Mark Dantonio will second-guess this game the rest of his life

Submitted by team126 on

LIke him or not, Mark Dantonio is a great football coach. This season has not been kind to his Spartans, and I am pretty sure he is going to second-guess this last one in late October 2016 the rest of his professional life.

A few decisions will haunt him like forever:

1. Why didn't I start Brian in the first place?

2. Why didn't I just run LJ throughout the game, instead of giving snaps to Holmes?

3. 4th down, goal lines, I should, I mean SHOULD, take the field goals!!! Damn it!!!

4. What in my Dinosaur brain was I thinking about getting those 2 pts? Seriously Mark, pride before the fall? 

 

On a side note, Harbaugh and gang will take pride in winning in East Lansing, and learn what we need to correct in particular late Q4. 

 

MGoBoard
Football
Mark Dantonio

Bob_Timberlake

October 30th, 2016 at 6:53 AM ^

Lewerke played after Michigan was comfortably ahead and the defense may have let up on the gas pedal. No one plays only one RB for a whole game. He went for two because Woody couldn't go for three.

Joined: 03/29/2015

MGoPoints: 7172

Commie_High96

October 30th, 2016 at 8:51 AM ^

There is reason to believe that, if Lewerke started, Michigan may have performed better. It was the downhill running from the Spartans that gave us trouble, we would have been seeing what this team was built to stop if they came out and read the spread. Our problem was the dline getting moved and not setting the edge.

Joined: 02/10/2012

MGoPoints: 19732

Blue Ballin'

October 30th, 2016 at 3:02 PM ^

I know it was a home game for State, but still, the holds were apparent early and often, and just got worse in the second half. How could the Head Linesman, Line Judge, and Umpire all miss what was happening on the line holding by MSU? It was like watching a referee in a freaking pro wrestling match, waiting for them to see things so obvious to everyone else. Same with the Back Judges on the PI calls. Even the TV announcer said it wasn't there. We can expect more of this at Iowa and OSU, I'm sure.

Dantonio's reason for going for two? "At that point in time, we're probably losing the game. I don't see any foreseeable way we can scoop up the ball, because there isn't any legal way we can scoop up the ball on an onside kick. So we went for two. It's unfortunate, but it ended in a big celebration for them."

Unfortunate indeed. I swear, I heard his asshole snap shut all the way here in Arizona when Jabril picked it up and set sail the other way. Sorry MD, but your own hubris was the cause of it. After a somewhat disappointing fourth quarter for our defense, thank you for allowing us that nice little celebration at the end. 

Joined: 03/08/2016

MGoPoints: 956

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

October 30th, 2016 at 10:35 AM ^

He went for two because, his whole career at MSU, he's thought exactly like their fans do.  Part of the reason they love him so much, he's Mr. Disrespekt through and through.  And so in his mind, the closer you can make the score, the less of a loss it is, and the more you can say "they should have respekted us more."

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 41586

ahw1982

October 30th, 2016 at 10:51 AM ^

Going for two play made me sad that State didn't score another touchdown earlier in the game.  Can you image if that situation played out with State up 31-30, going for two to make it a field goal differential, and Jabrill Peppers scoring the 2 point conversion with 1 second left?

I feel like that's what fate had planned, and everything was in place except State missing a TD somewhere prior.

Joined: 06/09/2010

MGoPoints: 1852

bacon

October 30th, 2016 at 6:57 AM ^

"IF worms had machine guns then birds wouldn't be scared of 'em?" Let Dantonio reset his countdown clock and stew for a year. Sparty is in our rearview, but I'm guessing Michigan will continue to haunt Staee.

Joined: 01/04/2009

MGoPoints: 18646

Goggles Paisano

October 30th, 2016 at 6:59 AM ^

I don't think his coaching decisions would have made any difference.  We kicked their ass for 3 1/2 quarters and shut it down as the game dictated we could do so.  I would have liked to keep the hammer down and bury them but it was a luxury we had and we won the game. MSU had zero chance of winning this game no matter the decision making of Dantonio.  

Joined: 07/30/2011

MGoPoints: 41232

clarkiefromcanada

October 30th, 2016 at 11:03 AM ^

And he should too. As Harbaugh shapes the roster more and more to his liking, denies Michigan recruits to Staee and turns this team into a better recruiting version of Stanford it's just going to get worse for Dantonio. At LSU he could make more money, recruit easy, have a similarly passionate/unstable fanbase and run the Alabama disrespkt game. If he stays, his legacy will include the last ten years but also the turn after Harbaugh. He seems prideful though so I expect he stays.

Joined: 11/20/2008

MGoPoints: 49264

BoFlex

October 30th, 2016 at 11:59 AM ^

I don't know if it will be pride or just being truly grateful to MSU. Dantonio seems to genuinely want to stay at MSU since they gave him is first big break as a head coach, and stayed loyal to him during the rough years of building the program. Dantonio probably could have ran for a bigger paycheck/a cushier job multiple times. IIRC, I think MSU has pretty much maxed out what they cab afford to pay Dantonio annually, so if the wanted more he could have left 2-3 seasons ago.

Joined: 05/30/2011

MGoPoints: 5284

ldevon1

October 30th, 2016 at 7:07 AM ^

Just reinforces my thinking, that no matter what, we don't hate State as much as State hates us. They always bring way more emotion and desire than we do. OSU game is so much different for us. Fuck Dantonio.

Joined: 09/09/2015

MGoPoints: 36887

MichiganTeacher

October 30th, 2016 at 8:48 AM ^

Yeah, if you spend some time in Ohio and pay attention, you'll know what he means. The people in Ohio are obsessed with this rivalry. I've walked into random McDonald's in March and they're replaying the OSU-M game on TVs throughout the place. I've seen buses in June with OSU-Michigan rivalry ads on them. The people there just don't think about anything else, ever.

Joined: 10/06/2011

MGoPoints: 9263

The Fan in Fargo

October 30th, 2016 at 9:33 AM ^

I've only been to Michigan 3 times and never to Ohio. Never want to go to Ohio either but just from the television and internet, anyone can plainly see that suckeye fans and players hate Michigan far more. It's unreal. They really are crazy over this stuff. They would destroy Ann Arbor in a night name if Michigan blew them out bad. Cant ever happen for you guys there.

Joined: 09/04/2016

MGoPoints: 1877

Red is Blue

October 30th, 2016 at 9:38 AM ^

The ideas (1 -we focus more on OSU then MSU 2-  OSU views our rivalry more instensely) aren't mutually exclusive. In fact, I believe both are true. We do focus more on OSU, but OSU (particularly the fans) takes the rivalry more seriously than we do. In part, that is because Michigan has MSU and Notre Dame (when we play) as rivals (let alone Rutgers and Illinois). Whereas we're pretty much all OSU has.

Joined: 05/13/2010

MGoPoints: 23896

jdon

October 30th, 2016 at 7:42 AM ^

Idk

This is fucking stupid because we were up 20 points with 1430 to go and we were just waiting for the game to end...

They never even got within two scores.

Fuck dantonio.
Fuck state.
And fuck giving that idiot the opportunity to second guess a thing; 5 possessions = 5 scores. I'd rather talk about how harbaugh got scared after the speight interception and we started trying to run clock... that is the only reason dantonio can even pretend to have something to build from



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Joined: 09/28/2009

MGoPoints: 5902

MGolem

October 30th, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^

If the refs didn't blow the spot on Higdon's second down run to put the game away State doesn't get that last touchdown. I recorded the game (did not watch in real time) and I can tell you watching it after I knew the outcome allowed me the peace to actually absorb what I was watching. This game wasn't all that close. It just seemed like it was in real time due to last years ending. Harbaugh was not happy about the spot but it didn't get any airplay because the television producer decided to follow Peppers around on the sideline for what seemed like an eternity.

Joined: 10/14/2010

MGoPoints: 13605

goblue81

October 30th, 2016 at 7:49 AM ^

I know people like to hate on Dantonio primarily because he's Sparty's coach and a bit of an ass, but so far he has proven to be a solid football coach whether you like him or not.  

However, part of what has given him so much success is having studs.  That time is over.  The previous regimes opened up the recruiting grounds to Sparty, and that has stopped.  This year it was obvious the talent levels have shifted.  BUT, he was still able to get his guys to play us within a touchdown (yeah last minute, but still we were all shitting the bed after last year).  

I think the reason he is going to second guess himself about this game in particular is this was it - the last chance - the last time the talent/success gap would be this close while JH is in AA.  He knows he could have possibly stolen one yesterday, but some of his calls, likely cost them that shot.  In all likelihood, it probably plays out they lose, but he's gotta be playing the what if game.

Joined: 10/02/2010

MGoPoints: 1654

MichiganTeacher

October 30th, 2016 at 8:52 AM ^

Disagree that he possibly could have stolen one yesterday.

I don't think that game could have possibly gone any better for Sparty - barring extremely unlikely six-sigma events that have absolutely nothing to do with "Still no D" Antonio's decision making (like last year's punt, for example).

Joined: 10/06/2011

MGoPoints: 9263