From a leadership standpoint, you must stand vigilant. I think that’s what leaders must do,” said Dantonio, who is now 24-24 and 15-19 in the past four seasons. “You must stand vigilant, you must take responsibility. But you must stay the course, too, and you must be strong.
“I keep asking ourselves, just like I ask our football team – I didn’t ask them after this game – but how strong are you?”
[ Michigan's win over MSU proves the offseason mattered for both ]
The Spartans (4-6, 2-5 Big Ten) continually hurt themselves against U-M (8-2, 5-2) with penalties, missed tackles, blown coverages and poor coaching decisions. The Wolverines were sharks to blood, and things went from bad to worse for MSU.
Dantonio’s players unraveled unlike they have in his previous 12 rivalry games against Michigan, a reversion to the lack of discipline the Spartans showed under previous regimes. Physically, mentally and emotionally.
MSU had seven penalties for 93 yards, including six personal fouls/unsportsmanlike conduct calls and an ejection of Jacub Panasiuk for a cheap shot on quarterback Shea Patterson with the Spartans down, 34-10, after two quick scores to open the fourth quarter.
“Disappointed in those,” Dantonio said, “because we talk about keeping our composure.”
It was another game in which MSU’s defense faded late, giving up 17 points in the final period and fading hard after yielding 27 points in a collapse against Illinois a week earlier. Patterson threw for 384 yards and four TDs against the struggling Spartan secondary, which has given up 753 passing yards the past two games.
“The loss the week before should fuel you,” junior linebacker Antjuan Simmons said. “If it doesn’t fuel you, you shouldn’t play this game. Nobody plays this game to lose. And nobody likes losing, I promise you that.”
MSU grades: Offense, defense, coaching fail vs. Michigan
The offense had just two drives of more than 40 yards, and MSU had only four possessions with more than five plays. Saturday was the fifth game this season with one or no touchdowns, equaling last season’s total. The Spartans had 119 of their 220 total yards of offense on two scoring drives.
“There’s only so much people can do before. People just gotta start listening and doing the right thing and not committing penalties and all that stuff,” said Lewerke. “You gotta get in their heads. I don’t think it’s a huge deal, but you gotta make sure we’re on the same page offensively. Too many mistakes, (missed assignments), all that stuff.”
MSU did not measure up to its rival, as Dantonio has preached. His choice of words now coming off the loss is to “recollect,” needing wins over the Scarlet Knights and Maryland on Nov. 30 to get extra practice and a lower-tier bowl.
“We gotta go to a bowl game,” senior linebacker Tyriq Thompson said. “So that’s the message from here on out.”
Four years ago, on the same stage Dantonio answered questions Saturday, he sat incredulously after the Spartans’ fumbled punt snap return for a TD as time expired, trying to process those final 10 seconds like the rest of the college football world.
Saturday’s 3-hour, 34-minute beatdown brought the polar opposite feelings, but Dantonio also used some of the same language he did that night in 2015 in victory to describe what MSU must do for the last two weeks and in order to get a bowl bid.
It all starts, he said, with how the Spartans respond after a rivalry game they dominated for a decade, only to see the Wolverines dancing and celebrating in their faces all day as the cold wind whisked away MSU’s mojo.
“Can you weather storms?” Dantonio said he asked his players. “If you can’t weather storms, then this may not be the situation you want to put yourself in. So we’ll weather the storm. That’s whether you’re a leader on this football team internally as a team member or collectively as a coaching staff or as the head football coach.”
Contact Chris Solari at csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
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