Spartans' Players-Only Meeting to Say "No" to Bowl

(East Lansing, MI. November 29, 2018.)——Earlier today, the 7-5 Michigan State football team held a closed-doors, players-only meeting to discuss the season and the eventual bowl selection.  And, the outcome was surprising: the Spartans will decline an offer to participate in any bowl appearance.  The last team with a winning record to do so was 18th-ranked Notre Dame in 1996.

Joe Bachie spilled no words saying "NO BOWL" to coach Dantonio

“We don’t deserve to go to a bowl,” junior co-captain LB Joe Bachie reportedly told head coach Mark Dantonio.  Bachie later told the ES: “As a team, we voted.  I told coach - Your leadership in calling out the fans for being pissed (sic), your defense of the poor play calling by coach (offensive coordinator Dave) Warner, and the complete ineptitude of the offense convinced us.  As a team, we want to spare the country, and especially the Spartan Nation, of us getting our butt kicked.”

Bachie was referring to the past three contests, in which Michigan State’s defense seemingly played well, while the offense continued to struggle against the poorest teams in the Big Ten, namely Nebraska and Rutgers.  

“I take full responsibility for the poor offensive execution this year,” said injured QB Brian Lewerke, whose performance in passing percentage (162-299, 54%) and TD-INT ratio (8 TD-10 INT) was the worst statistically for any Big Ten quarterback starting four (4) or more games this season.  Similarly, freshman QB Rocky Lombardi stated, “if I can’t move the ball and can’t make the completions - it’s on me.  It’s my fault.”   

Although specifics of the meeting were not made available, what is known is a vote to go to a bowl  among the 125 players on the roster, ended with a 123-2 vote:  the only two votes to accept any bowl bid were from Lewerke and Lombardi.  Asked to explain what this meant, the quarterbacks said, in tandem, “it’s our fault.”  Lewerke then added: “We know we were ostracized for our performance, but we still want to go to Florida, or Nashville, or even Detroit.”

Thank God!

The meeting occurred today off-campus at the People’s Interdenominational Church in East Lansing… where the team met the local pastor in hope of receiving some support.  Khari Willis, the senior co-captain and safety, said “we went to church today for some type of leadership from someone, the Lord above, since we have none in the Duffy (Daugherty Football Complex).”  

Willis, who was elegant in representing Michigan State with his speech at the 2018 Big Ten media day before the season, went further to articulate the team’s frustrations with the coaching staff: “We have Ohio State on the ropes in the 4th quarter, and we use freshman backups to run a motion or jet sweep or whatever in our own end zone and fumble… after giving up a safety?  And at Nebraska, with 22-mile-an-hour winds, 11-degree windchill in a blizzard, we give up on the running game for our backup to throw in the 4th quarter - it was cold and windy, man!  No wonder my boys dropped passes, I can’t blame ‘em!  And, against Rutgers - that offense was pathetic, man, couldn’t do anything right.  So, again, throwing the ball in a driving rain storm with the wind picking up? Why not  run? Surprised we won.  

“As a team, we just don’t understand the direction.  As long as coach Warner is going to coach a bowl and with Coach D defending all this stuff… we decided, why let the world bother to watch us get our butts kicked? Let’s enjoy the holidays instead.” 

Bachie noted, “We’re kind of fed up.  We have the best defense in the country, and, yeah it’s a team game.  But the lack of leadership from the coaching staff has not put us in the best position to make plays to win, time after time, and that deflates our confidence.  And, the poor execution hasn’t helped. Coaches should know that. After the big Penn State win, I don’t know what happened.  It’s confusing to all of us.”

Michigan State’s fate is left in the hands of individual bowl committees, and at this time, it is projected the Spartans will play in the Outback Bowl against an SEC foe (LSU or Texas A&M) (CBS, 247sports) 

“Quite honestly, we said the only bowls that we should play in are the Cure Bowl or the First Responder Bowl.  It’s fitting,” he joked.  “Seriously, our offense might be lucky to move the ball against Duke, San Diego State, or Louisiana-Lafayette,” said Bachie.  “Playing the SEC, even Vanderbilt would kill us on New Years Day.  We agreed as a team, we would rather be home in one piece for Christmas this year.”  

Both Dantonio and Warner declined comment for this article.