ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Brian Hoyer doesn't need to be reminded. He's seen the movie before. Six times, to be exact.

Despite making strides last season, Hoyer and Michigan State dropped six games by seven points or fewer, including a 24-21 decision against Boston College in the Champs Sports Bowl. The multiple near misses made the top offseason priority painfully clear -- getting better in the clutch. Michigan State labeled its offseason program "the fourth quarter," and players emphasized the endgame in voluntary workouts. 

At the end of 7-on-7 drills, the offense tried to drive 60 yards against the defense. The competitions usually went best two out of three, though the losing unit rarely walked away quietly. 

"Half the time it would be 1-1 and it would come down to the last series," Hoyer said. "You sort of put yourself in situations where things matter, where you're playing for something. That's as close as you can go to the fourth quarter. ... They'd get pretty competitive. Depending on who loses, it was like, 'C'mon! Let's go again, best out of five.'"

Cornerback Kendell Davis-Clark remembered one particularly intense day on the indoor practice field where wideout Mark Dell caught a touchdown at the end of the workout.

"Everybody [on defense] wanted to go again, but the offense is like, 'No, no. We're done, we've been out here too long,'" Davis-Clark said. "They quit on us."

"Hoyer always wants to end on a touchdown, and we always want to end on an interception," safety Otis Wiley said. "But it always [ended] on a good offensive play."

Hoyer hopes to get the last laugh more often this fall after drawing criticism for not making enough crunch-time plays last season. He eclipsed 250 passing yards in three of the final four regular-season games, but most remember a four-interception clunker in the bowl game.

The senior hasn't forgotten how the season ended, but he didn't lose confidence.

"He owned up to it and he's just going to move forward," quarterbacks coach Dave Warner said. "He believes in himself and he's just anxious to maybe get that totally out of his system and get things going this year."

Hoyer admits he would rather suffer a blowout loss than drop a heartbreaker, but he recognizes what his next step needs to be.  

"Coach [Mark] Dantonio made a comment, the difference between the Joe Montanas and the John Elways from other quarterbacks is that they did it at the end of the games, at the end of the fourth quarters," Hoyer said. "That's something I aspire to be, like those guys, to perform in the clutch when my team needs me the most."