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3-9. Those were the words uttered by everyone when talking about the Michigan State football team last season. Nobody cares, nor remembers that they lost to a top-10 Michigan team by single digits, or to playoff-bound Ohio State by just a single point. Nobody cares that they led at the half against Penn State.
You see, there’s a lot to be said about the narrative around your football team. When you go 3-9, everyone only remembers the bad and the ugly, not the good. The same can be said about the good seasons. In 2015, nobody remembers that that Spartan team only beat Rutgers and Purdue by a single possession in consecutive weeks. People only remember that that team won the Big Ten and made a College Football Playoff appearance.
So that brings us to tomorrow’s game. To this point in the season, the Spartans have bounced back in a big way after last year’s 3-9 debacle. They’re already bowl eligible at 6-2 (4-1 in the Big Ten), they beat arch-rival Michigan in their building, and quarterback Brian Lewerke appears to be the next three-year starter in East Lansing.
However, on the flip side, they got destroyed by Notre Dame at Spartan Stadium, they have failed to score over 17 points in three of their five conference games, and they just lost to the same Northwestern team that lost to Duke. It all depends on how you look at it. Perception means everything in this “what have you done for me lately” sports world that we live in today. Most realists would tell you that Michigan State has already achieved way more than we all thought they would this season, that they’re better than really anyone could have hoped for.
But that won’t stop the critics from making their voices heard.
So how does the narrative change for this 2017 Spartans team? Enter Penn State. Like I previously stated, you can make a case that this has been a good year or an overrated year for Michigan State to this point in the season. That will change tomorrow, when they host the No. 7 team in the nation who happens to have the Heisman trophy front-runner lined up in their backfield in Saquon Barkley.
Every realistic person who knows college football will tell you Penn State is a really good team. They have blown out every one in their path this season, with the exceptions being a 21-19 victory at Iowa on the last play of the game and a 39-38 loss at Ohio State last week. The Nittany Lions led that game the whole way until late in the fourth quarter, when the Buckeyes rallied from an 18-point deficit to take their first lead and hang on for the win. Outside of those two games, Penn State has obliterated everyone. In contrast, Michigan State has obliterated one opponent all year; Bowling Green on opening weekend.
That makes tomorrow’s game very important in the eyes of the critics and the analysts. If the Spartans win, the narrative of this team will sound something like this: “This team just beat Penn State, they’re still in control of their own destiny in the Big Ten East Division race. The Notre Dame loss was only that bad because of turnovers, they beat Michigan on the road when the field conditions were dry in the first half. And hey, Northwestern must be better than we thought.”
However, it will sound something like this with a loss: “This team was never really that good. They got blown out by Notre Dame, they only beat Michigan because of the monsoon, and they lost to Northwestern. There’s no way they were gonna beat a good team like Penn State.”
That’s how quickly the narrative changes, folks. The facts don’t always matter, narratives are usually knee-jerk reactions but once they get a head of steam, they spread fast. Nothing can change that. The players shouldn’t really care, nor should the coaches or the fan base. But when you’re a program constantly fighting for respect like MSU, the narrative means a lot; even if nobody wants to admit it.
Tomorrow is an opportunity to change that narrative for the better or for the worse. Penn State is a good team, so if you’re for real it’s time to step up to the plate and prove it. If not, it’s still a nice bounce back season that will likely see eight wins and get you into a decent bowl game. But that won’t stop the critics from speaking, it never has.
