Dear Mr. Smith
Dear Mr. Smith
Mr. John L. Smith,
***The following is taken from a fellow sports fan. I simply agree with this as I saw it unfold, and am passing it on for you to consider...if you may?***
Look, John-el, here's what happened. Ndukwe hit Stanton and sent him flying. The refs threw the flag for a late hit. Fair enough. And then a sequence of events transpired. (If you have the game on tape, you can clearly see each of these events as they unfold.)
1. After the tackle, Trannon and a few other Spartans run into the ND sideline. Trannon gets in Ndukwe's face in the middle of the bench area. Ndukwe backs off.
2. Trannon remains to stand over Stanton. For what reason? Who the hell knows.
3. Ron Powlus (or someone who looks just like him; the article above indicates it may have been Chad Klunder) is herding MSU players out of the bench area. A smart move, as the longer they are there the more opportunity there is for shenanigans.
4. Powlus grabs Trannon by the jersey and corrals him back towards the field. He is not instigating anything. He is not picking a fight with Trannon. He is clearing the area. He is trying to maintain order in a chippy environment.
5. Trannon reacts by pushing past several people and going after Powlus, shoving him in the back. Trannon is picking a fight (for the second time), this time with a coach without pads who was trying to clear the area. While he did not "throw a punch", as JLS states, he definitely shoves Powlus in the back, who has turned away to clear more players from the area. Trannon is clearly an out-of-control menace at this point and must be controlled.
6. Ryan Harris gets in his face. Polian's (or someone who looks like him) reaction is to grab Trannon's facemask and pull him down. Maybe not the wisest thing to do, but it is in self-defense as much as anything, as Trannon seems willing to fight anyone/everyone at this point.
7. A few players including Chris Frome get in between them and shove Trannon out to the field. Trannon's helmet is pulled off. Trannon grabs Frome's facemask, right in the face of the ref, who throws a flag. This is the penalized incident, not anything to do with Charlie complaining.
8. A moment later you can see CW talking to the ref, and you can clearly read the words "I got hit in the face". This is well after the flag was thrown.
So the flag wasn't a result of Charlie talking to the refs. Bottom line, Trannon is the bad actor here, not the Irish coaches, and ND should do nothing punitive against Powlus, Polian, or any other Irish player or coach as a result. What really galls me is the lack of respect Trannon had towards the opposing coach Powlus; Powlus had removed a couple of Spartan players from the sideline without confrontation, but when Trannon is ushered away, he retaliates and tries to start a fight.
It is unfortunate that Smith chose to play the victim, put all the blame on Notre Dame, and gloss over the fact that without Trannon charging into the bench area, and then shoving Ron Powlus, there would be no controversy. It is especially disturbing that this would the main focus of his press conference, in light of a host of issues that, unlike this event, actually contributed to the Spartan collapse.
We (SPARTAN FANS) maintain that John L. Smith is bad for Michigan State football, and we hope they replace him at their earliest opportunity. The Spartans deserve better, and judging from the discussions we had in East Lansing after the game, many Spartan fans agree.
***AGAIN, The following is taken from a SPARTAN sports fan. I simply agree with this as (A NOTRE DAME FAN) I saw it unfold, and am passing it on for you to consider...if you may?***
