.. _0 0 0 6 - The Michigan Daily - Kkkoff '99 - Thursday, September 9, 1999 w Thursday, September 9, 1999 - Kickc r State hopes to thrive on new attitude By UJ.Be"I Daily Sports Editor In one way, the Michigan State foot- ball team is the most consistent in the nation under Nick Saban. The Spartans come into every season talking about how they will break into the Big Ten elite. The Spartans eventually win enough games - six - to assure themselves of a non-losing season but are unable to make the jump to a New Year's Day bowl appearance. But the Spartans also can lay claim to being the most enigmatic team in America as well, as Michigan State runs hot and cold worse than a faucet when the shower is on. Last season, the Spartans lost, 48-14, to Oregon and responded by destroying then-No. 11 Notre Dame, 45-23 in their next game. Michigan State continued its roller coaster ride later in the season, shocking then-No. 1 Ohio State on the road two weeks after losing to Minnesota for the first time in 22 years. While the schizophrenic nature of the Spartans makes for good conversation, it is wearing on the team and Saban. "We have to prove that we are good enough football players and a good enough football team in every game," Saban before the season began. "We have not been able to finish football games the last couple of years." To accomplish this, Saban and his staff put an emphasis on team chemistry during spring and summer drills. According to senior captain Gari Scott, the chemistry class should prove worth- while this season. "In spring practice, everybody was supporting each other and was interested in what everybody was doing," Scott said. "I think our team was too segregat- ed last year. During the big games we'd come together, but we lost our focus too often. We have been really close to win- ning eight or nine games and breaking through the last two seasons. We don't want mental breakdowns to cause us to come up short again." Michigan State is expected to come up short of the Big Ten elite this season not because of mental breakdowns, but because of the loss of talent instead. With last year's offensive focal point, running back Sedrick Irvin, leaving after his junior season, the Spartans have a lot of offense to replace. Much of that production will come from the air, as new offensive coordina- tor Morris Watts plans to put more of an emphasis on passing. "I'm excited about this," Scott said. "We're going to be throwing 30-35 pass- es a game, which I'm looking forward to." With all the passes that will travel in Spartan Stadium this fall, there will be a lot of pressure on quarterback Bill Burke. Burke, much maligned last year due to inconsistent play, has the full con- fidence of the players and coaching staff to implement the new system. "Bill played better and better as the year went on," Saban said. "With that experience and confidence he should be better this season. The team just seems to play better with him." Burke will have two of the better receivers in the Big Ten in Scott and 6- foot-6 junior Plaxico Burress. Defensively, the Spartans are stacked at linebacker, with six returning letter- man. That, along with the signing of top linebacker recruit T.J. Duckett, has Michigan State plugging.its linebackers into other positions. "I'm thinking of moving Shawn Wright to fullback," Saban said. "He played the position in high school, but he has never put his hand in the grass at fullback in college, so we'll have to see." Saban would like to see the Spartans break through and get to an elusive New Year's Day bowl. While Michigan State doesn't have the high expectations that it had last year, Saban thinks that this team might be ready to aspire to what was expected of them last year. What do you want from Ll o? Has QB situation isfine Michigan State took revenge on Oregon last week, shooting down'the Ducks, 27-20. AP PHOTO MICHIGAN STATE S P A R T A N 4-4 Big Ten, 6-6 overall S 0 I Octbe 9, est lncinInoo, AB OFFENSE DEFENSE QB LT LG C RG RT TE TB FB FL SE Bill Burke Tupe Peko Dave Sucura Casey Jensen Shaun Mason Greg Robinson-Randall Chris Baker Lloyd Clemons Dawan Moss Plaxico Burress Gari Scott LE LT RT DE LOLB RILB ROLB SS FS LCB RC B Nick Myers Jace Sayler Desmond Thomas Robaire Smith Julian Peterson T.J. Turner Josh Thornhill Aric Morris Richard Newsome Cedric Henry Renaldo Hill Scott Scott Jensen SPECIAL TEAMS K Paul Edinger P Craig Jarrett KR PR LS Urichs has youcovere Come in and see our huge supply of top brand name clothes and gifts! N 16 R'SSeI, ----------------------------------------------------- ----------- DAILY SPECIAL: Clemons. The former walk-on leads a threesome of running backs who are looking to replace star tailback Sedrick Irvin. GRADE: The Spartans have flashy players, but can they play with the same intensity every weekend? B- SU NDAY SPECIAL, Wolverines Score- You Save! 5% off for every touchdown up to 2off on all U of M gifts and clothing What more do you need to see, Lloyd? The writer wanted to know. Lloyd Carr has probably seen more of his quar- terbacks, Tom Brady and Drew Henson, than anyone else had since spring practice began. He'd watched countless passes, handoffs, snaps, pitches, laterals. All prettyR close. Not the same. But close. Freeman How to decide? Lloyd went with Brady, the fifth-year senior who turned an 0- 2 season into 10- 3. The one elect- FREEMAN OF ed captain by his THE PRESS teammates. The experienced choice. The Michigan choice. For a quarter. The choice won't go away this sea- son as long as both quarterbacks are breathing. Everyone expects Lloyd to eventu- ally choose, but why? The situation hasn't called for a definitive started and a definitive bench warmer. Both had quarter-long auditions. And they were almost dead even. Henson completed three of his eight passes for 40 yards. Brady had com- pleted four of six for 37 yards. Both engineered drives inside Notre Dame's 20. Both came away with field goals. Both times, they completed passes after false-start penalties turned third-and-long into third-and-longer. At halftime, Lloyd chose Brady to start the half. He told his team they had the same opportunity they had the year before. They could start the second half right, get a touchdown. Brady got the ball, Michigan got a touchdown and Lloyd had some evi- dence that maybe, maybe this was his man. Worry time came later. Michigan was down to 4:08, down three points and needed the offense to bail out the team. Armed with confidence, Brady stepped onto the field with the game, the season and the his starting job on the line. His first pass was dropped. Jitters. Brady could have been gulping Pepto. If he was ever going to be rat- tIed, now was the time. It was the opener, against Notre Dame in the Big House. He was headed into the marshmallow-cov- ered end of the field. If he failed, his fellow students would have the clos- est view. They made him score twice. Anthony Thomas was ruled down before he crossed the goal line. Nope. Sorry. Third and goal from the one. On Thomas' second attempt he came close to the goal line. The touchdown call was debatable, but then again, on the play before, he probably did make it. But it didn't matter. Brady had looked disaster in the face, and calmly walked away. His roommate, defensive end Pat Kratus, thinks he knows. He saw how happy Brady was when he got the news that he would start. He hugged his friend when he walked in the door. Brady had been elected captain by his teammates. Literally a vote of confidence for Brady, it gave him the even-keel calm to lead that game- winning drive. But then again, Henson might have done the same thing. He didn't have the vote of his teammates behind him in such tangible form. But Henson has this: Carr has called Henson the most talented quarterback prospect he has ever been around. He recruit- ed no other quarterbacks that year. He allowed Henson to recruit Marquise Walker and David Terrell as his wide receivers. When Carr prais- es Henson's raw talent, he is not referring to the sophomore's ability with a clipboard and a headset. How to decide? What more do you want from me? Lloyd asked the writer. Well, letting us in on the decision would have been nice, but not Lloyd's style. Although it's true he told a gathering of reporters that he would, in fact, tell them of his decision, he changed his mind. The week before Notre Dame, he was all smirks and maybes. A million times and in even more ways, he was asked who will start. "We'll just have to see." More smirking. When reminded of his promise Lloyd explained it this way: "I made an announcement, to the people that count - the players." Lloyd had his reasons to snub the media. Notre Dame had played an early game, Michigan hadn't. And Lloyd wasn't about to tip his hand to the Irish. Not when he wasn't even entirely sure which one was better. Even with all that he's seen he can't completely rule one out. He may not knfow right now, but maybe this isn't one of those things that he needs to have written in stone just yet. His problem: Too much quarter- back talent. He's not complaining. There are far worse things. Ask John Cooper. - Rick Freeman can be reachedvia e-mail at rickfree@umich.edu. I PAo HE*~~ Xj 7 Bookstore 549 E. University 0 662-3201 *.7 Home Game Hours: M-F 9-6 Sat* 9:30-5 Sun 11-5 *depending on start time of game, store hours may vary. Corner of State and N. 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