Shamed into action.

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So . . . right. Thanks to extremely patient commenter Dave, who somehow didn’t forget about us in the intervening 4 months (gah), and to Spartans Weblog. We’ll try to stick with it this time. Seriously.

However, it’s a good a time as any to get back into the action, as the season previews and puff pieces are coming fast and furious — and by in large, they’re sounding a positive chord about our prospects for this season, and more importantly, the general direction of the program. Lord knows that we should all be thankful for the positive press; we haven’t had much of it since the Saban days, and it will, at the very least, contribute to the improving vibe surrounding our program. The Detroit News provided the fluffiest of the fluff last week, when they declared that Dantonio has stabilized the program. I think the general tenor of the article is correct; I’m generally bullish on our program in the long-term, largely because of our vastly-improved facilities and continued success on the recruiting trail. And I’m apparently not the only one; increased demand has led the athletic department to add 3,300 new student seats this year.

Good form, awful shirt.

However, I’m worried about setting expectations too high for this season, for a few reasons. One is recent history: we all remember how John L”ansing” Smith (it pains me to even type those letters) came into town with with a changed attitude and fresh perspective. And he delivered: an unexpected 8-5 in 2003 was a complete reversal of the 2002 debacle. However, his second season delivered nothing but disappointment: a horribly underachieving 5-7 team, which gave us an embarrassing season-opening loss to Rutgers, a game that never happened in Ann Arbor, a blowout in Happy Valley, and a pathetic fourth-quarter capitulation to lose in the first game of our mega-rivalry with Hawaii. This, of course, all happened during my senior year. Dammit.

The one redeeming Saturday in ‘04.

The main reason, of course, is our team itself. On paper, I like our squad. Everyone knows that the two most improbable reasons for our relative success last year are gone*: Devin Thomas is in Washington, and Jonal St.-Dic (snicker) is off doing God knows what; in addition, Caulcrick is gone. But, we still have Javon Ringer, the best running back in the Big Ten not named Beanie, and we’ve got Hoyer, who was actually better than expected last year if you discount the dreadfulness in the bowl game. Nearly everyone else important returns. Deon Curry and especially Mark Dell have an opportunity to step up in a big way, and by all accounts Cincinnati transfer Trevor Anderson has the potential to be a dominant defensive lineman. Greg Jones is moving to middle linebacker and could be the best player on the whole team.

*The one departure I don’t think people are paying enough attention to is Kellen Davis. He had 32 catches and 6 touchdowns last year, and his blocking improved markedly. We have more depth at wide receiver, but I’d be shocked if Charlie Gantt or either of our freshmen at the position are able to be anywhere near as productive. And apologies to Joe Posnanski, the greatest sports blogger/columnist in the universe, for blatantly stealing his asterisk-happy style.

But really, were we all that great last season? We were 2-6 in games decided by a touchdown or less. The two wins were against Pitt and Penn State, and the Pitt win had as much to do with their indefensible coaching as it did with our guys stepping up. (I mean, really, Wannstache, you’re not gonna give LeSean McCoy one single carry in either of your last two drives? Really? Plus, either way, we didn’t do anything to put that game away; we put 17 points on the board, did very little in the second half, and Pitt just sucked too much to catch up.)

But those six losses were agonizing. Everyone knows about the Michigan game; the final score in the OSU game flattered us, and we probably could have won the Wisconsin game, but Camp Randall is an awfully difficult place to play. Either way, you can’t be all that disappointed with either of those three games, because we lost to better teams. We would have won the BC game had it not been for an anomalously awful game from Hoyer. That leaves Northwestern and Iowa, two utterly indefensible losses. If we win those two (as we should have), we’re 9-3 and playing on New Year’s Day. We just didn’t get the job done.

I take significant solace in our performance against PSU in the last home game of the year; I was ecstatic because we finally, finally showed a killer instinct and made big, big plays. (And by “we,” I mean Devin Thomas. Again, problems.) But usually, our problem has been on defense; and namely, with our secondary, which has time and again been absolutely scorched in critical situations. And not just against Michigan — against, again, Northwestern and Iowa. (Remember how Iowa scored to tie the game with 0:00 left? Ok, maybe it’s better to not remember that.)

Remember when our secondary used to, y'know, make plays? That was cool.

The bulk of this is probably best saved for a longer post sometime before the season starts, but I think our relative success or failure this year is going to be determined by how our secondary plays. The Blue Ribbon Preview ($) notes that ours hasn’t been halfway-decent since 2000, when Dantonio actually was our secondary coach. Sadly, not every opposing quarterback is going to suck as much as Anthony Morelli, and no matter how well our offense plays, we’re not going to win close games if teams with decent passing offenses are continually able to shred our secondary in the fourth quarter. It has to be a major emphasis both in coaching and recruiting, especially since our returning starters at cornerback are Kendall Davis-Clark and Ross Weaver: two guys that Greg Matthews and Mario Manningham embarrassed in turn last November.

So, I think the upshot of all of this is: I love that we’re getting decent publicity, and I think it’s great that the aura of failure that has enveloped this program for so long is dissipating even a little bit. However, let’s keep our expectations realistic for this year. We’re not going to win the conference, and we’re almost certainly not going to finish in the top 3. JLS left the program in better shape than Bobby Williams did, but the cupboard still isn’t very full, and we have some serious deficiencies that the best teams are going to be able to exploit. Eight wins would be an excellent return and absolutely something for the best recruiting class we’ve had in years to build on. Let’s get it done.

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