Michigan State football's expectations reduced to two humbling words: 'Program win'

Chris Solari | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Michigan State relieved to beat Maryland, earn bowl. What's it mean? Breaking down Michigan State's excruciating 19-16 win over Maryland, and what it means going forward, Nov. 30, 2019.

EAST LANSING — The victory was important enough for Mark Dantonio to give his players hats.

Across the back, two words: “Program win.” Michigan State football players got them a day earlier. Many wore them after a 19-16 win Saturday over Maryland.

“I think it was about a $4 hat, that floppy thing,” Dantonio said. “But I just felt like, hey, we had something to hang on to, to point to.”

Kenny Willekes proudly wore his hat as he sat down at a podium for postgame interviews, shortly after the Spartans became bowl eligible. Fellow captain Brian Lewerke took his off and set it down in front of him as they fielded questions together.

Then came a query about the hat.

Sheepishly, the senior quarterback picked it up, stared at those two words on the back for a moment, then hid it underneath the table on his lap briefly. It was a reminder of how a season filled with goals of championship trophies in August had been reduced to getting one more game in December.

Yes, it was a significant victory. Getting bowl eligible for the 12th time in Dantonio’s 13 seasons is the “minimum standard around here,” Lewerke said. Avoiding joining the 2016 group as the lone group without a bowl, which started many of the seniors’ careers, carries some meaning.

“If you can’t reach that,” Lewerke added, “then it’s obviously not a great season. We definitely needed to get six wins to boost us going into the bowl game and then for the guys coming back here next year, too.”

How the Spartans got to six wins, though, proved to be as grueling a task on the field as it was for those who braved the cold Saturday in the near-empty Spartan Stadium stands.

Two years of ineptitude on offense took over the turf one more time against Maryland. And all the trappings of the failings over most of the last 25 games were there, condensed into one 60-minute window.

Drives stalling in the red zone.

Getting stopped on fourth-and-1.

Lewerke not seeing open receivers, throwing behind or too low to others and getting picked off multiple times.

Running lanes collapsing as offensive linemen got moved backward.

Missing anything?

Somehow, the Spartans aren’t. They will be going to a bowl game, after all.

MSU managed just one touchdown, a sneak by Lewerke with 3:08 to play in the second quarter, and got four field goals from Matt Coghlin. His final make, with 2:14 to play after another possession fizzled, proved to be the game-winner.

The Spartans (6-6, 4-5 Big Ten) now await their bowl placement, which likely will be either the Pinstripe Bowl in New York or the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit.

“I think we'll have a Power 5 opponent and an opportunity to win seven and tilt the ledger this way a little bit,” Dantonio said. “I'll be excited where we'll go. Every bowl experience we've had, every single bowl experience we've had, has been a tremendous experience for our players, really for our fans, the ones that are there and for our football program and team. They have all been positive experiences and they've all helped us get better.

“At the end of the day, we need to continue to work toward getting better.”

MSU did not announce an official attendance until after the game and listed it at 51,366. However, there were maybe 25,000 fans who attended the game and suffered through a cold battle between two anemic offenses. Parking lots were empty, and the game felt like a spring game.

The Terrapins (3-9, 1-8) gained just 316 yards: 152 passing and 164 rushing. Anthony McFarland ran for 134 yards on just eight carries, scoring Maryland's only TD on a 63-yard run that gave the Terps a 16-13 lead early in the third quarter.

MSU’s offense somewhat emerged from turtle mode after that, with a 13-play, 59-yard drive leading to Coghlin’s 32-yard tying field goal and a 12-play, 74-yard march setting up his 33-yard winner. Those two drives ate up 11 minutes and 14 seconds of the fourth quarter.

“In those last couple of drives,” receiver Cody White said, “we were like, ‘We’re coming away with a win. No matter the circumstances.’”

After tiring season, Michigan State's Mark Dantonio happy to go bowling Mark Dantonio happy to go bowling, discusses Michigan State's win over Maryland and wraps up the Spartans' 6-6 regular season, Nov. 30, 2019.

Maryland moved the ball to near midfield on its final possession thanks to McFarland’s long kickoff return. However, MSU safety Xavier Henderson batted away a fourth-down pass from QB Josh Jackson intended for Chigoziem Okonkwo that allowed the Spartans to take a knee and get the extra game.

“There ain’t no way they were moving the ball on our defense,” senior defensive tackle Raequan Williams said. “That was the energy since that fourth quarter started. You felt everybody buy into it. So it was real.”

MSU finished with 432 yards, as Lewerke went 30 of 40 for 342 passing yards but was picked off twice and missed badly on his incompletions. The Spartans ran for just 88 yards on 37 attempts, an average of 2.4 yards per carry.

It was the seventh time this season MSU’s offense managed a touchdown or less. The Spartans came away empty on two of their six red-zone trips Saturday and had three field goals after stalled drives.

“It obviously wasn’t the greatest game. We had opportunities in the red zone again, should have had more points on the board,” Lewerke said. "But at the end of the day, a win is a win. It’s our sixth win, and we’re going to a bowl game. Coach D said, that’s the minimum standard around here. We want to make sure we reach that. A win’s a win.”

Lewerke picked his hat back up off the table before he walked out, before he and his teammates could get back to work. He and the rest of the Spartans’ seniors get a few more weeks of work together to make a better final impression to close their careers.

Contact Chris Solari at csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.