After Michigan State blew a fourth-quarter lead and lost to Notre Dame late last Saturday night, Spartans quarterbacks coach Dan Enos homed in on protege Drew Stanton.
Stanton’s head was bowed in resignation.
Enos could relate. In 1990, he was the senior quarterback when MSU lost to Notre Dame 20-19 after leading 19-7 in the fourth quarter.
“To see a guy like Drew Stanton with his head down … what a competitor, what a great young man, what a hard worker … it made me feel very dejected,” Enos said. “But it also put a fire in my heart to say, `I don’t want to see this young man look like this again.'”
Enos had to regroup in 1990, and he did. The Notre Dame loss became a turning point. MSU later beat Michigan, earned a share of the Big Ten title and beat Southern California in the John Hancock Bowl to finish 8-3-1.
Now as a coach, it is Enos’ mission to help Stanton do the same.
At the first practice last week, Enos said Stanton “looked at me and said, `Let’s move on, Coach. Illinois.’ I said, `That’s exactly right.'”
Michigan State’s season will hinge largely on Stanton’s ability to recover against the Fighting Illini on Saturday and against Michigan and Ohio State the next two weeks. Stanton has more than proved himself statistically, but his struggles in big games have some wondering.
The senior said the Spartans haven’t figured out how to finish games and he hopes he can still help deliver “that knockout punch.”
“Playing the position that I play, you have to be able to take the burden of what happened,” Stanton said.
Said Enos: “If we let this game affect us at all during the rest of the season, not only did they beat us Saturday, they beat us several more times during the year.”
