"Don't get your hopes up," "don't get your hopes up," don't get your hopes up". That is my mantra as a Michigan State football fan. It was once my mantra as a Michigan State basketball fan, until Tom Izzo came along and essentially changed all of that. Is it possible that Mark Dantonio may do the same for MSU football?
Time will tell if MSU's football fortunes are truly changing under Dantonio's tutelage. For now, though, I still find myself almost always thinking, when Spartan football has a chance to do something good, "don't get your hopes up."
Since I first became truly conscious of MSU football back in 1977, when I was nine years old, the years have been riddled with one disappointment and mediocre season after another. Sure, there have been the periodic moments of glory, like the 1978 Big Ten championship (which, as I've mentioned before, only seems like a rumor now, since there seems to be no visual proof of it ever occurring). That season was marred by no television due to NCAA probation, and also no Rose Bowl. Later, there was the brief period of success under George Perles, with the Big Ten title in '87, the exciting Rose Bowl win, and a few other good-to-excellent seasons in '88, '89, and '90. MSU football then entered a dark period only brightened by the flicker of the 1999 season, but even that year was blighted somewhat by blowout losses to Purdue and Wisconsin, which cost the team a shot at the conference crown and BCS berth.
More recently, we had the nice little season that was 2008, where the Spartans finished in 3rd place in the conference with an overall regular season record of 9-3. (I documented that season pretty thoroughly in this blog). Once again, the season was adversely affected by blowout losses to conference bullies Ohio State and Penn State, and the subsequent Capital One Bowl loss to Georgia. Like this year, that team had a shot to at least tie for the conference crown by beating Penn State in Happy Valley, but were hammered 49-18.
I want to believe that the 2010 Spartan football team is a little different than previous MSU teams that have had some success but have wilted when their big moment came. Despite the team's sole loss of the season, a 37-6 massacre at Iowa, the Spartans have shown more guts and resolve than any MSU football team I can remember. If they can find a way to win tomorrow, they will more than likely be remembered as one of the finest teams that the school has had since the Duffy Daugherty-coached teams of the mid-sixties.
Full disclosure time: If you haven't already guessed, MSU football means more to me than MSU basketball. Don't get me wrong, I love all the success and glory that Tom Izzo has brought to Spartan hoops and I revel in all of the wonderful victories and championships they've had in the last twelve years. As a kid, I worshipped Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Gregory Kelser, Jay Vincent, and the rest of those two great Spartans teams of '77-'78 and '78-'79. I continued to follow MSU hoops through "death valley" losing years after Magic's departure and the brief resurgence with Sam Vincent, Scott Skiles, and Darryl Johnson. I was a student when the '89-'90 team beat Purdue in one of the most amazing games ever played to claim the Big Ten title, and watched in horror as the team's NCAA tournament came to a shocking and controversial end against Georgia Tech.
But when it really comes down to it, I live and breath Spartan football. I was raised on my parents' stories of Duffy Daugherty, Bubba Smith, and Clint Jones. The first Michigan State sporting event I ever attended, indeed my first college sporting event, was the 1977 MSU/Northwestern football game. On that blistering cold November Saturday, I watched an up-and-coming Spartan team thoroughly dismantle the Wildcats, 44-3. Ever since then, I've been hooked though the good times and (mostly) bad times. It's just in my DNA now. Perhaps it always was in my DNA.
I won't be able to see tomorrow's game against Penn State, as I'll be working at the South Lansing library. I don't know that I'll even be able to bring myself to follow the game on ESPN, as I won't be able to concentrate on work and serving our patrons. My plan is to rely solely on our patrons for updates, and if I get none I'll have to sneak a peak on ESPN at around 3:30 PM. I'm sure at least a few times, I'll mutter softly, "Don't get your hopes up", but a guy can dream, can't he?
Go State!
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