Shaw Lane Spartans

GIF Soup Review of MSU Offense in 2012

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 20:57:00 GMT

I just discovered Reddit. I am a luddite. Here’s the Reddit Version of MSU’s Offensive Performance this season.

During fall camp, it was concerning that we had very little history to compare Maxwell against. It made me a bit edgy as a Michigan State blogger.

But the coaches were all, it’s cool man.

The Le’Veon hurdled that dude and MSU beat Boise State. And most fans managed to overlook some pretty serious flaws.

McGuffie!

MSU went on to kick CMU in the nads 41-7 and all was well until Notre Dame.

And now Maxwell couldn’t throw…

The receivers can’t catch because the ball is too slippery.

And the whole offense was generally on fire.

Aaron Burbridge started against Indiana and things improved.

But things did not improve by a lot and fans spent the bulk of the season discontent with the offense.

It got better as the season went on and finally kind of coalesced into this:

And now the Offensive Minds have set to work for 2013 and we remain hopeful.

The end.

All Things Are For Sale

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:46:56 GMT

Most Darren Rovell tweets make you dumber. This one does not, just sadder.

A booster’s lawyer once called @davebrandonad to ask how much it would cost to be entombed in the Michigan Stadium tunnel. Answer? $10M

— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) November 9, 2012

Ed: Dave Brandon actually responded on Twitter. I C&P his reply below. He says it was a letter vs a call and that he didn't reply. I don't think this invalidates the post, but in the interest of truth, there's that.

Rich people are weird. Very weird. Don't believe me, give the Great Gatsby a read or listen to a Kevin Smith podcast. I cannot imagine the thought process that goes into inquiring such a thing. No really, try to work through it logically and see if you can come up with a reasonable train of thought in which you're ok with being laid to rest underneath the tunnel into your stadium of choice. C'mon man if Bo didn't get that "honor" you sure as shit don't deserve it.

There were two things that bothered me about Brandon's answer. The first, is that 10 million dollars isn't anywhere near a high enough number to make sure that this guy didn't actually try to do it.

The second and much more disturbing, is that in College Athletics, all things are apparently for sale. Not in an obvious NFL kind of way in which you're going to get nickel and dimed throughout your gameday experience. It's much more subtle, in the way of donations and fundraisers, opportunities to meet the team for a 200 dollar donation. "We're going to raise your ticket prices through a mandatory donation." The definition of a donation typically includes the words "gift" and "benefit", neither of those words have a place in the NCAA business model.

The relationship between the NCAA,the business of making money and educating student-athletes has become increasingly fuzzy in recent years. Not surprisingly, that fuzziness has increased alongside with the increased TV contracts. Remember when not every game was on TV? Me neither. So you have these weird situations that crop up where everyone leaves the Big East, so the Big East gobbles up San Diego State so they still have a product for Saturdays. UConn vs San Diego State for all the marbles! Or we don't pay athletes because they've earned a scholarship and we make damn sure that they don't see a dime off the video games and jerseys attached to their likeness. I'm sure everyone buys a Le'Veon Bell jersey this year because it's a popular number that everyone likes. In fact the only people in the world guaranteed not to make money off of Le'Veon Bell's jersey are Le'Veon Bell and his family.

Here's the thing that really matters. Tom Lewand would laugh that Michigan fan off the phone because he doesn't need to bury dead people in the tunnel of Ford Field to make money. The goal of the NFL is to make money. They do so on gameday, through TV contracts and through brilliant merchandising. Because that objective is clear, we don't end up with these goofy-ass scenarios where the NCAA pretends to give a shit about the student-athlete because it needs to protect it's free labor.

If a school can't make money in athletics it shouldn't keep overspending it's budget. At a time where educational funding is as hardscrabble as it has been in a long time, it's flatly irresponsible for schools to keep asking for more money and then turning around and spending it on the Football Arms Race. When you borrow General Fund money to support your athletics department, you're missing the point for your students and your unpaid athletes.

Dear NCAA, the United States is a safe place. One of the safest in the world for a group of people who just want to make a few hundred million bucks. You could focus on making all of your members profitable and allow the dollars to stay in education instead of supporting another losing season at Eastern Michigan. You can make sure that Dave Brandon can handle a Michigan Stadium Entombment Request with some dignity and he can politely respond that "We're doing well enough at Michigan that we don't need to bury people here."

If the NCAA doesn't watch it, it might just be able to help students and athletes by dropping the notion of serving the student-athlete.

The Curse of Knowing Thyself

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 08:28:00 GMT

Tom Izzo loves March and so should you.

Michigan State lost last night’s game 66-62 and with impending jetlag and OMG Kansas, he’s probably going to lose on Tuesday. MSU loses games in November like they win games in March, consistently. While I admit my fan card for basketball is much less decorated than my football fan card, I find myself asking why anyone is surprised? This is what MSU basketball does, it’s not a slam on hoops, it’s just the truth.

KJ raises the obvious counterpoint:

Second, yes, this always happens, and Tom Izzo usually finds a way to get the team in position to succeed by March. This isn't football. There's no sense panicking over a single bad performance.

Still, losing in November is not a prerequisite for winning in March. In fact, establishing a higher baseline level of performance in November might actually lead to more success in March if the team can improve by the same amount from the higher baseline.

It’s hard to say, mostly because it’s been so long since MSU won these kinds of games. Even in the year MSU won the national title they went 2-2 against top 25 Non-Conference teams. It isn’t conjecture or mislabeling, MSU is just not good in November.

Other famous programs are not their coaches (Kentucky, UNC, Kansas) but MSU basketball is Tom Izzo and the two are inseparable. And Tom is a man with his eye on what’s important. Winning the Big Ten is important. Winning non-conference games is not important. Winning in March is important. Winning the Big Ten tournament is usually not important(last year seemed to be an exception).

It’s this ability to identify what’s important that drives our love for the guy. Yesterday, MSU played a game for the Wounded Warriors in Germany, a year ago it was playing a game for the Armed Forces on the carrier. In addition to providing a game for an audience mostly the troops, he gets a chance to teach these players that basketball is just a game and how lucky they are. Sure MSU gets some pub off it, there are other, much less positive, significant and cheap ways to get that pub, I won’t crap on anyone for that.

Tom Izzo knows who he is. We know who he is too and sometimes that’s a tough pill to swallow in November. But if these non-conference losses are the cost of all of those great Big Ten and March Memories, I’m damn glad Tom Izzo takes a month or two to figure out who he is each year.

Don’t Run on 2nd and 8 or Longer. With Stats!

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:51:00 GMT

During this past weekend’s game I tweeted the following “Stop running between the tackles on 2nd and 10, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!”. I stand by this statement, but felt like it needed some stats. And now I have them. These are the stats of what happens when you run the ball on 2nd and 8 or longer this season. This is what happens when you… well Larry, you should know by now.

Pretty awesome huh? If you run the ball on 2nd and 8 or longer you have an 18 percent chance of getting into manageable down and distance(3rd and 4 or less). 18 percent is pretty good right? It could be worse, it could be 15 percent.

One thing that did surprise me was the rate at which MSU extended the drive or scored(46.2 percent without taking out statistical oddities). There were a couple of drives MSU started in FG range and so would have gone three and out in a further part of the field. Or the Sadler Scurry! But it seemed unfair to not count these as successful drives because they were in fact successful, even if they weren’t optimally successful.

MSU has converted on 3rd down at 38.79 percent clip this season, so in plays where MSU didn’t score later in the drive their 3rd down percentage dropped to 14/38 or 36.84 percent. MSU basically assures below average 3rd down performance by running on 2nd and 8 or longer. And we’re not even talking about the garbage time runs against CMU in the second half which still provides a bit of bump to these numbers.

So if the plan is to get tricksy by hitting them with a 2nd and long run when they least expect it, with an 18 percent conversion rate, MSU isn’t putting Maxwell into manageable down and distance. If MSU converts the third down it’s usually in spite of their current down and distance on third down instead of because of it.

Anyway, just some numbers behind the rant.

Scorched Earth and Entitlement

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 20:35:00 GMT

Earlier today, I got down on people not coming to the game. There was a ridiculous amount of parking available and we didn’t have any luck passing off our tickets for free. I figured no one was coming to the game. At the root of it I felt like there was an entitlement to a team that’s good after two seasons in which MSU was indisputably good. I didn’t like the implied entitlement that by virtue of two good seasons fans now “deserve” a team that’s always competing for championships. As it turned out, the attendance was better than expected and it all worked.

Entitlement was the theme of the day in the face of the loss. A bunch of players sounded off on twitter because the refs stole the game. What? You know what cost MSU the game. Not stopping the Huskers on 4th and 10 on the final drive. Not being able to run out the clock in the fourth quarter.

I feel entitled to mouth off after the money dropped on season tickets, parking, concessions annually. I mean jeebus, I could have sponsored 5 or 6 kids in Africa who need food and shots and stuff. But I don’t, I give my money to Spartan football to slam my junk in a car door. I feel entitled to not watch crappy football.

So I am going to take my entitlement here and get a little pissed. If that’s not your bag tonight, I suggest you just move along now.

There have been a number of excuses surrounding the offense this season. Maxwell is young, the receivers are young, the Offensive Line is injured, Dan Roushar is an alien, but you know what. The offense did their job well enough today. On the day where the offense pulled through, the defense didn’t and the response? Blame the zebras? Oh, MSU only lost their four big ten games by 10 points?

Nope, the truth is that on the day where the offense did it’s job. The defense didn’t do theirs, which completely sucks. If Johnny Adams manages not to get a Personal Foul on Dennard’s pick-six, the game is over. If they manage to stop T-Magic on 4th and 10 on the final drive, the game is over. If they manage not to lose contain three times on Martinez the game isn’t even a damned game to start out with.

Outside of all that, WHEN YOU’RE RUSHING FOR 5.5 YARDS A CARRY FEEL FREE TO RUN ON 4th and 2 with 2 minutes left in the game, RUN THE DAMNED BALL. WHAT IN THE HOLY SHITBALLS DID MSU PUNT FOR? An extra 19 yards of field position? You’re either going to stop Martinez or you’re not. I don’t think the ball being at the 39 or the 20 really mattered a damn bit. Another coaching thing, when in the holy shit is MSU going to quit running between the tackles on 2nd and long? I cannot think of a single time this season where MSU has converted a 2nd and 9 or more for 5+ yards on the ground. I’m sure it’s happened, but it’s not happened a whole lot more times.

Anyway, that game was not a fun way to lose. (As though such a thing exists.) I’m going to turn off the computer and watch a football game I don’t give a shit about, like LSU-Bama. And I’ll be back ready to cheer on Monday. And so will you. And for the team it’ll be back to work(although likely twitter disabled). Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Just A Game and The Virtues of Shoulda Lost

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 09:12:00 GMT

Yesterday, I missed most of the game live. I was late coming back from a movie which caused me to miss most of the first quarter and then my wife was delayed coming home from a workshop in Ann Arbor by the dude shooting up I-96. As a result my folks and I spent the time from getting home until about midway through the third quarter helping my kids get ready for a Halloween party. Then actually taking the kids to the party.

I was salty about it all. I “hate” Wisconsin. I hope they never win at anything, least of all against us. I have the opportunity to watch both Badgerfreude and have my team be the team inflicting it. As we were getting ready to walk out the door, the Mrs. offered me the opportunity to stay home and I declined for fear of it being a trap. (It wasn’t, I think.) As I was driving to the party MSU continued to struggle on offense and I grew increasingly frustratedangryupsetannoyed. “How can any team’s offense be THIS BAD? There have been times this year I’ve thought an offense with 11 true freshmen might play better. How is the defense going to continue to be part of the team when they are clearly BCS caliber and the offense is not? And Holy God we’re going to lose to Bielema again and I hate that smug shitsipper.” And then…

“It’s just a game.” The first time it rattled through that list of surly, crappy thoughts I didn’t completely believe it. A dude got shot on I-96 yesterday. He’ll be ok thankfully, in fact, he may not agree with the “It’s just a game” sentiment:

Workers at the Mobile station told 7 Action News that the man hit by a bullet refused their help and just wanted to go to the World Series. He was eventually treated by an ambulance crew at the scene and taken to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital of Livingston where he is listed in stable condition.

Yesterday a man who’s much angrier about something than I am about a football game injured someone and inconvenienced thousands of people. As a result, I missed some of a football game live. I watched the whole thing later. We went to the party and the kids had a great time. I ended up “watching” the end of the game with Ty and bunch of other friends on twitter. Celebrating with them was a much richer experience than it would have been to watch the game alone. It’s just a game.

Anyway, enough about all that shit.

First off, oh hai there Bret BieLOLema. I know you lost Joel Suave and all but I bet you didn’t know our defense is rugged like Sam Elliott and shit did you? I cannot think of a more excellent way to break Wisconsin’s 21 game win streak than to steal one from Bielema at the end of the game. In case you were wondering, this makes for late game heroics in 2008, 2011(regular season) and 2012. MSU has also won the last three regular season match-ups which would normally constitute a winning streak if it weren’t for Roughing the Punter. Early prediction: MSU wins the 2017 game.

There had been a lot of talk this week about MSU dropping three conference games by six points. OSU and Michigan stand out particularly as games where a simple make instead of a miss on a FG try have MSU at 6-2 instead of 4-4 going into the Wisconsin game. I’m going to go ahead and chalk yesterday up as a “Shoulda Lost”. If Wisconsin doesn’t lose Suave, something tells me they’d have put up more than 10. After two “Shoulda Wons”, I’ll take a Shoulda Lost. If you were to go back and poke at the 2010 and 2011 teams I’m pretty sure you’d find a handful of Shoulda Losts. 2010 Northwestern and 2011 Minnesota I’m looking at you.

This offense plays well when they pass the ball with some urgency. So much so that I wrote a post encouraging some hurry-up play a couple of weeks ago. At this point in the season we are far enough along to know that our defense is filthy good. If it gets MSU an extra 10-14 points a game to let Maxwell gamble a bit more, let him do it! Even if he Rick-Sixes his way through the season I think you still come out ahead in that scenario.

The counterpoint to that argument is that with the Legends Division crown effectively out of reach and a bowl game pretty well assured now. Everything should be about preparing the offense for 2013. Next year MSU has a stupid favorable schedule skipping Wisky, PSU and OSU and getting Indiana, Purdue and Illinois. If you want to win the Big Ten MSU’s schedule is about as favorable as it can be.

It’s just a game. And MSU Shoulda Lost. But they didn’t and it was awesome. On to Nebraska.

Order Restored in Ann Arbor?

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 18:45:00 GMT

Despite having the worst MSU offense since Internet Recordkeeping began back in 2003, MSU lost to Michigan on Saturday by two. The Michigan/Michigan State internets have lit up like a brushfire about “what this all means” going forward.

Naturally, the Order of the Universe has been restored over at MGoBlog. One great throw to Drew Dileo in the last minute of the game is equal to total vindication of all Denard Robinson’s 14 of 29 day for 163 yards and no touchdowns. It’s cool to be excited about beating your rival that you don’t care about that much, but apparently cooler than I thought.

Denard Robinson is 13 of 29 for 143 yards; he's run 20 times for 96 yards. His team is down a point and has managed to turn 120 seconds into eighteen without moving the ball anywhere near plausible field goal range. A few drives ago Jeremy Gallon was as wide open as you can be on third and goal and Denard blasted it hard and behind the guy—if it was to keep it away from a defender it was because the throw was late—or Michigan would lead by three.

Behind me, some Michigan State meathead has spent the better part of four quarters screaming "throw it, Denard, huh huh huh." Juggalo Nation, reprazent.

Could it be the same Juggalo who saw this last year?

In this particular case, the stats were on the Juggalo’s side. Interesting fact. Andrew Maxwell after Saturday has a higher QB passer rating than any of Denard’s four showings against MSU. I get the delicious gooeyness of Robinson making a throw when it counts against the team that has not respected him, but it does not unmake a career of mediocre play against MSU.

Even better. After a two point home win in which Michigan did not score a touchdown.

MSU fans are still clinging to the recruiting-rankings-are-meaningless thing. They're in for a harsh reality check once Michigan's recruiting rankings are paired with something other than crippling attrition, lackadaisical talent evaluation, and crappy coaching. Maybe not next year, when Michigan's breaking in a new quarterback and the upperclass talent levels are still relatively even, but after that… back to the salt mines, Sparty. Or maybe Alabama, OSU, and USC are only good because of their helmets.

It’s certainly true that MSU is not recruiting at the clip that U of M is, but they never have. The last four years were the result of “crippling attrition, lackadaisical talent evaluation, and crappy coaching”. Which one was last year? Next year doesn’t count either since U of M will have a new quarterback and all. It might be easier if we can set up a schedule in advance of which years count based on quality of inbound recruits, home schedule and which years MSU will be having their worst offensive season since Internet Recordkeeping began. Who knows, maybe someday MSU fans can get enough UM cred to pick when it’s losses don’t count, but doubtful on account of the salt mining thing.

I’ve always hated the little brother quote. It’s always encapsulates the idea that if an MSU fan really wants to see U of M lose it’s because of a “complete obsession with the rivalry”. But if a distinguished U of M fan deigns to acknowledge the rivalry it’s because the pecking order of the Big Ten has been disturbed and requires correction.

This is a rivalry game and Michigan fans were exactly right to be excited as hell to win it. The same way MSU fans will be excited as hell to win it next time they do. This isn’t about relevance, if it were that I’d be writing about how much MSU cares about how Wisconsin not Michigan has kept them out of the Rose Bowl the last two years. It isn’t about recruiting either, after all on paper, Michigan had the better recruits the last four years. This is about being the champion of the state of Michigan. You won this year. Good for you, enjoy it while it lasts. We’ll see you in East Lansing next fall.

A Game of Finishing OR How to Beat UM Saturday

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 15:13:00 GMT

After last Saturday’s loss to Iowa, the season seemed lost. MSU just blew a game it was supposed to win and the Big Ten title fell out of reach in all but the Ohio State sense of official. The Spartan Internets turned into a tail-eating imploding mess. The offense looked like a blubbering pile of sadness and I assumed it was because of the rain. After watching our friends in Ann Arbor put 45 up on Illinois though, it wasn’t only the damn rain. The offense cannot move the chains and shoulder almost the entire burden of MSU’s three losses this season.

In a season of maddening statistics here might be the most maddening one of all. MSU has the passer with the most yards(Maxwell) and the rusher with the most yards(Bell) in the Big Ten. You say MSU isn’t moving the ball? Apparently they are. Even more strangely, MSU and UM have the exact same redzone percentage at 87.5 on the same number of attempts (24). MSU has even kicked fourteen field goals, seven more than UM. So how does UM average 12.7 more points per game? Simple, MSU has scored 2 TD’s on offense from outside the redzone where Michigan has scored twelve.

In past years, MSU has saved it’s fancy dishes for whenever we get together with U of M. Every year, there’s a formation or package that gets it’s grand unveiling even if it might have helped out in a game or two previously. 2012 will be no different. I’m not sure how yet, there are so many tricks that an offensive coordinator can use to hide a bad offensive line, such as but not limited to: Screens, Draws, No huddle, Slants, three step drops. How many of those have you seen? I saw some of those things in the Boise State game and then with the exception of the No-Huddle package they up and vanished like a fart in the wind.

18.7. MSU has averaged 18.7 ppg in their losses. Only Utah State and Stanford have lost multiple games while conceding fewer points. 18.7 would give MSU the 27th best scoring defense in the nation. For as much internet jabber about how the Defense isn’t holding up to snuff they’re giving up three points fewer per game than last year.

So where am I going with all of this?

The stats really bear out the story that the defense is the keystone of the team this year despite their message board whining about their lack of dominance. What’s surprising though is how close the offense has been to being keystone instead of Keystone Cops which is how I envision them in my head. The key to beating UM has nothing to do with making grand alterations to the defense. That gameplan is simple, keep everything between the tackles and just hold the score down. MSU has been able to do that the last three years and the only defense in that bunch that was better was the 2011 version. In fact Denard Wolverines have score 20, 17, 14 respectively. They’re only “due” to score 11 this year.

On offense, MSU has to finish drives this week. Notice I didn’t say in the redzone. MSU is fine once it gets in the redzone. To do that MSU will need to improve itself in the rushing game substantially. This is not a function of Le’Veon Bell, this is a function of the leading rusher in the Big Ten frequently being on a team where he’s the only trusted running back. For all of his foibles in the Punt Return game, Nick Hill looked just fine as a change of pace back against Iowa. MOAR of that please.,

This game is going to rely on Dan Roushar’s ability to take advantage of the flashes Mumphery and Burbridge have been showing. The game is going to rely on creative playcalling to help MSU finish drives. Maxwell and Bell have been moving the sticks this year in spite of the fact it feels like they haven’t been. They just need some help getting into a position to close. They don’t even need to score tons, a simple average of 17 points will be enough.

Figure out a way to get three touchdowns and MSU walks out of Ann Arbor with the Paul Bunyan trophy. It’s that simple.

The 2012 Tipping Point

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 16:08:00 GMT

I wrote like 600 words already on this, but I’m deleting most of them. All offseason long I thought 9-3 was a good estimate for 2012 MSU. I read a lot of hype about the lack of drop-off from Cousins to Maxwell and ratcheted those expectations up to the 10-2 or 11-1 type area. This is a 7-5 team and they might need to work hard to get to that number even. That’s disappointing and it’s pissed a lot of fans off. Maybe we’re greedy after two 11 win seasons, but after upping everyone’s seat prices by 50 bucks or more across the Spartan Stadium board, fans aren’t the only ones.

The players are far from the problem. They seem to be improving in spite of a dose of the injury bug this year not seen in the Dantonio era. Taiwan Jones has really emerged in recent weeks. James Kittredge has been a positive player at the Worthy spot this year. Kurtis Drummond and RJ WIlliamson are both great players at the safety position. Burbridge and Mumphery are coming along nicely and the drops seem to have dropped off some. At least the “OMG you are open like 7-11” ones.

Offensive playcalling is undoubtedly impacted when you lose two Offensive Line starters. The interior run game disappeared when Travis Jackson went down against OSU. The ability to put off a pass rush was greatly diminished when Fonoti went down.

All of that said, my patience for the offensive playcalling is exhausted right now. There is no way with a back as gifted as Le’Veon Bell and the passing game that’s clearly coming along that MSU should manage only 6 points that weren’t turnover presents. Iowa’s defense is good, but not that good. The offensive playcalling must improve for MSU to contend for conference titles, it might need to improve for them to make a bowl game. Any bowl game.

The hope of a Big Ten title is gone. You can resign yourself to that right now if you haven’t already. I didn’t until the pass to Mumphery got picked off to lose the game. Now the goal is to make a bowl game, preferably win, and fix some of these problems for 2013.

THings I liked about this game later this week or in the TOC Podcast.

An Offensive Identity Emerges?

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 09:17:00 GMT

Travis Jackson went down in the first half of the Ohio State game and with him any hope of a run game between the tackles this year. Drive charting the last two games since is not something I have time for, but it’s obvious to me that the interior run game has descended back into 2011 levels. This isn’t a sign of a terrible Offensive Line, there just isn’t an offensive line in the Big Ten that could take the loss of two full-year returning starters in Jackson and Fonoti and not struggle afterwards.

The good news is that an offensive identity is emerging. The bad news is that Coach “Run the ball and stop the run” Dantonio is probably not going to like it. MSU looks to have a legitimate offense in their no-huddle, dink and dunk offense.

In all of the games where MSU gets behind, they resort to a no-huddle, 5 WR/4WR and Bell passing look. AND THEY PROCEED TO MOVE THE BALL. When asked why they moved away from this look in the Notre Dame game Dantonio replied:

"I felt like we needed to change the tempo on the third quarter, which we did," he said. "From my perspective, I felt like we should probably have changed back and went with a more traditional offense after that, at least one or two more times. We sort of stayed in that mode too long. … We kept trying to force the issue instead of doing it more the conventional way.”

The conventional way? The conventional way is to have a QB who can run like Denard Robinson, Braxton Miller, Nathan Scheelhasse, MarQuies Gray, Kain Colter and T-Magic. Pocket passers are unconventional in college football. The rest of the pocket passers all run spread offenses, so playing pro-style football is decidedly unconventional these days. Who runs a pro-style offense anymore in CFB? Alabama? Central Michigan? MSU fans should all give Mark Dantonio a hug and tell him it’s ok to throw 65 percent of the time if that’s what wins games.

At the end of the Boise State game, Andrew Maxwell had 0 TD’s and 3 picks, only one of which was a terrible throw and even that came with 7 seconds left in the half. At the close of yesterday, Maxwell had 6 TDs and 0 picks in the other five games of the season. If MSU can move the ball in a five wide hurry up look three or four times a game, Maxwell has earned the right to run that offense. More importantly he seems to have the mental stuffin’s to do the job.

There’s gold in mixing two or three heavy passing quick series into the first half before MSU is down significant points. If MSU can pick up 7-10 points off of three no-huddle series in the first half that would lower significantly the odds of having to come from behind.

The offensive identity has emerged. It’s just that it’s come out the anti-Dantonio. We’ll see how he handles it.

A Good Offensive Drive Against ND

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:40:00 GMT

Would you believe that there was a drive in the first half where MSU was 6/6 for 34 yards passing and averaged 13 plays for 43 yards to chew up 7:07 off the clock? MSU was doing all of the things to deal with heavy pass rush pressure. RB screens, throws to the FB out of the backfield, quick little curl routes(PAST THE STICKS!), slant routes, throws to the flat.

The Burkland sack was brutal, he gets beat by his guy and really doesn’t make any effort to recover. I have to think Burkland was thinking there was a Running Back back there for more protection. Other than that, that drive was perfect. It was an excellent mix of run and pass to the inside and outside so ND couldn’t just put eight in the box and stop Bell. ND couldn’t just defend the outsides of the field because then MSU could run power between the tackles. All of the throws were high percentage, “Safe” throws(although the two almost picks by Maxwell hurt my eyes).

Roushar did an excellent job on this drive preventing ND from getting settled.For all the heat the offense took and is taking after this game, this drive was what they were trying to do the whole game. The problem of course was that in using three downs to go 10 yards a single sack for 9 yards undoes all of that good work and turns this promising drive into MSU’s only three points of the game.

How the Notre Dame 3-4 Won Saturday Night’s Game

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 19:41:00 GMT

It’s always difficult to write a blog post after such a complete shellacking as occurred at MSU on Saturday night. A loss like that rocks what confidence you have in your team. As far as heroes and goats, you watched the game. In broadest terms, the defense made about as many mistakes as the offense had positive plays. There’s some yin and yang in there. I won’t painfully rehash the game in narrative format, these are cosigned for your reading pleasure. A glimmer of hope: MSU’s defense routinely does to other teams what Notre Dame did to MSU.

So what in the good hell happened?

This might not be the best place to start. The best place to start is to talk about what the 3-4 is and why it gave our Offensive Line such horrible fits. The Ozone actually wrote a really excellent post on the 3-4 defense a few months ago.

If you want to run a 3-4 you’ll need a couple things for your shopping list (in order of importance).

A Giant Mountain of a Manbeast to Play Nose Tackle – Louis Nix is 6’3” and 326 pounds and has a couple of quick first steps. This is the most important and unique quality of a 3-4 you have to have a dude to play Nose Tackle who can break the size/speed curve. The number of people on earth who can play this spot is rare. The job of the Nose Tackle is to occupy the Center and a Guard on every play.
Two guys at either defensive end position who are roughly the size of a defensive tackle. Jerel Worthy moved from playing Defensive Tackle to Defensive End when he transitioned from MSU’s 4-3 to the Packers’ 3-4. At 303 and 306, Kapron Lewis-Moore and Stephon Tuitt are perfectly sized for this position. Again, finding guys who fit the size/speed curve for this are exceptionally rare.
In a 3-4 the OLBs are bigger LB/DE tweeners and have more pass-rushing responsibility than a 4-3 OLB does. The ILB’s are used for run support or covering the short-to-middle part of the field on passing downs.
The secondary is more or less the same as it is in a 4-3.

Ok, quick primer of the 3-4 complete. Now, what happened?

During the game there was more rotation of the Offensive Line than usual with the injury to Right Tackle Fou Fonoti and the replacement of LG Jack Allen with Ethan Ruhland(who was later replaced by Allen anyway). Early in the game Roushar helped Skyler Burkland(Fonoti’s replacement) out with lots of Dion Sims lining up to Burkland’s right. It was a shell game Offensive Line and we’re not even talking scheme yet. FUDGE.

Scheme-wise. By replacing Fonoti with Burkland and the rotating cavalcade at Left Guard Nix was put into a very advantageous position. If Nix attacks the A-gap between Jackson and McDonald, Burkland is left in a one-on-one situation or he requires Tight End help(both of those assume no extra blitzers, which isn’t always true either). If Nix attacks the A-gap between the Center and Left Guard, the same situation applies to France at Left Tackle and as an added bonus the Left Guard position was being made weakened by the constant substitution. After that you can bring any number of linebackers on blitzes to take advantage of the weakened Offensive Line. If you only provide one tight end for help Nix just attacks the other gap. This of course makes me wonder where Andrew Gleichert was on Saturday night.

Are we going to be using the play where MSU got beat 3 on 7 in TOC’s picture pages? You bet your sweet ass we are.

Having four linebackers free to play the run or pass as needed took away a few things. Namely, passes to the RB, passes to the Tight End and short, safe slant passes to the middle of the field. Naturally, Running Backs and Tight Ends were targeted on 23 of 45 throws because that’s just the kind of night MSU was having.

Why not go deep?

After the game I wondered a-twitter why not go Max Protect and go deep. Max Protect would be two tight ends, five offensive lineman and Bell committed to blocking for Maxwell. Bell or either Tight End can release into a pass route if they’re not engaged with a blocker. With MSU’s love of the two tight end set only behind 7-0 or so, this would be a believable looking run play right up until the ball was snapped. I suspect strongly that in rewatching the game I’ll see an instance where this happened, but it didn’t work out. Either the D sniffed it out, the D-Line blew it up before it got started or Maxwell couldn’t connect. ND’s secondary was soft and could have been challenged indirectly in the first half using the illusion of the run.

What Else Could MSU Have Done?

Bubble Screens, End Arounds, Draw Plays, Bootlegs, MOAR Playaction. I honestly have no idea if it would have helped, the Devil was in the Offense on Saturday night and with the exception of the Big Ten Title Game last fall every loss since 2009 has been a pasting. It was just a bad night in which the Offensive Line kept getting killed by a very talented Defensive Line.

Tuesday or Wednesday, I’ll try to dig into the film when I do Picture Pages for TOC. If you have a play you want me to look at, leave me something in the comments and I’ll do my durnedest.

Notre Dame (the 15 Minute Blogger Edition Preview)

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 09:48:49 GMT

Ok, this has been a superbusy week so this is all the game preview I can write in 15 minutes. It'll be like a preview typed out on an iPhone, but probably worse than that.

Offense

Bell. Bell. Bell. Pass. If that pass goes well, then it should turn more into Bell. Bell. Pass. If that goes well then the playcalling should move to a Bell. Pass. Bell. Pass. Pass. Bell type model. And who knows, this is MSU-ND, you could very well see an actual Bell Pass. The ND game in 2011 is where Roushar was going to grandly unveil the Unbalanced Line he had been plainly working on all offseason, but MSU got behind early and running is not useful when you're down two touchdowns on the scoreboard but behind seven TD's in your heart. MSU will look to set up the pass as early as they can get away with because ND's secondary is wet-behind-the-ears, but their front seven is probably the best MSU will see this year(with apologies to Urbz and OSU).

Defense

Holy Defense! Pat Narduzzi ripped his defense for "not allowing an offensive touchdown" this year. He's like that fan back during the Minnesota game in 2010 who bitched at the MSU defense for having allowed zero points to that point in the game. That guy was a clown shoe. Pat Narduzzi is not a clown shoe. MSU played some pretty vanilla defense against CMU but didn't get oodles of push on CMU's offensive line. So, who the hell knows. This is the frustrating part of the college football season, you don't know what playbook doesn't exist and what playbook is just being kept secret for uncovering at a key moment of making Brian Kelly angry.

Obligatory Little Giants Drop

This play is overdone, but holy crap I can't remember a longer eternity that lived inside my head for just the two seconds the ball was in the air.

Is Brian Kelly an angry oompa-loompa?

No man, he's a huggable care bear.

Prediction

The thing about MSU-ND games is that they are close and the home team usually wins. The strengths and weaknesses of these teams cancel each other out well. MSU's run game is strong, ND's run defense is strong. MSU's pass game is not as strong(although ranked first in the Big Ten!!!!) and ND's pass defense is not as strong. In the end though, I don't think the defense has really had to work at it yet to hold their opponents scoreless and that's why I think MSU wins this game.

Obligatory Score Pick

MSU 20 Notre Dame 17

Opponent Preview: Notre Dame

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 20:35:00 GMT

Earlier this week I was contacted by Frank from the Unofficial Home of Notre Dame blog. He’s been kind enough to write a Notre Dame preview for us. You can also check out the MSU preview I wrote for them over on their site. Luckily, they were kinder to me than they were to LVS over at Inside the Irish.

Offense

It wouldn’t be the Brian Kelly era at Notre Dame is there wasn’t a good, old-fashioned quarterback controversy would it? After a fairly impressive performance from sophomore Everett Golson, Kelly called on Tommy Rees to lead what turned out to be the game winning field goal drive last week after Golson lost a fumble deep in his own territory to set up Purdue’s game tying score.

Before his miscue, Golson was 21 of 31 for 289 yards and a touchdown. The first year starter missed on some throws and left a couple of touchdown passes on the field, but overall he was very solid for making his second career start. Still, when the game was on the line, Kelly sent in his incumbent starter fresh off his one game suspension.

After the game and ever since Kelly has reiterated that Golson is starting quarterback, but questions on just how long he will stick with him should he struggle against stronger defenses now persist. As we saw last year, Kelly can have a quick trigger finger with his quarterbacks.

In Golson Notre Dame has a quarterback that can hurt you with his arm and potentially his legs. I say potentially because despite a high school highlight reel full of athletic runs and escapes, Golson has yet to really showcase that skill since assuming the starting role. As with most young, inexperienced quarterbacks, Golson remains gun shy and hesitant at times – almost being too conscious of making a mistake to the point of it holding him back.

What we have seen from Golson in his two starts however is a quarterback with a lot of poise and a really strong arm. He took some hits and had some passes sail on him this past weekend, but we’ve also seen a pretty accurate quarterback as well.

On the ground the Irish gashed an overmatched Navy defense to the tune of 293 yards in the season opener, but Purdue had it’s way with the Irish offense line and Notre Dame struggled mightily to establish any semblance of a ground game on Saturday.

Notre Dame’s rushing attack should be bolstered this weekend by the return of Cierre Wood.. The 1,000 yard rusher from a year ago returns to the lineup after a two game suspension for “violating team rules.” Wood is Notre Dame’s best back, but even he won’t be able to do much if the offensive line struggles as much as it did a week ago.

Outside of Wood, Notre Dame features two other talented backs in Theo Riddick and George Atkinson III. Riddick was the primary replacement for Wood while he sat out while Atkinson is the home run threat of the group. For whatever reason though, Atkinson was not prominently featured in the Irish game plan a week ago.

In the receiving department, the Notre Dame passing attack starts and finishes with Tyler Eifert right now. The senior tight end showed why many consider him the best tight end in the country against the Boilers before suffering what was reportedly a “slight concussion”. His availability for this weekend is not certain, but odds are the All American will be in the lineup. If he is, Michigan State will have to commit resources to stopping Efiert. Purdue left a single corner on Efiert at many times throughout the game which given Eifert’s size is an immediate mismatch.

Outside of Eifert though, Notre Dame has yet to find a go to wide receiver Sophomore Davaris Daniels has the looks of the next #1 wide receiver for the Irish, but he is still learning how to become a dominant receiver on the college level. Like Eifert, Daniels was banged up against Purdue as well and his status for this weekend is unknown at this time.

Junior TJ Jones has looked good on some wide receiver screens, but he hasn’t had his number called often so far.

A couple of names to look out for at receiver are Roby Toma and Davonte Neal. Toma, a senior from Hawaii, came up with a huge catch for the Irish on the game winning drive and is just one of those players who makes plays whenever he is given the chance. Neal, meanwhile, is a true freshmen with a ton of talent and incredible speed who has yet to be prominently featured in the Irish offensive game plan. Neal saw some action against Navy but was relegated to special teams duty a week ago.

Of course, at the end of the day, how effective the Notre Dame is on Saturday will be determined by which offensive line shows up. Against Navy the Irish offensive was tough, disciplined, and dominant. Against Purdue, that same offensive line was sloppy, weak, and at times overmatched by the Boilermaker defensive front.

The talent and experience are both there for the Notre Dame line, but last week they took a step or two backwards after a very promising start to the season.

Defense

Defensively, Notre Dame’s strength lies within in its defensive line. Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix have both taken steps towards becoming dominant players this season. Through two games, Tuitt already has 4 sacks from his defensive end position while Nix has 1.5 of his own to go with 3 total tackles for loss. Both players are matchup nightmares for almost any offensive line they will face right now. Michigan State may have to commit an extra blocker inside for Nix to avoid a repeat of what the junior NT did to Purdue a week ago.

Notre Dame is a little banged up on the defensive line though with the status of 5^th year senior defensive end Kapron Lewis-Moore in doubt. He missed the majority of the Purdue game and it’s unclear whether or not he will play this weekend.

Depth could be a concern for Notre Dame at DE this weekend with Lewis-Moore’s primary backup, freshman early enrollee Sheldon Day, banged up as well. If Day can’t go either, Notre Dame will mix in sophomore Tony Springmann and junior Kona Schwenke.

The star of the Irish defense is middle linebacker Manti Te’o. The Hawaiian native surprised many by coming back for his senior season and he has done nothing to disappoint so far this year. Te’o has shown improved coverage skills this year to along with his great instincts and hitting ability.

Notre Dame’s other linebackers are more of a question mark. Outside linebacker Prince Shembo has been a great pass rusher for this Irish so far this season while sophomore Ishaq Williams has been up and down. Notre Dame should get a boost at OLB this weekend with the return of Dany Spond who missed the first two games with injury. Inside, next to Te’o, Notre Dame got Carlo Calabrese back from suspension last week, but the senior inside backer looked lost in coverage and could be a target early and often for Michigan State.

In the defensive backfield, Notre Dame’s extremely green scorners looked much improved over their week one performance last week against Purdue. Notre Dame is starting a true freshman and a converted wide receiver at corner this year in Kei’Varae Russell and Bennett Jackson and while both struggled in week 1, both bounced back with great games in week 2.

At safety the Irish have a pair of experienced starters in Jamaoris Slaughter and Zeke Motta. Slaughter left last week’s came after delivering a punishing, incompletion causing hit and the Irish secondary struggled in his absence. Notre Dame needs a healthy Slaughter in the secondary to help mask the inexperience the Irish have at corner.

Special Teams

Place kicking has been a bit of an adventure so far this year, but sophomore Kyle Brindza delivered in the clutch last week when called upon. Still, the Irish have struggled at this point in the early season with each facet of the kicking game – snapping, holding, and kicking. If Saturday were to come down to a field goal attempt by the Irish, Notre Dame fans will be collectively holding their breathe no matter the distance.

In the punting department, Ben Turk turned in possibly his finest game in a Notre Dame uniform. The senior has been inconsistent throughout his career, but Saturday he came up with several big kicks and helped the Irish defense avoid too many short fields.

Notre Dame features dangerous returnmen on both kicks and punts. On kickoffs, Michigan State fans likely remember George Atkinson very well for his kickoff return for a touchdown against the Spartans in South Bend a year ago. He is back as the primary return man for the Irish and his return on Notre Dame’s final drive helped set up the go ahead field go.

At punt returner, Notre Dame features a dangerous albeit still fairly untested freshman in Davonte Neal. So far Neal has had the looks of a return man who is capable of breaking a big return but has yet to do so. He has also shown a knack for fielding some kicks he shouldn’t have – a habit that will get him trouble sooner or later.

Final Analysis

This game is going to come down to the Notre Dame offensive line vs. the Michigan State defensive line and just how much Brian Kelly is willing to remove the training wheels for Golson.

Michigan State is going to look to pressure the young Irish QB and force him into mistakes or to take sacks – the later of which he did frequently last week instead of forcing the issue. It will be the job of the Irish offensive line to slow down that rush to give Golson time to make some plays. Two weeks ago that was a matchup that I felt reasonably comfortable with. After last week though, I have some major concerns about Notre Dame’s ability to hold up against a quality defensive line like Michigan State’s.

Just how much Kelly removes the training wheels from Golson is going to determine how effective the Irish offense is on Saturday. So far Kelly has kept Golson fairly under his reigns in terms of play calling – something that has created issues with procedure penalties and wasted time outs the last two weeks. Kelly will have to let Golson run a little free this week.

I don’t see either team running away with this one and think it will be farily low scoring. I would love to predict a Notre Dame win this weekend, but while I certainly think the Irish are capable of escaping with the victory, I think Michigan State ends up winning this one by a field goal.

The Passing Game: MSU’s Offensive Strength?

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 21:29:00 GMT

Butterface or Butterface Boy for the lady folk. For many long, laborious, football-droughty months the MSU Passing Attack has been the perceived butterface of the MSU 2012 football team. Even the wildest hopes in the preseason included the idea that maybe MSU might be able to move the ball with some sort of consistency by the end of the 2012. Until then it’s going to be 98 carries a game from Le’Veon Bell and the hope that the Defense can party like it’s 1951 and that a 10-10 tie is the limit. What’s strange though is that you might not have to wait very long for the Pass Game to pass the Run Game, because at least in yardage it already happened.

Michigan State currently ranks 41st in Total Rushing Yardage nationally and 31st in Total Passing Yardage. Michigan State is moving the ball effectively through the air, but not spectacularly, ranking 50th in Yards Per Attempt. Yet, MSU keeps throwing, ranking 30th in total pass attempts. Some of this is the result of CMU being a glorified practice game, but Maxwell’s 22 of 38 against Boise State retrospectively was more significant than it sounded at the time. Indeed Captain Kirk only threw 38 or more pass attempts three times in his MSU career, Northwestern in 2010(come from behind win), Notre Dame in 2011(The misery) and The Outback Bowl in 2012. In the VERY early goings, Maxwell is on pace to average 34.5 pass attempts per game. Kirk’s highest total for a season was 29.9 in 2011(he had 26 in 2010 and 27.3 in 2010).

There’s been some message board criticism of the pass protection this season as well, but so far the Offensive Line has allowed zero sacks. There are nine other teams who have played two games who also have allowed zero sacks. Most of those schools play quick-release passing attack football(See: State, Boise). Maxwell may not have had eons and epochs to throw, but, he’s getting the ball out on time.

Right now the perception of MSU’s offense is that Le’Veon Bell is judge, jury and executioner of the whole offense. But as anyone knows who’s watched some MSU football in the past two years, Dantonio knows a thing or two about Sleight of Hand. MSU is very quietly throwing the ball as much as they did under the Captain Kirk regime and Maxwell will continue to improve throughout the season. (The way the Big Ten this past weekend he might not even have to improve after Ohio State.)

So “Run Le’Veon Run”, but MSU will continue the death of 1000 paper cuts in the passing game all season long.

Time To Forget The Bad Times

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:06:00 GMT

On a 4^th and 1 play designed to sustain the drive, Kolton Browning ran to the endzone. The overtime touchdown sealed University of Louisana-Monroe’s win over the #8 Arkansas Razorbacks. ULM just knocked off the number 8 team in the land in their own house. The same ULM who hadn’t won their season opener since 2006, the same ULM who hasn’t had a winning season since ESPN started keeping W-L stats in 2002. There were mitigating factors, like the loss of Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson, but a team as talented and deep as Arkansas should be able to knock off ULM with their second string. This was a dang coaching mistake perpetrated by everyone’s favorite clown in head coach paint, John L. Smith.

So when I read Chris Vannini’s Free Press article today titled “Michigan State has no excuses for not winning the Big Ten this year" I get an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Logically, I agree: The Big Ten looks terrible this year, and MSU has the best combination of talent and eligibility to represent the Big Ten in Pasadena, despite some questions in the passing game. But still, my stomach feels wobbly at the idea of Michigan State being assigned the role of “Favorite”.

For this, fans owe one John L Smith a giant collective therapy bill. If you’ve rooted MSU football since prior to the arrival of Mark Dantonio, the scene which played out in Little Rock Saturday night is not all that shocking, it’s something we’re used to. Knock off a Goliath, lose to a David. It’s not solely John L’s fault, even St. Saban knocked off two top ten teams in 1998 while losing to Colorado State, Purdue and Indiana. And look at him.

But after a quarter century of inconsistent play and just two short seasons of ass-kicking football, MSU fans aren’t used to being the Big Ten’s steady hand. Yet, that’s exactly what’s happening in spite of MSU’s inexperienced QB and receiver corps. As fans, this is a difficult role for us to embrace.

Two years is an eternity in the sports narrative and the last two years have been the best MSU football has had to offer since the 60’s. The Spartans have won 15 straight at home since the opener in 2010. Their five losses have all been to ranked teams. MSU was a missed punt block away from playing in the Rose Bowl last fall.

The national sports narrative doesn’t remember the torrential downpour in which Brady Quinn piloted Notre Dame to a come from behind win in 2006. They don’t remember Jaren Hayes valiantly trying to knock jump balls away from Braylon Edwards despite being 7 inches too short for the job. You do. You were there. You were cheering and screaming. You remember the clock rolling zeros in excruciating detail.

The body of evidence is present. MSU has been one of the most successful programs of the last two seasons . Nationally, no one thinks of MSU as the “sleeping giant” anymore, the little engine that could if they only could stop tripping on their own feet. They’ve forgotten all of our worst memories of MSU football.Maybe it’s time for us to try and do the same.

Friday Afternoon YouTubin’: Central Michigan

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:26:00 GMT

Payback’s a bitch.

THE HORROR! THE GODFORSAKEN HORROR!

Well at least the youtube era has yielded a positive outcome for us to show the world. Last year we only had the Horror! If you’re going to the game check out this Q&A with Mt. Pleasant tips. Little Brother Blog does a post on Maxwell’s chance to make a statement. You can get a Central fix over at the Chip Report. Enjoy the game everyone!

Game Preview With Some Film: Central Michigan

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 22:16:00 GMT

This weekend MSU travels to Central Michigan. Yes, you read that correctly. As a part of Mark Hollis’ State of the State Where MSU Football Plays Round Robin the Directional Michigan Schools State Series Continuum, MSU will travel to Central, Eastern and Western Michigan by the year 2020. First up, Central on Saturday.

After MSU’s fastidious but unspectacular win against Boise State last weekend they’re looking to get some glorified practice time against a school that’s struggled mightily since Dan LeFevour left Spartan fans after squeaking out a win in EL in 2009. Dan Enos took over as Head Coach in 2010 and has led the Chips to a 7-18 record since. This has not sat too well with Chip alums and fans who enjoyed the privilege of being the best team in the state of Michigan in 2009 as you might imagine.

The Chips are coming off a pretty unspectacular 38-27 win against Southeast Missouri State last Thursday night. The Chips conceded some points to the Redhawks and trailed or were tied until late in the third quarter. There should be a name for this phenomenon. When David plays Goliath in college football, David can hang tight until well into the second half, but, Goliath aint tired in the fourth quarter.

Last week Central was Goliath, this week, back to being David. This is undoubtedly the biggest game to come to Mount Pleasant since Soaring Eagle signed the paperwork and made it official. Local businesses are turncoating Spartan as well as some students. A win would secure another year for a Dan Enos head coaching gig that is trending, well, not well. A loss would be expected, a bad loss could give some fuel to the get rid of Dan Enos train.

On CMU Defense:

The Chips run a 4-2-5. The link in the previous sentence goes to Gary Patterson’s seminal work on why the 4-2-5 is cooler than Le’Veon Bell breakin’ fools all game long.The 4-2-5 is a defense similar to what Narduzzi runs here at MSU. The defense uses basic alignments but uses that simplicity to mask where the blitz is coming from on each play. As an added note of MACtion, the Redhawks are lined up in the pistol here.

Like MSU, CMU is very faithful to their base defense. Even on third and 20, CMU came out in this 4-2-5 they just gave up a bit more cushion from DB to receiver. On the Redhawks 55 yard TD run they ingeniously used all of their speed on offense to get the edge like so:

Redhawks are back in the pistol. Another speedy 1-AA dude goes into motion and starts running towards the QB.

1-AA Dude actually turns around and starts running behind the QB getting ready to set up the option.

The two backs originally lined up in the backfield go upfield to block out(read: slowdown) the offensive line from reacting to the option. Now this is just a “simple” option play.

QB holds on til the very last second and pitches.

But by now Number 4 is off like a bat out of hell and gets in for the touchdown.

MSU Rushing: If Le’Veon Bell played for Southeast Missouri State he’d be like the third fastest dude on the field. SE Missouri State made it’s hay off of having a bunch of little dudes who can run like the wind. (See: State, Appalachian). When SE Missouri State ~~tried to run power~~ they didn’t try to run power really. If MSU wanted to challenge itself, they could use this game to try running speed to the outside so they could get a sniff on how much Baker might be missed for the Michigan game or something. Power running looks like it should be there all game,we all know it was against Boise who also ran a 4-2-5.

MSU Passing: I couldn’t find an up-to-date depth chart, but, the problem with the 4-2-5 is frequently your Star/Robber/Bandit is tiny.Sims will be open even when he isn’t because he’ll 80 lbs heavier than the fifth DB lined up across from him. Additionally, the way Central plays with it’s four DB flat with a ten yard cushion Maxwell should get oodles of practice throwing safe intermediate passes. Don’t expect lots of deep throws,CMU’s defense is designed to give up small to moderate gains and work to string together three stops.

On CMU Offense:

CMU runs the Multiple Offenses similar to MSU. Some of which are screencapped below.

This I-Formation should look familiar. They come out in the I “a lot”. Like “4 out of 5 plays I’ve watched so far” a lot.

Here CMU runs a Pro Set. You don’t see this at MSU, MSU almost exclusively lines up in some variant of either the Single-Back, the I Formation or the Shotgun 5WR. You don’t see a Pro Set very often in college football and in fact this may be the first time it’s use has been recorded in MAC history. Enjoy folks, you’re seeing Bigfoot here. The pro set offense helps take advantage of CMU’s running backs Zurlon Tipton and Garland/RB2?.

On 3rd and Long, CMU runs Shotgun 4WR. So I’m pretty sure you know how this all goes.

CMU’s offense is constructed similarly to MSU’s, if you didn’t know better you might think Dan Enos coached at MSU. The only thing “new” to the defense that they might see this weekend is the introduction to some pro-set formations.

MSU Run Defense: Keep CMU’s running backs in the middle of the field, Garland/RB2? looks quick enough that if you let him get the edge he has the speed to burn you. Both have good vision and respectable speed.

MSU Pass Defense: This game is going to have sacks and sacks and sacks and sacks. Shotgun appears to be a formation reserved primarily for third and long. The problem for CMU is that MSU’s front four can get respectable pressure without Narduzzi crazy blitzes. So, they should just motor right through CMU’s Offensive Line. If MSU struggles for any reason to generate pass pressure, that’s not a very encouraging sign.

Overall:

CMU is Diet MSU. There’s almost nothing here that MSU hasn’t seen before or doesn’t practice against everyday with Big Ten Legends Division Championship players. Worry if the Defensive Line isn’t forcing Radcliff into all kind of bad decisions, but the offense should be able to sustain itself based schematically on CMU’s defense. Le’Veon Bell is just a huge plus. Maxwell will get lots of medium range target practice in this one and MSU officially doubles up the series 6-3.

Score Prediction: MSU 38 CMU 10.

Film Review: The Great Roushar I-Formation Caper

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 20:40:00 GMT

The offense stepped onto the field friday night for it’s first series. There’s a good chance the poor kids in Africa who get all of the Buffalo Bills Super Bowl championship t-shirts from the 90s knew that MSU was going to hand off to Le’Veon Bell on the first play. So MSU lining up in the I formation should be expected, right? RIGHT? MSU lines up in the I Formation and Roushar tosses in his first wrinkle of the season on the very first play.

Yes, that’s right. Larry Caper was lined up as the fullback. Boise doesn’t appear to react at all. There’s really no reason for them to, after all the I formation is still the I formation and Bell is still getting the ball.

The ball snaps and Caper goes out to get his block on this HB sweep.

Caper gets popped here. While he doesn’t lay waste to second level linebackers like an Offensive Lineman would, he does manage to take a potential Bell tackler out of the play at the Line of Scrimmage, which allows Bell to pick up four on this play.

The strange thing is that one of the things I’ve learned from rewatching Friday night’s game is that Palazeti is a definite upgrade from previous years in the run blocking game at Fullback. He routinely took his guy out of the play all night long. So why even bother with this wrinkle?

Then in the second quarter:

Notice how much farther back Caper is lined up in this instance? He’s almost an extra yard back, which doesn’t seem like much, but it might be enough to telegraph the upcoming “FB handoff”.

Caper gets the handoff and start his off-tackle run. The linebacker who is correctly crapping his pants everytime Bell touches the ball tonight, freezes when he realizes Bell doesn’t have the ball and that Caper in fact has the handoff. MSU has handed off to the Fullback probably less than two dozen times since Dantonio came to town, so it doesn’t surprise me that Boise would ignore the notion that MSU might have handed off here.

But by now Caper is already out to the same level as the linebacker and appears to have a hole the size of Rhode Island to run through. Sims is already engaged with a second level blocker and Caper looks almost assured to pick up the first down.

Caper cuts inside instead of outside. Just outside of the frame to the upper left of where it says “Wide Open Spaces” lurks a deep safety who is probably just waiting for Maxwell to drop the hammer on playaction. So the space is open for now, but cutting outside isn’t the obvious good I thought it would be when I screencapped the play. So to answer my own rhetorical question, you bring Caper in as the “fullback” so he can take an unexpected handoff later in the game and pick up some needed yards.

This is the kind of Rousharian quirk that’ll get you some extra needed yards out of this run formation when you really need them. By having Bell and Caper(both capable receivers) in the backfield the potential to move into a 5 WR set is there, the potential to motion Sims(Dion) back as an H-Back into a heavy run formation is there. This ties strongly back into Roushar’s shared tendency with Scott Linehan to line up in a typically strong run formation and switch to a pass play or vice versa.

Or maybe it’s just a quirk MSU played with once and we’ll never see again. You just never can tell.

Game Recap: Boise State And Adjusting to the New

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 09:14:00 GMT

My wife is a former bando. As such we tailgate on Adams Field and the beginning of every home game starts for us by following the band in after they’re doing Series. If you haven’t yet done this, it’s a part of the gameday experience not to be missed.

On the ensuing walk is one of my favorite moments of coming to Spartan Stadium. As you walk towards the Sparty statue the stadium comes into view from behind the trees and that’s the moment it all comes together. I’m no longer part of pedestrian crap like having a job or worrying about paying bills. The next 3-4 hours belong to me, my friends and my family.

Last night we round the bend and the very first thing I see is HOLY SCOREBOARDS. I had intentionally avoided going to see them in person so my first experience would be last night. People say the pictures don’t do their size and grandeur justice. People were right.

Through a ticketing snafu we ended up sitting detached a couple rows over and up from our main block of friends and I got to watch the game with my wife and a couple friends from out of town. The last time she and I watched the game alone was probably MSU-Hawaii in 2004 and she fell asleep at 2:30, like a reasonable person should. The scoreboards were beautiful and amazing and frankly distracting at times. We watched our new Quarterback lead his new receivers against a Boise State opponent that had no business at Spartan Stadium and the whole game just felt surreal.

It was like watching a game in an alternate universe where what I know about Michigan State football offensively felt broken. MSU ran on third and short to wild success. The sure handed receivers were trying to catch a buttery football all game. Maxwell managed to avoid getting sacked, but probably would have been safer to get sacked a couple times. The PUNTER got a late hit penalty. (I actually thought this was kind of badass.)

The most amazing thing about it though is outside of the fact that Bell CANNOT tote the ball 44 times a game all season, nothing about the offense was statistically broken. Except turnovers obviously, but that can be fixed. 10/19 on 3rd down? In 14 games last year MSU did that once. Time of Possession of 39 minutes I suspect that’s a Dantonio record as well. The defense stayed fresh and only allowed three earned points.

The challenge as fans was adjusting to something new. This was not the Michigan State team we had come to know and love the last two years. It also wasn’t the Michigan State team of 2009 with the offensive sputters or the 2008 Ringer throws to Ringer who passes back to Ringer or even the 2007 Ringer/Caulcrick Offensive Victory march. This was just something altogether different and different is bad and scary and new. The newness is certainly not over yet either, what we saw on offense last night is unlikely to reflect the polished product of 2012, but it won’t be what we’ve seen before.

Bullets?

Bullets

The Good

Le’Veon Bell scored himself a pair of the hover shoes from Back to the Future II. His ability to get positive yardage on every single play won MSU the game last night. A beautifully executed performance by him.
Dion Sims and Maxwell are going to cause some problems for anyone who doesn’t have 260 lb linebackers this year. Which is to say, everyone.
I don’t know if there’s an English word to describe our defensive performance last night. Inexorable comes to mind. Merciless is another.
I’m actually going to put Maxwell’s performance in the good category, but only just. Of the three picks only one goes squarely on him and MSU was pressing because it was the end of the half. What concerned me more was the throwing the ball while he was getting sacked. Take a sack dude, we’ll still cheer for you.
The defense sniffing out the two throwback plays in a row. I’ve never seen a team, not even Boise, do that before. Keeping on their toes for a second trickeration play was sharp.

The Bad

Uhm, the receivers had a bumpy night. I’d wager a guess(I haven’t rewatched yet) that of Maxwell’s 16 completions that roughly half were catchable balls.
The offensive gameplan cannot be to run Bell 44 times a game, he will need new legs by season end if MSU even a few more times.

The Ugly

I know Roushar gonna Roushar, but the reverse pass to Lippett made me crazy. Overall I thought he called a pretty good game, but we were moving the ball well on that drive. The trickeration seemed unnecessary.

1-0. On to Central.