The 2011 Spartans became only the fourth team in school history to win 10 games in a season by beating Northwestern 31-17 in Evanston.  In what many may have considered a “trap game,” the Spartans themselves considered it a big opportunity.   They reached the 10 win mark for the second consecutive year.  It also was an opportunity to get better, individually and collectively as a team.  In a sport where momentum and rhythm are vital, both within a game and from week to week, MSU looked to be playing with as much confidence as they have all season.

The Spartans will need to take every bit of that momentum and confidence with them to Indianapolis.  They will be taking on Wisconsin for the second time this season and they’ll also have to overcome all the distractions that come with an event like the first ever Big Ten Championship Game.

These Spartans continue to make history and seem to thrive when there is something to achieve and a goal is front of them.  This goal is clear.  The Rose Bowl.  The formula for getting there is simple.  Win the conference title game and they will be smelling roses.

Michigan State got the job done.  In defeating Iowa on the road 37-21, the Spartans now put themselves in a great spot to play in the first ever Big 10 Championship game in December.  With their only two games left being a home game with the cellar-dwelling Hoosiers and a trip to Northwestern, MSU should take care of business.

The Spartans going in to Iowa were a better team and, obviously, were the better team coming out as well.  But with a few bad bounces, a slow start, and some momentum for the home team, this could have been a much more competitive game.  MSU did not let that happen.  And that’s what I like about this team.  When a Mark Dantonio coached team needs to win, it usually does. Sure, they lost to Nebraska in a pivotal Legends division matchup, but they were coming off three very draining, emotional wins over Ohio State in Columbus, Michigan, and Wisconsin.  Emotion is a vital part of the game but it is also very difficult to sustain for entire games, let alone four weeks.  Saturday’s game reminded me of last year’s season ending trip to Penn State when the Spartans needed to win to clinch a share of the Big Ten title.  Going into Happy Valley (which isn’t so happy these days), all anybody talked about was how MSU hadn’t won there since 1965.  Entering the Iowa game on Saturday, Michigan State hadn’t won there in their last seven tries.  They won anyway.  It’s obvious they don’t pay much attention to what’s happened in the past. 

The last time Michigan State played in the Rose Bowl was 1988.  It looks like this program is finally letting go of what is in the rear-view mirror and focusing on the road ahead.

Football is a tough game.  In theory and on paper, it seems pretty easy.  Push the other guy out of the way, bring the guy with the ball to the ground, throw it to the open guy, etc.  The Spartans train in the August heat in order to ready themselves for the upcoming season.  They practice twice a day, watch film of the practice they just had, lift weights, treat injuries, go to bed just to get up and do it all over again.  Why?  Because they want the chance to do something great.  There’s only one problem-all the other teams want the same thing.  And they’re doing the same things to get there. 

Football is a tremendous sport because it builds character. You leave the game stronger than when you entered it because only one thing is certain.  At times, you are going to fail.  You are going to get knocked down.  Mistakes are going to be made.  You are going to be tested physically, emotionally, and mentally at every turn.  Whether it’s over the course of the season or over the course of a game, you going to have to be prepared for adversity.  During my senior year in ’99, we got crushed in consecutive weeks by Purdue and Wisconsin after starting the season 6-0.  How we bounced back from that would play a large role in determining how our team would be remembered. 

Adversity is a word that is often used in the world of football, and sports in general.  But what you might not consider as much is how a team(or player for that matter) will handle success.  It wasn’t something I as a player thought much about until our coaching staff started addressing it after we started the ’99 season 6-0 and shot up to #5 in the country.   Almost over night, we became the hunted instead of the hunters.  Instead of being undervalued and overlooked, teams were waiting to knock us off the hill.  If we took our eyes off the target, even for a moment, we were in danger of falling apart.  And our coach knew it.  He tried to guard against it.  But it happened anyway.  As I mentioned, we lost back-to-back games. 

The Spartans of 2011, like all teams, have faced adversity.  But they have also had a ton of success.  They are defending Big Ten Champions, are 5-1, and have beaten their “little sister” four straight years.  Will they get blindsided by a Wisconsin team who is looking to take advantage of a possible emotional deficiency by the Spartans?  Or will they focus on the work before them?  Great teams, not good teams, understand that ultimate success is about the work, not about going home before the work is done.

I’m from Ohio.  Growing up, I wasn’t a fan of any one particular college team.  But playing high school football in that state, it’s hard to ignore how big the Buckeyes are to hundreds of thousands of fans who live and die by what happens on Saturday.  I guess you could say I was recruited by OSU.  I received letters in the mail and even attended a game versus Illinois as a guest of the team.  But ultimately, I was not offered a scholarship.  Luckily, I found my way to Michigan State University and feel fortunate to have been a part of a hand full of games that, hopefully, fans will remember for a long time. 

More than beating Tom Brady and Michigan in 1999, more than shocking Steve Spurrier and Florida in the 2000 Citrus Bowl.  More than any other game, people that I run into remember the 1998 win over Ohio State.  OSU was ranked number one in the country and it was supposed to be their year to win it all.  After all, they had Andy Katzenmoyer.  Our matchup would be the ninth game of the year and in OSU’s first eight games, not only did they win every one, they crushed everyone.  That probably had a lot to do with us being 28 point underdogs.  That and the fact that we were a very inconsistent team still trying to find our identity.  We had lost to Minnesota but beat Notre Dame.  We couldn’t figure ourselves out.

I was told the afternoon of the game that I would start, but wouldn’t play the entire game.  It was my first real lesson about what it means to be a quarterback at a high level.  Having always heard that a QB gets too much of the credit when the team wins and too much blame when it loses, I now knew how much weight the position carried.  Nevertheless, I was not happy about it.  I told myself to just go play.  I tried to convince myself that I didn’t care what anyone thought of me.  But looking back on it now, that just wasn’t true.  As a kid, I had always played better when I was a little angry.   And on that day at 3:30pm, I wasn’t running out on the field to beat the Buckeyes, I was going out there to prove Nick Saban wrong. 

Fortunately, I had a little help.  In the practice week leading up to the game, the coaches, in a roundabout way. made it clear that it was time to get Plaxico Burress the football.  At 6-6 and 230 pounds, there wasn’t a defensive back in the country that could cover him.  I wouldn’t have to be perfect with my throws.  I would just have to give him a chance to go get it.   On that night, we both held up our end of the deal.  We made big plays in the passing game and ate up big chunks of yardage.  Our offensive line played well, the defense came together and future stars like Julian Peterson were born.  Renaldo Hill, a true freshman, made the interception that sealed the victory for the Green and White.  We overcame adversity, made plays when we needed them most and more than anything else, never stopped believing we could win.  Although going into the game I wasn’t sure how much I’d even play, by the end of the night, I had taken every offensive snap.

I learned a lot that night.  

People say that it’s one to remember….but it’s one I’ll never forget.

There’s no place like home, especially when you’re facing a talented team that has something to prove.  Everything is, of course, a little more familiar when you are a Spartan playing in East Lansing.  There’s the comfort of staying in the Kellogg Center hotel the night before the game, the home locker rooms, and the stadium that you know like the back of your hand.  You’ve practiced there a hundred times, rehearsing exactly what you’d do on game day.  And let’s not forget the 75,000(or close to it) strong that have your back.      
When you go on the road, the tables are turned a little bit.  The hotel is unfamiliar.  The locker rooms may have pink walls.  You may have to ask where the restroom is.  As a QB, during pre-game warm-ups, you have to locate the play clocks in each end zone.  The field may have a crown on it which can cause adjustments in the passing game.  You might have to change your cleats to account for the six-inch-high grass field.  And most of the fans in the stadium are there to see you lose.    
There is one thing that is always the same, no matter where you’re playing-the game itself.  You always have 60 minutes to prove you’re better than they are.  The field is always 100 yards long.  You can always bet you’re going to have a setback or two.  As a player, you try to prepare for every game the same way.  At least I did.  I never wanted to get too high or too low.  But you know when you have a big game coming up.  Nobody really talks about it.  The coaches don’t say, “treat this one differently because it’s ND.”  But everyone knows what is at stake.  For the Spartans, it’s momentum.   The Notre Dame game is the first major hurdle on the schedule.  Win, and it’s the first big step in playing another game in unfamiliar surroundings.  Tempe…New Orleans…Miami…Pasadena…?

As the Spartans prepare to be champions again in 2011, a lot of the preseason focus has been on their veteran QB Kirk Cousins. By now, every MSU fan knows about his public speaking ability, his intelligence in the classroom, charity work and his academic pursuits as well. So let me take you into some of what his brain will go through during the game.