John L. Smith didn't wax poetic about his team's season, but the situation didn't require a flowery speech.
With a bowl game still on the horizon for his Michigan State Spartans, the head football coach spoke about the overriding importance of Saturday's regular-season finale, a 41-10 drubbing of the Penn State Nittany Lions.
"It means the season's over and I can go have a beer," Smith said, laughing a deep, satisfied laugh.
For Smith, however, the celebratory suds can't possibly taste as good as the victory did Saturday. Coming out on top for the eighth time in 2003, the Spartans have almost completely erased the memory of a 4-8 campaign in 2002 that would have driven many people to drink.
It's the kind of season Penn State just completed, only worse. The Lions didn't have even a quartet of Saturdays for which to celebrate a victory. Instead, they endured the longest losing streak in the Joe Paterno era, won just one Big Ten game and missed the post season for the third time in four years.
But the striking thing was how undisciplined the team seemed to be at different points during the losses. It's not something to measure in penalties -- in fact, the Lions were the least-penalized team in the Big Ten -- but in key plays that went the proverbial "other way."
It's the tipped interception against Northwestern, when Yaacov Yisrael and Rich Gardner collided and the ball ricocheted into the waiting arms of Brandon Horn for a touchdown.
It's being out-scored in the first and fourth quarters by a total of 128-68.
And it's special teams that have been anything but special this season. Penn State has made just 11-of-21 field goals and entered the game last in the Big Ten in kickoff returns and PAT kicking. The Lions ranked in the bottom three of the conference in nine significant categories before Saturday's game.
Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said discipline was one of the primary problems after Saturday's loss.
"I thought we were ready but we just weren't very sharp," Paterno said. "They had the two big plays that broke the game open early ... I think it was more execution. These kids have worked hard; they had a good week of practice."
Greg Taplin also saw a team that quit. The Michigan State defensive end had three sacks on Saturday and knew the defeated look in the Lions' eyes when he saw it.
"They stopped playing," Taplin said. "They didn't want to play anymore. You could just see it in their eyes. They didn't want to be there."
Which is why they need to follow Smith's formula for success.
"He wanted everything to be perfect; he didn't want any flaws," Taplin said. "For example, getting water. You get water as a team and that's how it goes."
"Have your foot behind the line when you run sprints, just small things. Just everything perfect. We kind of took that attitude."
Greg Taplin knows just how sweet the fruits of all the off-season labor are. He bitterly remembered last season's 54-point loss at Beaver Stadium, Michigan State's worst loss since a 55-point drubbing against Michigan in 1947.He remembered the empty look in the eyes of players and coaches on the Spartan's sideline that day, how no one wanted to play anymore. The team had no direction except down and the future looked bleaker than the black November sky that day.
Now, Taplin talks about wanting to pick out a good pair of shorts for a bowl game, hopefully in Florida. It's because of Smith's attention to detail and the players' attention to Smith that the Spartans can smile again.
"He had attention of everybody because if he didn't have your attention, you were going to be out of there the next day," Taplin said.
If the Lions take anything from the Smith story -- a kind of pull-yourselves-up-by-your-bootstraps fable -- it's that hard work really does make a difference. It's attention to detail and playing with emotion that makes a difference.
So, 8-4 really is possible after 4-8. And 9-3 may be possible after 3-9.Just ask John L. Smith and I bet he'll tell you the beer tastes pretty sweet now.
