Harlon Barnett admits loss to Rutgers was a gut punch

Harlon Barnett is still looking for his first victory as Michigan State’s interim head coach over the past five weeks. That’s why their latest blown lead in their loss to Rutgers was as tough of a pill to swallow as it was.

Barnett talked about the Spartan’s 27-24 defeat in Piscataway to the Scarlet Knights during his press conference on Monday. He was frank about it as he described the comeback loss as a shot that he and the program took.

“I’m not going to lie – Saturday was a gut punch. That was a gut punch,” Barnett said.

Rutgers entered the fourth quarter down 24-6 on their home field at SHI Stadium. However, from that moment on, they exploded. After not finding the endzone in the first 45 minutes, the Scarlet Knights scored three touchdowns, the first on defense and the last two on offense, in the final 15 to take the lead and eventually win by three.

This came two weeks after Michigan State blew a 16-10 lead that they had over Iowa before their bye. That means, in total, the Spartans have been outscored 34-0 in their last two fourth quarters to lose two games that were within grasp or practically sealed.

Still, while Barnett admitted how painful this loss was, he knows he must continue to put on a brave face for his players. He doesn’t want their hardships to change him as he’s supposed to stand before them as the one they currently look toward.

“As a man, as a leader? You have to step up in those situations and try to just get understanding of what it’s all about, the big picture. Then relay it to the young men,” said Barnett.

“I told them, hey, man, in life? Adversity is going to hit and that’s when you find out who a person really is – in the midst of adversity,” said Barnett. “I’m no different. So I have to step up, be the person that I say that I am, and present that to them so they can have an example to possibly look to.”

Greg Schiano describes emotions after Rutgers’ comeback victory vs. Michigan State

Michigan State had Greg Schiano and Rutgers dead to rights in the fourth quarter. Even so, the Scarlet Knights managed to pull off a comeback and won 27-24 in what could be described as an emotional victory for Schiano.

The usually stoic and serious-minded coach isn’t afraid to show off his passion on the sideline. This time, though, it might’ve been more of a sigh of relief to see hard pay off. Schiano described what went through his head as the clock hit all zeroes.

“I don’t know if I was emotional,” Schiano said postgame. “There was so much hard math. It was right on the cusp. That’s why I went bananas when the clock got mixed up. We were right on the edge but I knew we had it if we did what we did. And then all of a sudden the clock changed. So I was — that went from, okay, now, we got it, which should have been right from the beginning, right. It’s out there. You have to make sure you do that clock exactly right.

“After the game, it was probably as much relief. But I was really happy for our players. These kids work so hard. For them to have it pay off? Because they have certainly had their tough times. That was a really good day for them today.”