The 3-2-1: Maryland Week
Jim Comparoni | Editor
EAST LANSING - Three things we learned during press interviews on Tuesday, two questions and one prediction:
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED:
1. As was the case last week, Mark Dantonio is not going to reveal who the starting quarterback will be for Saturday’s game at Maryland, until just prior to kickoff. But Dantonio liked what he saw in both QBs against Northwestern.
First-time starter Brian Lewerke and former starter Tyler O’Connor each had good moments during Michigan State’s loss to Northwestern on Saturday.
Lewerke completed 12-of-19 passes for 99 yards with 1 TD. He also rushed seven times for 30 yards and was sacked once.
O’Connor had a career-high 281 yards on less than two quarters of work.
“I was impressed with Tyler O’Connor coming back the way he did and maintaining not just his attitude but his composure in that type of situation,” Dantonio said. “That was very positive.”
Lewerke began the game hot, hitting RJ Shelton with a nice touch pass for 33 yards on third down vs. press man-to-man on the first drive. He ended the second drive with a well-timed touch pass to tight end Josiah Price for a 15-yard TD.
“I thought Brian Lewerke gave us a spark,” Dantonio said. “I thought he showed some of the things he could do. I also thought as the game progressed, the game got a little fast for him.
“I thought that did some good things. He did some other things in terms of his progressions and in terms of who he’s reading he’s got to square away. His progression of where he was going with the ball and getting the ball out stalled a little bit and that created some uncomfortable moments for him.”
Dantonio liked Lewerke’s poise.
“I don’t think the moment was too big for him,” Dantonio said during an interview with WXYZ (Detroit) Channel 7's Justin Rose: “I don’t think he panicked in the game at all. I don’t think he was intimidated by the environment or the situation, and that was a big positive.
“I thought he brought excitement to our football team and I think he has a skill set that will allow him to flourish in the future. When that future is: Is it a year? Now? Two years? That’s up to him.”
As for the game at Maryland, Dantonio said of Lewerke: “I would expect Lewerke to play. Does he start or not? He’s in contention.”
2. Dennis Finley has moved from third-string offensive tackle to second-string left guard.
Why & What It Means: Finley is at guard now because Michigan State suddenly has a shortage at the position. David Beedle is out for the Maryland game after sustaining a lower body injury against Northwestern. Beedle was the second-string left guard for that game. There is no word on how long he will be out.
Brandon Clemons, formerly a starting right guard for the Spartans, is listed solely as a defensive tackle, now. He started at DT against Northwestern and has become an important part of the defensive rotation.
Without Beedle and Clemons, and with Kodi Kieler having moved from center to left tackle permanently, the Spartans have three fewer interior offensive linemen than they had at the outset of the season.
Finley fell behind Miguel Machado and true freshman Thiyo Lukusa at right tackle. Finley is trying to come back from a broken leg, which he sustained in October of 2015 against Purdue.
Offensive line coach Mark Staten said two weeks ago that Finley still wasn’t ready to work into the playing group at right tackle, with mental and physical hurdles still need to be cleared.
Now, with Beedle out and Clemons playing defense, the Spartans need Finley at guard. Ready or not.
Finley, left, and Lukusa in practice.
“Dennis, I think he's to that point,” Dantonio said on Tuesday. “I think he's ready to go. He needs to get confident again, in terms of being able to play at game time, at this level at game time. But he's played before. He's got the experience. We got to get him going.”
My Take: Is Finley ready to respond? Well, he didn’t look bad in the Green-White Game, and that’s the only time any of us muggles have seen him since last October.
He lost weight while rehabbing the leg. In addition to the mental and physical hurdles, will he be strong enough to play guard? He has rarely practiced at that position in the past.
Although he is listed as the second-string left guard, I doubt we’ll see him this week, unless there’s an emergency. As for the dwindling number of available offensive linemen overall, that’s a potential emergency in itself.
Kieler played last week at left tackle despite missing practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. He missed the second half of the BYU game with an upper body injury.
The Spartans played the first four games of the season with four players rotating at the guard/center/guard positions: Kieler, Benny McGowan, Clemons and Brian Allen.
Now, it’s Allen, McGowan and redshirt freshman Tyler Higby inside - and they will now likely have to play every snap, rather than Staten’s preferred rotation.
3. Dantonio likes the early indications of how his players are trying to bounce back from this four-game losing streak.
“Thus far I would say, hey, we're hanging,” Dantonio said. “You got to be a rock to play this game. We've won a ton of games. You have to be a rock in the first place.”
The coaches have been watching.
“We monitor everything, how meetings are, what is the attitude in meetings, what is the attitude in the weight room, in the training room,” Dantonio said. “At every turn it's been a positive thing.
“People have to handle problems. So that's our mindset. That's what we have to do, and that's what we will do.”
TWO QUESTIONS:
1. Did Tyler O’Connor experience a break-through with his performance against Northwestern.
Not only did O’Connor make some good, accurate throws, he seemed to play with a quicker mental RPM. He seemed to go through reads quicker and more decisively than in the past.
MSU needed a spark from O’Connor, and he gave it to them. Despite the terrible loss, O’Connor managed to crack a grin when speaking with teammates in the final seconds of the game. He looks loose and confident for his next outing.
It will be intriguing to see whether the coaches go with the experienced O’Connor to start the road game at Maryland rather than the freshman. However, Dantonio was impressed with Lewerke’s poise, so maybe he thinks he’ll handle things at Maryland without blinking. Meanwhile, O’Connor might be BETTER when coming off the bench with something to prove and little to lose. Maybe that’s the breakthrough.
In terms of making smart reads and pulling the trigger, O’Connor looks more equipped and ready in those categories than he was in his first four starts. O’Connor wasn’t bad against BYU. The offense stalled behind a poor run game against the Cougars.
Kodi Kieler, Brian Allen and Tyler O'Connor.
That makes two straight games for O’Connor with no major mistakes. He wasn’t bad in the loss at Indiana, leading a game-tying drive in the final minutes of regulation - however he made a couple of costly errors in overtime.
His interception against Northwestern wasn’t a bad one. He heaved it deep on third-and-10 on a play that served as a 50-yard arm punt to the Northwestern 10-yard line. MSU trailed 40-31 at the time, and the time was right to take a deep risk.
O’Connor can prepare for this game against Maryland knowing that the team still needs sharpness out of him, and that there are still things to strive for in 2016.
2. Can the offensive line turn things around?
This area has become the biggest surprise of the season. Coaches expected to be able to pound out a consistent run game against most, if not all, opponents this year. Their terrific ground performance against Notre Dame appears to be an aberration at this point.
MSU rushed for a healthy 175 yards against Indiana, but went away from the run game inadvertently in overtime against the Hoosiers (when O’Connor failed to make the correct read and hand it off on second-and-seven).
Against BYU, Spartan tailbacks rushed for 70 yards on 19 carries (3.68 per).
Against Northwestern, Spartan tailbacks had only 36 yards on 11 rushing attempts (3.2 per carry), believed to be the fewest number of tailback rushing attempts by a Michigan State team in the Dantonio era.
When asked on Sunday night if he expected more from the offensive line at this point in the season, Dantonio said:
“I think six games in you expect more from our entire football team. I don’t know that it’s one particular group of people, and I include coaches in that as well.
“But Kieler was banged up, we’re banged up. We’re banged up as a football team a little bit. Kodi Kieler really didn’t practice much all week. He practiced some on Thursday, so you’ve got to be able to practice and get yourself ready to go in that capacity.
“Moving some different guys around a little bit, playing with a redshirt guard (Higby), and he’s going to be a very good player but the bottom line is they (Northwestern) played square in their gap and maintained their gap integrity, we did not (on defense). This is the second week that we did not.
“Our inability to run the football with any consistency, you get in situations where you have to throw the football. And with a redshirt freshman quarterback, in the second half, we had to throw the ball too much.”
So is there hope they can turn it around?
My Take: They have it in them. But that “it” is wearing down, due to bumps and injuries that have taken place, and the need of a bye week that’s not forthcoming.
Not only does Michigan State have guys playing hurt on the o-line, they are also having to play without being able to rotate many (or any) fresh guys onto the field. And with Michigan and Ohio State coming up in the next few weeks, the bumps and bruises are only going to get worse.
I don’t think the offensive line is inherently bad. But they have lost tread on their tires, and there are no pit stops in sight.
MSU’s decision to go with more shot gun formation vs Northwestern than at any time in the Dantonio era, along with the fewest tailback runs of the Dantonio era, might have been done out of the hopes of preserving their dwindling o-line corps.
Come to think of it, maybe they will force Finley onto the field to help out with the rotation, and see if he can hang. They need some gamers to step up. Higby and Lukusa have been positives. They need more.
Cole Chewins saw some brief time against BYU after Kieler went down, and Chewins made an error or two. But the coaches like his potential. And he was seen, again, taking extra reps after practice on Tuesday, working by himself on his pass set, among other things.
Brian Allen’s Take: “Pass protection, for the most part, I actually thought we were pretty good (against Northwestern). Run blocking wasn’t good. We weren’t moving the ball. We only had 11 carries for like 58 yards or something. It’s hard to call run plays when you’re not doing your job and that’s the offensive line’s job. We just have to run the ball better.”
How?
“Staying lower, playing lower, using your hands better. Northwestern, their interior guys are bigger guys and we knew they were going to be hard to move and you had to use your hands well. You just have to be able to get it done.
“We just have to be able to run the ball better. That’s completely on us. Guys are beat up. Can’t feel sorry for yourself, losing four games in a row. You have to get pissed off or something.
“Just have to figure out a way, and just have an attitude. Maybe that’s part of the problem; you just have to kind of be a dick in there and if you’re not doing that, you’re not going to be able to do your job.”
ONE PREDICTION
1. Josh King is going to have a positive second half of the season.
King became the first defensive end off the bench last weekend, ahead of former starter Evan Jones. Malik McDowell is a new starter at d-end, with Demetrius Cooper at the other end.
King has some snap to him, and he’s being leaned on to play more. I think some good things are ahead for him in the near future, as he learns more about the craft.
Dantonio with some thoughts on King: “The problem right now is sometimes our players aren't playing fast. I watched Josh King, who is going to be a phenomenal player. He's just young. He comes off the edge in the game on Saturday and before he gets hit on a wham block, a block coming back from the tight end, he fixes his helmet in the middle of a play. Well, you can't do that.
“That's just a very small thing. But you have to be able to know what you're doing, play fast, and execute whatever it is, whether it's playing the deep ball, running a route, throwing a route, pass protection. Whatever it is, you've got to be able to do those things at a rapid rate and aggressively. We have to make sure the players have a foundation behind them so our players can know what to do and play fast.
“That's what we need to concentrate on and be fundamentally sound. That's what wins football games, fundamentals.
“Josh will grow. He’ll be a great football player, he’s just got to get better.”
Jim Comparoni | Editor
EAST LANSING - Three things we learned during press interviews on Tuesday, two questions and one prediction:
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED:
1. As was the case last week, Mark Dantonio is not going to reveal who the starting quarterback will be for Saturday’s game at Maryland, until just prior to kickoff. But Dantonio liked what he saw in both QBs against Northwestern.
First-time starter Brian Lewerke and former starter Tyler O’Connor each had good moments during Michigan State’s loss to Northwestern on Saturday.
Lewerke completed 12-of-19 passes for 99 yards with 1 TD. He also rushed seven times for 30 yards and was sacked once.
O’Connor had a career-high 281 yards on less than two quarters of work.
“I was impressed with Tyler O’Connor coming back the way he did and maintaining not just his attitude but his composure in that type of situation,” Dantonio said. “That was very positive.”
Lewerke began the game hot, hitting RJ Shelton with a nice touch pass for 33 yards on third down vs. press man-to-man on the first drive. He ended the second drive with a well-timed touch pass to tight end Josiah Price for a 15-yard TD.
“I thought Brian Lewerke gave us a spark,” Dantonio said. “I thought he showed some of the things he could do. I also thought as the game progressed, the game got a little fast for him.
“I thought that did some good things. He did some other things in terms of his progressions and in terms of who he’s reading he’s got to square away. His progression of where he was going with the ball and getting the ball out stalled a little bit and that created some uncomfortable moments for him.”
Dantonio liked Lewerke’s poise.
“I don’t think the moment was too big for him,” Dantonio said during an interview with WXYZ (Detroit) Channel 7's Justin Rose: “I don’t think he panicked in the game at all. I don’t think he was intimidated by the environment or the situation, and that was a big positive.
“I thought he brought excitement to our football team and I think he has a skill set that will allow him to flourish in the future. When that future is: Is it a year? Now? Two years? That’s up to him.”
As for the game at Maryland, Dantonio said of Lewerke: “I would expect Lewerke to play. Does he start or not? He’s in contention.”
2. Dennis Finley has moved from third-string offensive tackle to second-string left guard.
Why & What It Means: Finley is at guard now because Michigan State suddenly has a shortage at the position. David Beedle is out for the Maryland game after sustaining a lower body injury against Northwestern. Beedle was the second-string left guard for that game. There is no word on how long he will be out.
Brandon Clemons, formerly a starting right guard for the Spartans, is listed solely as a defensive tackle, now. He started at DT against Northwestern and has become an important part of the defensive rotation.
Without Beedle and Clemons, and with Kodi Kieler having moved from center to left tackle permanently, the Spartans have three fewer interior offensive linemen than they had at the outset of the season.
Finley fell behind Miguel Machado and true freshman Thiyo Lukusa at right tackle. Finley is trying to come back from a broken leg, which he sustained in October of 2015 against Purdue.
Offensive line coach Mark Staten said two weeks ago that Finley still wasn’t ready to work into the playing group at right tackle, with mental and physical hurdles still need to be cleared.
Now, with Beedle out and Clemons playing defense, the Spartans need Finley at guard. Ready or not.
Finley, left, and Lukusa in practice.
“Dennis, I think he's to that point,” Dantonio said on Tuesday. “I think he's ready to go. He needs to get confident again, in terms of being able to play at game time, at this level at game time. But he's played before. He's got the experience. We got to get him going.”
My Take: Is Finley ready to respond? Well, he didn’t look bad in the Green-White Game, and that’s the only time any of us muggles have seen him since last October.
He lost weight while rehabbing the leg. In addition to the mental and physical hurdles, will he be strong enough to play guard? He has rarely practiced at that position in the past.
Although he is listed as the second-string left guard, I doubt we’ll see him this week, unless there’s an emergency. As for the dwindling number of available offensive linemen overall, that’s a potential emergency in itself.
Kieler played last week at left tackle despite missing practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. He missed the second half of the BYU game with an upper body injury.
The Spartans played the first four games of the season with four players rotating at the guard/center/guard positions: Kieler, Benny McGowan, Clemons and Brian Allen.
Now, it’s Allen, McGowan and redshirt freshman Tyler Higby inside - and they will now likely have to play every snap, rather than Staten’s preferred rotation.
3. Dantonio likes the early indications of how his players are trying to bounce back from this four-game losing streak.
“Thus far I would say, hey, we're hanging,” Dantonio said. “You got to be a rock to play this game. We've won a ton of games. You have to be a rock in the first place.”
The coaches have been watching.
“We monitor everything, how meetings are, what is the attitude in meetings, what is the attitude in the weight room, in the training room,” Dantonio said. “At every turn it's been a positive thing.
“People have to handle problems. So that's our mindset. That's what we have to do, and that's what we will do.”
TWO QUESTIONS:
1. Did Tyler O’Connor experience a break-through with his performance against Northwestern.
Not only did O’Connor make some good, accurate throws, he seemed to play with a quicker mental RPM. He seemed to go through reads quicker and more decisively than in the past.
MSU needed a spark from O’Connor, and he gave it to them. Despite the terrible loss, O’Connor managed to crack a grin when speaking with teammates in the final seconds of the game. He looks loose and confident for his next outing.
It will be intriguing to see whether the coaches go with the experienced O’Connor to start the road game at Maryland rather than the freshman. However, Dantonio was impressed with Lewerke’s poise, so maybe he thinks he’ll handle things at Maryland without blinking. Meanwhile, O’Connor might be BETTER when coming off the bench with something to prove and little to lose. Maybe that’s the breakthrough.
In terms of making smart reads and pulling the trigger, O’Connor looks more equipped and ready in those categories than he was in his first four starts. O’Connor wasn’t bad against BYU. The offense stalled behind a poor run game against the Cougars.
Kodi Kieler, Brian Allen and Tyler O'Connor.
That makes two straight games for O’Connor with no major mistakes. He wasn’t bad in the loss at Indiana, leading a game-tying drive in the final minutes of regulation - however he made a couple of costly errors in overtime.
His interception against Northwestern wasn’t a bad one. He heaved it deep on third-and-10 on a play that served as a 50-yard arm punt to the Northwestern 10-yard line. MSU trailed 40-31 at the time, and the time was right to take a deep risk.
O’Connor can prepare for this game against Maryland knowing that the team still needs sharpness out of him, and that there are still things to strive for in 2016.
2. Can the offensive line turn things around?
This area has become the biggest surprise of the season. Coaches expected to be able to pound out a consistent run game against most, if not all, opponents this year. Their terrific ground performance against Notre Dame appears to be an aberration at this point.
MSU rushed for a healthy 175 yards against Indiana, but went away from the run game inadvertently in overtime against the Hoosiers (when O’Connor failed to make the correct read and hand it off on second-and-seven).
Against BYU, Spartan tailbacks rushed for 70 yards on 19 carries (3.68 per).
Against Northwestern, Spartan tailbacks had only 36 yards on 11 rushing attempts (3.2 per carry), believed to be the fewest number of tailback rushing attempts by a Michigan State team in the Dantonio era.
When asked on Sunday night if he expected more from the offensive line at this point in the season, Dantonio said:
“I think six games in you expect more from our entire football team. I don’t know that it’s one particular group of people, and I include coaches in that as well.
“But Kieler was banged up, we’re banged up. We’re banged up as a football team a little bit. Kodi Kieler really didn’t practice much all week. He practiced some on Thursday, so you’ve got to be able to practice and get yourself ready to go in that capacity.
“Moving some different guys around a little bit, playing with a redshirt guard (Higby), and he’s going to be a very good player but the bottom line is they (Northwestern) played square in their gap and maintained their gap integrity, we did not (on defense). This is the second week that we did not.
“Our inability to run the football with any consistency, you get in situations where you have to throw the football. And with a redshirt freshman quarterback, in the second half, we had to throw the ball too much.”
So is there hope they can turn it around?
My Take: They have it in them. But that “it” is wearing down, due to bumps and injuries that have taken place, and the need of a bye week that’s not forthcoming.
Not only does Michigan State have guys playing hurt on the o-line, they are also having to play without being able to rotate many (or any) fresh guys onto the field. And with Michigan and Ohio State coming up in the next few weeks, the bumps and bruises are only going to get worse.
I don’t think the offensive line is inherently bad. But they have lost tread on their tires, and there are no pit stops in sight.
MSU’s decision to go with more shot gun formation vs Northwestern than at any time in the Dantonio era, along with the fewest tailback runs of the Dantonio era, might have been done out of the hopes of preserving their dwindling o-line corps.
Come to think of it, maybe they will force Finley onto the field to help out with the rotation, and see if he can hang. They need some gamers to step up. Higby and Lukusa have been positives. They need more.
Cole Chewins saw some brief time against BYU after Kieler went down, and Chewins made an error or two. But the coaches like his potential. And he was seen, again, taking extra reps after practice on Tuesday, working by himself on his pass set, among other things.
Brian Allen’s Take: “Pass protection, for the most part, I actually thought we were pretty good (against Northwestern). Run blocking wasn’t good. We weren’t moving the ball. We only had 11 carries for like 58 yards or something. It’s hard to call run plays when you’re not doing your job and that’s the offensive line’s job. We just have to run the ball better.”
How?
“Staying lower, playing lower, using your hands better. Northwestern, their interior guys are bigger guys and we knew they were going to be hard to move and you had to use your hands well. You just have to be able to get it done.
“We just have to be able to run the ball better. That’s completely on us. Guys are beat up. Can’t feel sorry for yourself, losing four games in a row. You have to get pissed off or something.
“Just have to figure out a way, and just have an attitude. Maybe that’s part of the problem; you just have to kind of be a dick in there and if you’re not doing that, you’re not going to be able to do your job.”
ONE PREDICTION
1. Josh King is going to have a positive second half of the season.
King became the first defensive end off the bench last weekend, ahead of former starter Evan Jones. Malik McDowell is a new starter at d-end, with Demetrius Cooper at the other end.
King has some snap to him, and he’s being leaned on to play more. I think some good things are ahead for him in the near future, as he learns more about the craft.
Dantonio with some thoughts on King: “The problem right now is sometimes our players aren't playing fast. I watched Josh King, who is going to be a phenomenal player. He's just young. He comes off the edge in the game on Saturday and before he gets hit on a wham block, a block coming back from the tight end, he fixes his helmet in the middle of a play. Well, you can't do that.
“That's just a very small thing. But you have to be able to know what you're doing, play fast, and execute whatever it is, whether it's playing the deep ball, running a route, throwing a route, pass protection. Whatever it is, you've got to be able to do those things at a rapid rate and aggressively. We have to make sure the players have a foundation behind them so our players can know what to do and play fast.
“That's what we need to concentrate on and be fundamentally sound. That's what wins football games, fundamentals.
“Josh will grow. He’ll be a great football player, he’s just got to get better.”
