Obviously there are a lot of crazy emotions due to the way MSU played yesterday. I think there are several reasons to calm down.
1. While we haven't blown teams out like we wanted too, we have scored 30 or more points in every game and in 2 of our 4 games we have scored over 25 points in the first half. Thus, the coaches tried different things in the 2nd half which led to us not blowing out the scoreboard.
2. Our running game is not good yet, but all our Rb's are RS freshman or true freshman. while the numbers may look good due to big runs, we are often averaging 1-3 yards on first/second down which makes for a lot of third and longs. They will cont. to improve in this area making it easier for Cook to make easy third down throws (ex. pass to Lang on 3rd and two).
3. As a result of number 1/2, our offense has a lack of identity which is resulting in a lack of flow....ex. we score on our three drives in the first half and in the second half went 3-4 drives in a row with no points.
4. As bad as the eye test looked yesterday, we still only gave up ten points (or if you want to say normally we dont block 2 fg attempts 13-16 points). You do that in every game, you will win every game.
5. As mentioned by others, some great seasons for teams do not always start off pretty. The year we won the Rose Bowl, or OSU last year. Having seen great improvement by MSU over the course of the season in past years, I will trust the coaching staff to continue that trend. The reason I don't think you have seen major improvement is injuries. If we can get a little bit healthier, this improvement I believe will be dramatic like it has been every year Coach D has been here.
6. As for yesterday, we were missing DT Heath/McDowell for parts or the whole game, Conklin/Kieler at OT, RJ Williamson at safety, and Price at TE; additionally we are missing Mark Meyers and Sweat to suspension. (price was out only for the very end of game but may have contributed to blocked extra point attempt; only mentioning players likely to come back this year and make a contribution.) That is a significant portion of players that were out that. Getting some or all of these players back of the next 1-4 weeks will significantly change the outlook for this team.
7. Honestly, I understand that we may not look like the number 2 team in the nation. But hey, Ole Miss didnt look top 5 and neither did TCU this week. OSU hasnt looked like the number one team most of the year. I dont care if we dont look it; it is better to be ranked number 2 and build way to looking that way vs. looking good but be ranked 10-15. This is because others have seen the great job our staff has done over the past few years and how we get better throughout the year.
I think all of the reasons contribute to MSU looking slightly worse than expectations. However, I think many of these things will change as we get into the meat of schedule. So lets calm down, enjoy the fact that we won, enjoy were a top 5 ranked team, and be happy that this is a position many of us never dreamed of us being in....When i say the last part, I mean having a top 5 ranked team and us fans actually being upset b/c we dont look like were playing great.lol This is an amazing run the last few years, enjoy this year with lumps and bruises b/c we are still undefeated/ranked in the top 5.
1. While we haven't blown teams out like we wanted too, we have scored 30 or more points in every game and in 2 of our 4 games we have scored over 25 points in the first half. Thus, the coaches tried different things in the 2nd half which led to us not blowing out the scoreboard.
2. Our running game is not good yet, but all our Rb's are RS freshman or true freshman. while the numbers may look good due to big runs, we are often averaging 1-3 yards on first/second down which makes for a lot of third and longs. They will cont. to improve in this area making it easier for Cook to make easy third down throws (ex. pass to Lang on 3rd and two).
3. As a result of number 1/2, our offense has a lack of identity which is resulting in a lack of flow....ex. we score on our three drives in the first half and in the second half went 3-4 drives in a row with no points.
4. As bad as the eye test looked yesterday, we still only gave up ten points (or if you want to say normally we dont block 2 fg attempts 13-16 points). You do that in every game, you will win every game.
5. As mentioned by others, some great seasons for teams do not always start off pretty. The year we won the Rose Bowl, or OSU last year. Having seen great improvement by MSU over the course of the season in past years, I will trust the coaching staff to continue that trend. The reason I don't think you have seen major improvement is injuries. If we can get a little bit healthier, this improvement I believe will be dramatic like it has been every year Coach D has been here.
6. As for yesterday, we were missing DT Heath/McDowell for parts or the whole game, Conklin/Kieler at OT, RJ Williamson at safety, and Price at TE; additionally we are missing Mark Meyers and Sweat to suspension. (price was out only for the very end of game but may have contributed to blocked extra point attempt; only mentioning players likely to come back this year and make a contribution.) That is a significant portion of players that were out that. Getting some or all of these players back of the next 1-4 weeks will significantly change the outlook for this team.
7. Honestly, I understand that we may not look like the number 2 team in the nation. But hey, Ole Miss didnt look top 5 and neither did TCU this week. OSU hasnt looked like the number one team most of the year. I dont care if we dont look it; it is better to be ranked number 2 and build way to looking that way vs. looking good but be ranked 10-15. This is because others have seen the great job our staff has done over the past few years and how we get better throughout the year.
I think all of the reasons contribute to MSU looking slightly worse than expectations. However, I think many of these things will change as we get into the meat of schedule. So lets calm down, enjoy the fact that we won, enjoy were a top 5 ranked team, and be happy that this is a position many of us never dreamed of us being in....When i say the last part, I mean having a top 5 ranked team and us fans actually being upset b/c we dont look like were playing great.lol This is an amazing run the last few years, enjoy this year with lumps and bruises b/c we are still undefeated/ranked in the top 5.
