DotComp: It was almost beautiful at Michigan State, but when the game started, Harlon Barnett’s debut fell flat

East Lansing, Mich. – The setting, the situation and the symbolism was potentially beautiful. But the result for Michigan State on Saturday couldn’t have been uglier.

Six days after the apparent disgraceful end of the Mel Tucker era, former Spartan great, and trusted lieutenant Harlon Barnett, with football lineage dating back to Perles, Saban and Dantonio, led the Spartans across the Red Cedar River, over the bridge that bears no name, through the woods adjacent to Old College Field, and toward the campus coliseum. 

He felt the roar of thousands of Michigan State fans who arrived along the pathway to show him, and his hundred-man football army, that they loved him. And they loved this team. And they loved Michigan State. Still. Everlasting. The actions of one person can’t change that, or their love for their university, or their love for their classmates, or their diplomas, or their memories on these acres. 

This was sport. But it was also support. And it was a feeling of extended family that you wouldn’t understand if you weren’t one of them. If someone has to explain to you what it’s like to be a Spartan, you wouldn’t understand it anyway. So no one bothers to try. You either get it, or you don’t. You either are, or you aren’t. 

Barnett is. 

And these other Spartans, whether or not they ever played a down, they know he is, and can feel it. He is one of them. He belongs to them. And they belong to him. 

Barnett felt the support. And he wanted so badly to deliver. Deliver good football, and maybe one of those Michigan State upset victories that gets talked about for decades.

Before crossing the bridge, he turned and pumped his arm two times, and raised a fist to his players. Most of them nodded back, or returned a raised fist. They followed him across. You could see the caged passion on his face as he saw the crowd form along the sidewalk. Bigger than usual. Much bigger, now that the longer, original route was restored. Now that the team really needed support. 

Several things were re-instituted this week, including Mark Dantonio as a special advisor to Barnett’s staff. The changes weren’t done in a disrespectful way to Tucker. But in a way that Barnett hopes will center the program back to accountability, physicality, blocking, tackling and traditional Spartan defense.

Dantonio didn’t walk with the team from Kellogg Center to the stadium. He left that for the interim head coach to lead, as it should be.

Two hours later, when Barnett led the uniformed Spartans through the Spartan Stadium tunnel, toward the field entrance, minutes before kickoff, the crowd erupted at the site of Barnett on the videoboard. It was chilling. 

“Thunderstruck” returned as the entrance music. Not everybody likes that song. The players back in the 20-teens didn’t love it. But it had been absent since 2019, and sure sounded right on this day. The crowd embraced it. It felt like the 20-teens.

Dantonio trailed behind everybody as the team ran out of the tunnel. But when the camera people spotted him on the sideline a few moments later and put his live image on the videoboard, the place went bonkers. 

A hurting citizenry needs its leaders. There’s only one face who could restore faith, belief and pride in these people about a Michigan State football coach, and they were looking at it. He’s stern, sincere, well-meaning and gifted.  

If you were there, and you were one of them, you felt it. If you were there and you weren’t one of them, you won’t get it. And you don’t need to. This went beyond sports. It was community. Mark Dantonio was there to support this community, and to support his longtime friend and lieutenant, Barnett. 

But it takes more than one practice week, and several days of distracted preparation, to morph a defense, and a team, back into the type of battalion Barnett played for in ’87, or coached in ’13, Michigan State’s last two Rose Bowl campaigns, back when Rose Bowls were the meaning of life. 

Barnett took over a program on Sunday that has fielded the worst pass defenses in back-to-back years in Michigan State history. The Spartans ranked outside of the Top 100 in pass defense in each of the past two seasons. Barnett coached the safeties during those two seasons, but he doesn’t have control of the overall philosophy of the defense. That has been sculpted by defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton.

Hazelton had a couple of good years at Kansas State and was hired by Tucker in 2020. Barnett is a terrific person. Everyone likes him. Hazelton is well-liked, too. They get along. They’re trying to get this right. But morphing Hazelton’s defense into fluent Sabanese can’t be accomplished in two or three days of padded practice. And it’s unlikely to get done in a matter of weeks.

Barnett doesn’t have many weeks. Each loss is like losing a poker chip as he tries to demonstrate that he is a good enough coach – and organizer and politician – to be elevated from interim head coach to permanent head coach. 

He has five chips at the most. With this defeat, he lost a chip. He might have four chips left. Maybe three. A few more losses, and he will be out of chips. 

I don’t know how many wins he needs to get support from athletic director Alan Haller and gain the full-time job. It feels like 7-5 might acquire strong consideration. Or 7-5 might not be enough. It probably depends how pretty the 7-5 is, if he is able to guide the team that far. At this point, after Saturday’s 41-7 loss, a 7-5 record seems less likely that I expected 48 hours ago. 

Michigan State, and its bad pass defenses of the past two years, met Washington, which led the nation in pass offense in 2022 and leads the nation this year. The matchup yielded disastrous results. Washington could have scored 70 points and rolled up 900 yards if it wished. 

Washington amassed 713 yards of total offense, the most by a Michigan State opponent in school history. Who held the previous record? Mr. Nick Saban – in his debut as Michigan State head coach, against Nebraska, in 1995. Dantonio was the secondary coach that day. 

You can be a Hall of Fame coach and still be involved in a 666-yard bludgeoning, like the one Saban and Dantonio endured against the Huskers in 1995. 

Saban had a trunk load of chips back then, and time to build. Barnett doesn’t have that luxury. He needs to impress soon. This game against Washington was a great opportunity, but a daunting task. I’m not sure when I’ve seen a better passing attack at Spartan Stadium than this Washington outfit.

Michigan State has instituted more zone defenses this season than in the previous three seasons under Tucker and Hazelton. I thought this was a positive step, to become more varied with some traditional coverages. There was reason to believe that the 11-man unit was improving its ability to play with a single brain, and play with more physicality. 

This blowout loss doesn’t necessarily mean improvement is a lost cause. But there are doubters today. As long as there are no doubters in the football building, Barnett still has a chance.

You can be a coach, and have a good team, and still give up a crazy number through the air – as long as the bleeding doesn’t carry over to subsequent games. 

Prior to Saturday, three of the five worst pass defense days in Spartan history were waged against Michigan State teams that ended up finishing in the Top 10 in the national polls. 

Baylor dealt Michigan State its worst pass defense day in school history when the Bears pased for 603 yards in the 2014 Cotton Bowl, against Dantonio and Pat Narduzzi. But Michigan State used good offense and special teams, and good enough red zone defense, and the ability to stop the run, to turn that day into one of the most emotional football victories in Spartan history.

Michigan State gave up 536 yards through the air to Purdue in 2021. Michigan State lost that day, but went on to beat Narduzzi and Pitt in the Peach Bowl, finishing 11-2.

When Michigan State allowed 509 yards to Drew Brees and Purdue in 1999, that was the fifth worst pass defense day in school history, prior to Saturday. Michigan State lost that day, but later beat Florida in the Citrus Bowl and finished No. 10 in the national polls. That was right after Saban left Michigan State to take the LSU job. Bobby Williams became head coach. 

Williams was head coach two years later when Michigan State gave up 531 yards through the air to David Carr and Fresno State in the Silicon Valley Bowl. Michigan State won that bowl game. Not exactly New Years Day, but the Spartans gladly accepted it back then, and would surely take it now 

Good teams sometimes give up huge numbers through the air. This team needs to prove Saturday’s onslaught won’t be a repeat problem. But if the problems persist through the season, Barnett won’t be around to try to fix them in 2024.

Bobby Williams was at Saturday’s Michigan State game, in the press box, visiting for the first time since 2002. He was decked out in Spartan gear, wearing a big smile, supporting Barnett, Dantonio and the rest. 

Williams still is. 

Barnett always was, and always will be. Regardless how this 10-week audition turns out.

LIMITED CHIPS AT THE TABLE

Barnett’s first week as interim head coach ended horribly. Barnett lost, but he’s not defeated. He said he felt the urge to get back home and turn on Maryland film and get to work on next week. That game is a crucial chip. We aren’t even into late September yet, and it feels like crisis mode.

I’ve been saying since the spring that the game against Washington wasn’t going to be the litmus test that signaled the direction of the season. I’ve said for months the Maryland game would be the pivotal point of the season.

Maryland went 8-5 last year and is a high-scoring 3-0 team. But it’s a winnable game. So are games against Minnesota, Nebraska, Rutgers and Indiana. Run the table in the winnable games, and you’re 7-5. That sounds like a reasonable proposition, but the Spartans are going to be underdogs in at least two of those games, maybe more if next weekend goes poorly. 

Heading into the weekend, I felt good about Michigan State’s chances of keeping that chip and beating Maryland. Following this destructive loss to Washington, it’s harder to find optimism. 

Getting assailed through the air by Washington is no great indignity. They roll it up on everyone. I figured Michigan State would give up at least 31 points. But I expected Michigan State to score at least 21. However, the Spartan offense barely made a dent. The run game, behind a veteran offensive line, was supposed to be a maturing plus for Michigan State this year. But they haven’t delivered.  

UConn transfer Nathan Carter rushed for more than 100 yards in each of the first two games, but the Spartans had disturbing problems in short yardage against Central Michigan. And they didn’t blow holes in Richmond’s defensive front. 

Against Washington, the Spartans rushed for just 53 yards, at 2.0 per carry. Carter played through some pain. I’m concerned that he is already starting to wear down. 

If Michigan State had given up 500 yards passing in this game, and 38 points, but rushed for 180 yards and scored 21 points, I probably could have seen enough positives to support the theory that Michigan State is/was still capable of running the table on those “winnable” remaining games. But the rush yards and those Spartan points never came.

Washington’s rush defense was mediocre against Boise State and Tulsa, allowing more than four yards per carry against those teams.

The ineffectiveness of MSU’s running game, to me, is more alarming than the destruction Michigan State felt through the air on defense. 

Michigan State quarterback Noah Kim was sacked twice, and knocked down several times. After the Central Michigan game, he mentioned that he hadn’t gotten hit since 2019. He said he kind of liked it. On this day, he got hit, and he didn’t seem to like it. He wasn’t comfortable in the pocket. 

Kim showed terrific arm talent on a few occasions, but there were other times when his foot athleticism and rifle didn’t operate together in the pocket. He hasn’t found a feel for moving from side to side in the pocket, or getting out of the pocket to elongate plays and find passing windows downfield.

That’s easy for me to say, in the press box while getting fat eating doughnuts. But Kim is the one with the talent, and this rough task of playing quarterback for a Big Ten team with a crazy-tough schedule. He has the tools to be very good. But he won’t get there until he becomes comfortable staring down the barrel of pressure in order to make heroic throws, and shows the ability to escape trouble, feel the rush, and optimize his arm skills.

The combination of a lack of running game, and shaky pass protection, and Kim’s rawness in the pocket, made the proposition of trading touchdowns with Washington impossible. 

Which problem is Barnett most likely to solve? The offense is out of his hands. He can make general philosophical statements, like: “Let’s go the air at the end of the half. I don’t want to just run out the clock.” But, for the most part, the offensive coaches are the professionals on that side of the ball, and he inherited them and their playbook. Best of luck.

DESPERATELY SEEKING FUSION

Barnett is a defensive coach by trade. Barnett’s system, and his ability to deploy it, might not be better than Hazelton’s. Barnett struggled as defensive coordinator at Florida State for one and a half seasons in 2018 and ’19. There were other factors at fault down there,  but it’s a negative mark on his resumé.

Barnett has the power to suggest changes in Hazelton’s defense. I’m sure some are already being sewn in. But MSU’s linebackers have been taught for four years that they don’t need to re-route receivers passing through their air space on the way to the deep third. That’s not the Barnett way. Even if Barnett wanted to institute that commandment of the Saban/Dantonio doctrine, the chances of getting it right in mid-season are improbable. And that’s just one aspect of the way Barnett’s world differs from Hazelton’s. That doesn’t mean Hazelton’s way is flawed. But the interim head coach has to find the staples and screws that can be tightened in order to keep this ship from sinking and losing all of his chips. 

It starts with effort, focus and willingness to win collisions. After Saban’s first game as head coach at Michigan State, he berated some of his players’ effort in the fourth quarter.

“We had players quit out there!” Saban said in the postgame press conference. 

Saban wasn’t yelling at media, or the fans. He was yelling at his players through the media. Within a couple of weeks, a few veteran starters had lost their jobs to freshmen.

Saban had a lot of chips. Barnett does not. Barnett is already playing with a young secondary – a talented one, but one that received a severe lesson from Washington on Saturday. He probably can’t dock anyone’s playing time with an eye on year four, the way Saban did. 

However, one of the top priorities for Barnett in the near term is to keep the players motivated, and willing to win collisions for him, and for the team. That’s not an automatic proposition. Football is not an easy, natural undertaking. Winning collisions requires motivation and a level of mind control that the best coaches have an uncanny ability to instill.

At the end of Saturday’s game, I saw fourth-string running back Jordon Simmons, who has moved up to No. 2 due to injuries, churning, and fighting and trying, despite a 41-0 score. He battled to gain first-down yardage on third-and-three. That’s what I’m talking about.

I saw Michigan State dust off a nice little special play they had for this game in the final minutes, finding tight end Tyneil Hopper on a middle screen in the red zone. Hopper turned and twisted and pushed to move the pile toward the goal line. Just to try to put Michigan State in position to break the shutout. 

Hopper, a sixth-year college player, but a Spartan for only nine months, stayed upright and strained forward, inside the 5-yard line, inside the 4, slowly to the 3. Then extra bodies came into the pile. At some point, someone crashed into Hopper’s knee from behind, at a dangerous angle. His knee buckled in an unnatural way. He went down with an injury, and was carted off the field. It looked severe. He sacrificed. 

It’s a grim sport. Simmons and Hopper, battling from the third string, laid it out there for the team. Barnett needs more of that. He needs all of that, from everyone.

In order for Barnett to have a chance to get to seven or eight wins, the run game must begin to deliver, the pass defense must be functional against beatable teams, and Kim needs to develop quickly in all aspects of pocket passing.

Barnett was asked after the game if any players have opted to shut down the rest of their season in order to preserve redshirt status before heading to the transfer portal. That’s the college football world we live in today. Barnett respected the question.

“Nobody has said that, not one guy,” Barnett said. “That’s a good thing. And hopefully these guys won’t do that. and they will say, ‘Hey, let’s finish this out.’ 

“Hopefully everybody will push through and that all of our goals are still in front of us, so let’s go attack the Big Ten season.”

Michigan State has a terrific person and lieutenant to get the best out of these players for the remainder of this season. In the process, he hopes he gets the promotion to wear all the stripes. 

Haller will be watching closely. He loves Barnett and wants him to succeed badly. But Haller has to keep an eye on what’s best for the program for the long term. Barnett has to prove he can rescue this season, and also has the organizational skills and vision to chart the course for the future.

Meanwhile, there will be other coaching candidates on Haller’s radar. Some would love to coach at Michigan State. Some will be contacted, and express no interest. 

You know some of the obvious early candidates. Mike Elko at Duke, Dave Clawson at Wake Forest, Chris Klieman at Kansas State, Lance Leipold at Kansas are some of the proven coaches at the Power Five level who might be enticed to speak with Michigan State. Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi could hover into the conversation, and mid-major coaches such as Jason Candle at Toledo, Chris Creighton at Eastern Michigan and Charles Huff and Marshall will be observed in case any of them wins nine or 10 games this year and shows continued promise. 

Some of those guys are a little bit older than the ideal. But usually it takes a coach a few years to establish a winning habit at the Power Five level. 

But the prospect that Michigan State is on the verge of a coaching search makes a day like Saturday digestible – knowledge that Michigan State’s current pain has a remedy coming. If Barnett can do the amazing and fix it, great. If he can’t, then Michigan State will change course with a new head coach.

If this 41-7 loss had taken place under Tucker, the solutions wouldn’t have been as clear. He would still have eight years or whatever remaining on his huge contract. He would have been given more time, of course. What choice did Michigan State have? There’s a chance he would have stabilized the program and continued to build. Or things might have gone sideways. Michigan State was backed into a corner with Tucker. Now Michigan State has an exit path. The pain could continue to build this season, but there’s an exit, and the promise that in 2024, a new vision will dawn, one way or another. 

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