After Saturday’s crazy 24-21 overtime loss to Indiana handed national college football powerhouse Michigan State a second straight Big Ten loss to open their conference schedule, a lesser program might think it a time to panic. Fortunately the steady and reassuring guidance of Head Coach Mark Dantonio--who has led the Spartans to bowl games each of his 9 seasons in East Lansing--will keep this train on tracks destined for Tampa, Florida, and the January 9, 2017, National Championship game.
This may be starting quarterback Tyler O’Connor’s fourth season on the MSU roster, but it is also the first year he entered with the responsibilities and expectations inherent as the school’s No. 1 quarterback. From the start of training camp it has been assumed that he will grow tremendously over the course of his senior season. He may already stand as a solid leader and unusually talented college passer, but most of the season remains, and there is every reason for confidence that he will be an even greater team captain and field general in December, when the truly consequential games are played.
Of course, O’Connor’s development was not even the X-factor in Saturday’s bizarre loss, in which Indiana did not score their first point until there were seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter, and did not hold a lead until inside of 5 minutes was left in regulation.
For a second consecutive week, linebacking bulwark Riley Bullough watched from the sidelines, and he was missed tremendously on the field. And for a second straight game there can be no doubt that his consistent and dominating presence in the middle was the difference between another comfortable victory, a 4-0 record and early stranglehold on the Big Ten East division, and instead a second narrow loss in 8 days. Bullough is expected to be back on the field to lead Michigan State to a lopsided victory over BYU next Saturday in East Lansing.
Of course, with home games against top-5 programs Michigan and Ohio State in coming weeks, Michigan State can look forward to two signature victories and regular season blowouts to set up a pivotal Big Ten championship game, where a resounding win will reverberate among the College Football Playoff selection committee, and send the Spartans to another Playoff appearance in the annual Michigan State tradition Coach Dantonio is building.
