AD Mark Hollis and deputy AD Greg Ianni
EAST LANSING — On any other day, in any other game, the story would be the quarterback:
How a redshirt sophomore from Arizona buoyed a young offensive line, connected with a young — and speedy — group of receivers and led his team to an upset over a squad that looked like the best in the Big Ten a few weeks ago.
And in the box score, that’s the story you’d see:
That Brian Lewerke threw for 400 yards and two touchdowns. That he guided Michigan State down the field in the last few minutes of the game Saturday night to give the Spartans’ redshirt freshman kicker, Matt Coghlin, a chance to beat Penn State as the clock expired.
(He made it and they did, 27-24.)
That he threw the ball 56 times, a week after throwing it 57. Airing it out from the pocket, off his back foot, on the run. Feathering it over the shoulders of his receivers. Or into the kind of windows that look more familiar to quarterbacks who play on Sundays.
That Lewerke looks like the next, great signal caller at Michigan State.
Under any other circumstances, this would be the takeaway. What you’d remember after watching the Spartans knock off the Nittany Lions in a game that lasted 7 hours — thanks, rain.
And I wouldn’t blame you.
His talent is tantalizing. Not many quarterbacks who excel in the pocket and can quickly scan a defense can also torpedo a 14-yard fastball on the dead run. While escaping pressure. On third down. As Lewerke did early in the fourth quarter to extend the drive that tied the game at 24.
Even his coach, Mark Dantonio, is excited about how good Lewerke — and MSU’s young receivers’ — can be.
“He was throwing darts,” said Dantonio, the Spartans’ coach. “Hunter Rison (had) a couple big catches. Cody White has a big catch. I can keep naming them.”
So can Penn State’s cornerbacks, who got torched by Rison and White, but mostly by Felton Davis, MSU’s rangiest receiver, and also its oldest, at least among those who consistently play – the junior caught 12 passes (for 181 yards and a touchdown).
It's the same number of passes caught by receivers last year who are on this year’s roster. Think about that. Then think about how little experience Dantonio had to work with this season on the whole.
And that he had to do this without much expectation – though plenty of pressure – and under an off-season clouded by last year’s 3-9 record and an endless string of unflattering headlines.
Dantonio was asked Saturday night how he survived this. How he got this program back here, to this place, to a 7-2 record, to the kind of win that seemed improbable a month ago but now feels so familiar.
42 Photos
Photos: Michigan State 27, Penn State 24
To a chance to compete for a spot in the Big Ten title game. For real. In Columbus this Saturday.
So, again, how did he get back here so quickly?
“I don’t want to get too philosophical,” he said, “but I think mankind in general responds to adversity. When they see something happens negatively … you can go in hole … or fight your way out.”
He changed. Adapted. Encouraged his coaches to do the same.
“He’s always willing to make an adjustment,” said junior safety, Khari Willis. “He’s thinking 10 steps ahead.”
Like allowing Lewerke to air it out more than 100 times in the past two weeks. Like conceding that his offensive line isn’t yet made of the stuff that propelled those MSU teams that finished in the Top 5 three straight seasons.
Like emphasizing his relationship with his players.
“He builds that connection with us so we trust him,” said Willis. “That helps us.”
So, too, do his words.
“You can quote over half his sentences,” said Willis. “He has a lot of wisdom.”
Sometimes it’s just a few. As when he told Willis during his freshman year: “Don’t flinch.”
“I’’ve never forgotten that,” said Willis. “He looked me in the eye when he said it.”
Coghlin, the kicker who held the outcome of the game on his foot, got a message as well. In the form of a card Dantonio kept in his pocket Saturday night. The coach handed it to him just before he kicked -- with four seconds left in the game.
It read: "Tread on the lion and the cobra; trample the great lion."
There are several versions of the Bible verse, from Psalms, 91. All of them carry the same meaning. Which is: stick your neck out; conquer your fear.
When Dantonio gave his kicker the card, he offered a few words to go with it.
"Take it easy," he told him. "Don't worry about it. No stress. Kick the ball through."
Plenty of coaches offer bromides. And plenty can be inspirational. Dantonio's gift is that he can burrow into the psyche of a player and have something to say once he gets there.
He does the same for his team.
On Saturday, during the 3-hour, 22-minute rain delay, his message was short:
Relax.
Eat some pizza. Take a nap. Reboot when it gets close to game time.
“Just tried to make it as normal as we could,” he said.
It worked. And the proof is what unfolded in Spartan Stadium Saturday night. Where a rapidly ascending quarterback made a statement and a young kicker followed the advice of his coach and didn't stress.
"He told me, "you've been dreaming of this moment,'" Coghlin said.
So has Dantonio, since the last November, when his Spartans were crushed 45-12 at Penn State in the final game of the season. It's not that he wanted revenge, neccessarily.
It's that he wanted to show last year was an aberration. A one-off. That all the internal retooling would lead to a night like this, in the rain, a football tumbling end-over-end thorugh the uprights, a team decked in his favorite green swarming and sprinting toward their kicker.
It’s indisputable now. The rebuild came more quickly than anyone could have imagined. That’s the story. Even if Lewerke will be the headline.
Whether the Spartans beat the Buckeyes or not. Whether they get back to Indianapolis – site of the conference title game – or not.
Whether they run the table and play in a January bowl and finish in the Top 5 or not.
"We have a young football team that is very energetic, very team-oriented, and starting to become very sure of themselves," said Dantonio.
We can see the Spartans again. Dantonio sees them, too.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.
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