Barnett urges Michigan State to play for pride in wake of sixth straight loss
Michigan State interim head coach Harlon Barnett had a simple message for his football team after they dropped a 27-12 loss at Minnesota on Saturday – keep fighting.
“You usually say that November is for contenders,” Barnett said during his post-game press conference. “Now, we are not contending for a championship, but we are contending for Spartan pride, Spartan Nation. We are contending for our team, that team we have in the locker room, so I said, ‘let’s go 4-0 in November.’ That’s the mindset.”
Veteran defensive tackle Simeon Barrow, who entered the NCAA transfer portal on Tuesday before pulling his name of the portal and returning to the team on Thursday embodies the keep fighting mindset that Michigan State is seeking to keep intact despite the uncertainty surrounding the program.
“He brings leadership, he brings enthusiasm, and he brings toughness,” Barnett said. “He is a really good football player and he brings all of that to the table and he has the respect of his teammates. They love him. We love him and he loves us. He brings a guy that has been here, and been through some things with us.”
For Barnett, part of that fight is finding a way to finish games. Similar to other losses in winnable games this season, Michigan State found a way to lose in the fourth quarter against Minnesota instead of finding a way to win.
“We didn’t finish like we need to,” said Barnett. “We’ve been talking about finish, finish, finish, and we didn’t quite finish like we needed to. We’ll just keep talking about it, harping on it, and working on it, but that is where the breakdown came, in the fourth quarter.”
Trying to make something happen for Michigan State
With Michigan State struggling to finish, Barnett opted to go for an onside kick in the fourth quarter just after the Spartans had scored their lone touchdown of the game on a pass from Sam Leavitt to Tyrell Henry. That on-side kick was recovered by Minnesota, which proceeded to take advantage of the short field and answer with a touchdown of its own.
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“That was my call, and it was something that we had worked on and practiced,” Barnett said. “We are trying to gain that extra possession. We are trying to get back in it, and we thought we had it. It was a good job, and it was a good kick. It was a good job by their guy fielding the kick. It was good execution on their part and on our part as far as the kick itself. They made the play. We are just trying to make a play and get an extra possession.”
When asked if he would make the same call in a similar situation, the Michigan State interim coach indicated that it was part of his job to make decisions.
“That’s part of coaching,” he said. “You have to make decisions. If I look back on it, I would probably say no now because I know what happened. But if we had got the ball, I would say, ‘hey great call.’ That’s part of coaching. You live with it and keep moving forward.”
It is easy to criticize Barnett for the on-side kick in that situation, but there is no guarantee that if Michigan State had kicked the ball off and forced the Golden Gophers to go 75 yards instead of 50 yards that the result would have been any different. By that point in the game, Michigan State was clearly getting worn down on defense and the run plays that gained two or three yards in the first half were going for five, six, or even more yards in the fourth quarter.
