The 3-2-1: Indiana Week
Jim Comparoni | Editor
EAST LANSING - Three things we learned early this week about Michigan State, two questions, one prediction:
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED:
1. Junior ‘star’ linebacker Jon Reschke is out for at least several weeks with a foot injury, and Riley Bullough is questionable.
Reschke’s injury wasn’t surprising news. Information about his foot injury leaked Sunday, and we talked about it on The Bunker Sunday evening.
The news is that head coach Mark Dantonio acknowledged the injury. Usually the head coach doesn’t talk about injuries unless it’s a season-ending injury.
Dantonio said he is “optimistic we'll get him back by the end of the year.”
But…
“He is out right now, and probably out for a significant time period here as he works through a severe an ankle sprain.”
What it means:
* Reschke was Michigan State’s best defensive player in the victory over Notre Dame. I said he was one of the most underrated players in the Big Ten, and was in the process of becoming one of the most respected players in the league.
Now, that rise has been halted, at least for a little while.
Reschke sustained the injury midway through Saturday’s game. He tried to come back and play a snap after the fumbled punt snap, but pulled up lame again.
When he comes back, will he have the quickness and speed he showed at Notre Dame? That’ll be hard to achieve right away.
Secondly, this is additionally concerning because Reschke battled injuries in each of his first two years at Michigan State. Coaches had trouble getting him on the practice field, and staying there, prior to his rise into the starting lineup at this time last year after Ed Davis went down with an injury.
He hasn’t had this particular injury in the past, but - for Michigan State’s sake - you have to hope the Reschke injuries subside after this one.
* With Reschke out, sophomore Andrew Dowell is back in the starting lineup. Dowell started the season opener against Furman as Reschke missed the game with a wrist injury.
Coaches liked the speed and effort Dowell showed against Furman, but he showed some inexperience in the face of Furman’s surprise formations and plays.
“Coach D said the toughest thing for a young player in your first start is adjusting to things on the fly,” Dowell said after practice on Tuesday. “So we get our gameplan, we know what we think they are going to do, and then how can you react off of that when they don’t show you exactly what you prepared for? So that’s been a growing process for me.”
Dowell will make his second start on Saturday at Indiana.
“I know me, personally, I have to be in the book more this week, being in a starting role. It’s definitely a test for me and for our entire defense because they (Indiana) have a very good scheme. I just have to continue to stay in film and watch a lot of it this week, to get better and get ready for the offense.”
* Also, senior Ed Davis continues to make progress toward what Dantonio hopes will be a regular role in the defense, soon.
Davis played a handful of snaps against Wisconsin. He didn’t look nearly as fast as he did in 2014 when he was second-team All-Big Ten, but Dantonio says Davis is making progress.
“He practiced much better last week. He had full day of practice a couple days of the week, so that was very positive.
“It's sort of day-by-day, game-by-game with Ed,” Dantonio said. “I want him to feel confident. Part of this is him having confidence and going back and playing at game speed.
“He had a knee injury, and it takes a little bit of time to get back in there and get acclimated. I think he's close to turning the corner.”
* Dantonio said senior Mike linebacker Riley Bullough might play against Indiana. Bullough sat out Saturday’s game against Wisconsin with an undisclosed injury.
“Riley probably is a little bit more day-to-day, and we'll see how that goes as we move through the week,” Dantonio said. “We'll make an announcement prior to the game as to whether or not he can or cannot go.”
Junior Shane Jones played Mike linebacker in place of Bullough, and performed well. Jones, who started last year against Central Michigan in place of Bullough, showed improved speed, and tackled well.
“We've been deep at linebacker,” Dantonio said. “We've got guys who have played and know what to do there. They can pick up the slack. It's an opportunity for people to grow.”
The Spartans were lacking in the leadership and communication department on Saturday, and are working to improve that area for the Indiana game.
“Everybody has to collectively step up with communication and echo it out,” Dowell said, “from d-line, linebackers, safeties, DBs, with him being our vocal leader and him being out, to replace him.”
2. Sunday’s weekly team meeting entailed very little, if anything, about football.
The Spartans gathered, as is customary, at the Skandalaris Center in the late morning. The meeting took place just hours after Dantonio and the Spartans learned of the tragic passing of former Spartan Mylan Hicks.
“Sunday, coming in after what had happened on Saturday afternoon against Wisconsin and then that news, and we had our first team meeting, and we came in and Coach D didn’t have one thing to say about football,” said quarterback Tyler O’Connor. “That’s just shows how much family and love and care has meant around this program.”
“It was a tough day Sunday,” Dantonio said. “Really didn't want to go in there and talk about a football game for sure. Left that up in the air for people whether they did or didn't want to be there. Also had a chapel specifically for him, a chapel with our team to specifically honor him and let our players just sort of be with that memory of that evening.
“There is no question it's been a challenge. Also, I think there is no question that we get on with it, because that's who he was. That's who Mike Sadler was. When you know those people and how committed they were to a football program, you don't want to do anything to steer away from what you're trying to accomplish.”
Dantonio said the Spartans will wear black shoes and black socks at Indiana on Saturday night in honor of Hicks.
“Of all the Spartan gear, he liked to wear black,” Dantonio said. “He liked the black Spartan gear. That's why I wore black today, in memory of him.
“But also we'll honor him with the No. 6 on the back of the helmet this weekend. We will probably travel down there with 41 players I counted that played on the team with him. He'll be in a lot of people's minds as we move forward.
“Mylan is the type of guy that loved football. He loved competing. He went at it 100 miles an hour, and he would be very disappointed in us if we did not do that on a game-by-game basis, throughout practice, and everything we try to accomplish here and go after. So he'll be with us.
“We'll do some special things in upcoming weeks.
“Just a tragic event. Again, it just speaks to how life can change on people very, very quickly. We experienced that with Mike Sadler and now again with Mylan Hicks. It's a tragic event. Just take into account what you have now and cherish it.
“He was a great competitor and teammate, and our guys are missing him. A lot of people are missing him.”
3. The problems on offense against Wisconsin weren’t all Tyler O’Connor’s fault.
O’Connor was the guy with the football, the guy having trouble distributing it on occasion. And he was the guy fans and media were watching, and criticizing after the 30-6 lead.
But Dantonio pointed out on Sunday and Tuesday that there were many culpable entities that had a hand in Michigan State’s problems on offense against the Badgers.
Tyler O'Connor was sacked four times on Saturday, and pressured on several other occasions.
The problems began with Wisconsin’s consistent success in putting pressure on O’Connor.
“It’s not just the offensive line, it’s the protection,” Dantonio said. “Our running backs, for some reason, were cut-blocking people.”
That’s apparently not what they’re taught to do. And Badger defensive players defeat blocks as well as any team MSU will face all year.
“Give credit to Wisconsin,” Dantonio said. “They got good players now. They threw some pressures at us, we didn't block them effectively, and they got home on others and beat us physically. That's football.
“There was pressure in his face. Usually you get pressure in people's face it affects quarterbacks. Makes them throw out their bad foot. Got to do a better job protecting our quarterback, whether it's by structure, recognition of what's coming, or actual execution, combination of things.”
Receivers? They took some blame too.
“Same thing happens if people get tied up down the field,” Dantonio said. “Nobody to throw to, you end up choking the ball, bad things happen.”
O’Connor’s mistakes were more apparent to the casual fan.
“There are some decisions he has to make that have to be better,” Dantonio said.
“Those are the three things all go along with the passing game. I think any of those things can affect you. I think as a quarterback, every experience you have is a learning experience, a growing experience. So even this guy who is in his fifth year, Tyler, he started one game; now he's started three. He’s growing.”
O’Connor doesn’t seem to have lost any confidence.
“Tyler is fine,” Dantonio said. “He's a confident player. I texted him Saturday night, and he had already watched the game twice.”
O’Connor said he downloaded the team’s copy of the film off the cloud, to his laptop. He was getting ready to watch it a third time when friends convinced him to get something to eat with them.
“He's a responsible, responsible guy,” Dantonio said. “He'll take ownership in what he did. He's not a finger-pointer. He's mature in terms of how he handles things.
“This hasn't been the first time in his football career that something has gone wrong. A lot of things can go wrong at that position.
“I’m sure he's prepared to handle these things, and he has an opportunity to bounce back and make it happen.”
TWO QUESTIONS:
Question No. 1. What’s the problem with the pass defense?
This is a common question among fans.
The answer: Nothing.
Chill.
Wisconsin had three scoring drives. There were five third-down plays that helped fuel those 16 points.
The Badgers did damage on a pair of third-and-10s on the first TD drive.
The Badgers converted a third-and-12 on the second TD drive.
The Badgers converted a third-and-11 and a third-and-eight on their field goal drive.
That’s all. Five plays. Five conversions, good for 16 points.
There was reason for review and corrections - although not reason for the coronaries Spartan fans were having over five plays. The negative reaction those five plays, I suspect, was due to the overall frustration of the afternoon. Wisconsin didn’t do as much damage on third down, for instance, as Western Michigan did against MSU last year in a double-digit Spartan victory.
Anyone remember that Central Michigan was 7-of-14 on third down against MSU last year. For math majors, that’s a better percentage than the Badgers had on Saturday.
Plant a flag.
Indiana was 5-of-11 on third downs against Michigan State last year. That’s a better percentage than Wisconsin’s.
Wisconsin ended up 7 of 16 on third down. That’s a good percentage, but not reason to expel anybody.
The five plays:
1. Wisconsin QB Alex Hornibook completed a 25-yard pass to WR Jazz Peavy.
What happened: MSU broke tendency and played man-to-man. The Spartans had Jalen Watts-Jackson in the slot area, playing first-string nickel back for the first time in his career.
Peavy shook Watts-Jackson with a nod to the post and a break to the corner. Very good route, and a perfect pass.
2. Ten plays later (including a third-and-two play action completion to the tight end, which caught Dowell out of position), Hornbook connected with WR Robert Wheelwright for a 9-yard gain.
Wait a minute. This wasn’t a conversion. MSU stopped the WR short of the first down with a fine reaction and tackle by safety Montae Nicholson.
(But Wisconsin converted fourth-and-one with a fullback dive).
As for the 9-yard gain on third-and-10, it was charted as a losing play for the Spartans and deserves mention in this study.
On that play, cornerback Vayante Copeland was beaten to the inside by Wheelwright. The inside release allowed Wheelwright to body-up Copeland for a late post break to the middle.
Good release move. Copeland, who had an excellent game against the run, was out-techniqued at the line of scrimmage. That doesn’t happen to him often. But it happened this time, on third down in the red zone. Not a championship play for Michigan State. But it’s probably not something that’s going to become a recurring problem. No need to fire any coordinators over this one.
(As for Dowell being out of position on the third-and-two play, well Wisconsin did a great job with a late shift of tight end personnel prior to the snap. That shift caused a hesitation in Dowell on the play side while Dowell checked to stop the run first. Then he was too late in getting outside to his receiver assignment.
(A play like that is why Dowell says this week he is “in the book.” Sometimes it takes a loss for players to realize there are consequences, like a national embarrassment of a loss, when too many details get left undone.
(By the way, Wisconsin ran the same play on third-and-short later in the game, but Copeland and Demetrious Cox were all over it for no gain, resulting in a stoppage and Wisconsin’s field goal attempt). [By the way, in the Spartan Plus Pre-Snap Read, we told you Wisconsin would repeat plays that worked, and they would do it similar situations. That was true about their short-yardage fullback dives, and this play-action out route to the tight end.]
3. On the third-and-12 conversion which keyed Wisconsin’s second TD drive, Hornbook found Peavy for 23 yards.
What happened: MSU was in man-to-man again, and Copeland tried to cover Peavy as the Badger WR ran the width of the field on a drag route. Blame this one on the pass rush. MSU came with a five-man rush and didn’t come close to getting home, or affecting the QB.
The QB found a semi-open receiver and once again delivered a perfect pass.
As for the field goal drive:
4. Hornbook hit WR George Rushing for 15 yards in front of Darian Hicks.
Hicks was sinking back into cover-three (three-deep) zone. Don’t believe Matt Millen. The BTN color analyst incorrectly labeled this as off man-to-man. It wasn’t. Hicks is/was supposed to bail deep on that zone coverage, as a safety net behind a blitz.
But once again, the blitz didn’t get home, and Hornibook was well-schooled on where to find a weak spot against a blitz.
MSU had abandoned its tendency-breaking usage of man-to-man coverage in order to go back to its mainstay blitz/cover-three on this play - and the Badgers were equal to that task as well.
“On those third downs it was a different coverage in each situation,” Dantonio said. “But on a scenario where when you bring people (on a blitz), you’ve got to affect the quarterback. Quarterback connected. He was on. Thought he played very well in the game.
“But it's sort of on everybody. Depends on leverage. First one we lost leverage on a corner route (vs. Watts-Jackson). Ball is dropped in right on the money.
“Another time we could have clouded it and had a corner sitting out there. Decision was made on the field not to. This is coach speak.”
(Cloud it, meaning they could have had a cornerback cover the flat tighter as part of cover-two zone. That might have been the cover-three/blitz call. Sometimes the players have the freedom to check to automatic blitzes, based sometimes on a motion by a WR. Sounds like that might have been the case on this one. But don’t blame the cornerback with playing too soft in man-to-man. It wasn’t man-to-man. It was MSU’s favored coverage behind a blitz.)
5. On third-and-eight, Hornbook made the crazy-good pass to Peavy for 31 yards on a deep corner to the wide side of the field vs. good coverage from Cox.
Michigan State hadn’t seen an opposing QB come to Spartan Stadium and make throws like this since J.T. Barrett and the eventual National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes in 2014.
“All of them could have been prevented, but you got to give it to them, too,” Dantonio said. “Dropped a couple right on the dime.”
16 points were generated off of these third down plays. MSU has won a lot of games in recent years while allowing a handful of third-down completions. That aggravating part was how perfect some of the passes were, and MSU’s need on each occasion to get a stop and halt Wisconsin’s momentum.
For the record, Wisconsin’s first third-and-long conversion took place on their first possession of the day, but it didn’t lead to a scoring drive.
On this play, Hornibook threw to his tight end for a gain of 20, leading him perfectly, into a tight window. MSU rushed four on the play, and McDowell came free up the middle for a big hit, off a stunt game - but Hornibrook took the hit to make a perfect throw.
Michigan State was in man-to-man. The tight end made the catch in Cox’s area. Dantonio said on Sunday there were times when underneath coverage needed to be better. This was probably one of those times.
But MSU survived the drive when Raequan Williams strip-sacked Hornibrook three plays later. On this play, MSU showed an outside linebacker blitz out of an aggressive 6-1 alignment. But MSU broke tendency and peeled those OLBs back into a surprising man-to-man coverage. Hornbook froze and was strip-sacked.
Question No. 2: Is there a leadership shortage on this team?
Answer: Stay tuned. Bullough is out with an injury. O’Connor is working through some tasks of his own. MSU graduated a lot of strong personalities last year. Coaches and players agree that now is the time for leaders to emerge. Let’s wait and see what the focus and level of accountability is in the coming game or games.
Prediction:
1. O’Connor will come back just fine against Indiana.
I’m not guaranteeing he’ll be without error when the Spartans meet up with quality defenses in the future. But I think he’ll churn out a good game at Indiana, having more time to throw, continuing to be aware of Donnie Corley as his go-to man, and capitalizing on bootleg and waggle plays when MSU moves the pocket.
Edit
Jim Comparoni | Editor
EAST LANSING - Three things we learned early this week about Michigan State, two questions, one prediction:
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED:
1. Junior ‘star’ linebacker Jon Reschke is out for at least several weeks with a foot injury, and Riley Bullough is questionable.
Reschke’s injury wasn’t surprising news. Information about his foot injury leaked Sunday, and we talked about it on The Bunker Sunday evening.
The news is that head coach Mark Dantonio acknowledged the injury. Usually the head coach doesn’t talk about injuries unless it’s a season-ending injury.
Dantonio said he is “optimistic we'll get him back by the end of the year.”
But…
“He is out right now, and probably out for a significant time period here as he works through a severe an ankle sprain.”
What it means:
* Reschke was Michigan State’s best defensive player in the victory over Notre Dame. I said he was one of the most underrated players in the Big Ten, and was in the process of becoming one of the most respected players in the league.
Now, that rise has been halted, at least for a little while.
Reschke sustained the injury midway through Saturday’s game. He tried to come back and play a snap after the fumbled punt snap, but pulled up lame again.
When he comes back, will he have the quickness and speed he showed at Notre Dame? That’ll be hard to achieve right away.
Secondly, this is additionally concerning because Reschke battled injuries in each of his first two years at Michigan State. Coaches had trouble getting him on the practice field, and staying there, prior to his rise into the starting lineup at this time last year after Ed Davis went down with an injury.
He hasn’t had this particular injury in the past, but - for Michigan State’s sake - you have to hope the Reschke injuries subside after this one.
* With Reschke out, sophomore Andrew Dowell is back in the starting lineup. Dowell started the season opener against Furman as Reschke missed the game with a wrist injury.
Coaches liked the speed and effort Dowell showed against Furman, but he showed some inexperience in the face of Furman’s surprise formations and plays.
“Coach D said the toughest thing for a young player in your first start is adjusting to things on the fly,” Dowell said after practice on Tuesday. “So we get our gameplan, we know what we think they are going to do, and then how can you react off of that when they don’t show you exactly what you prepared for? So that’s been a growing process for me.”
Dowell will make his second start on Saturday at Indiana.
“I know me, personally, I have to be in the book more this week, being in a starting role. It’s definitely a test for me and for our entire defense because they (Indiana) have a very good scheme. I just have to continue to stay in film and watch a lot of it this week, to get better and get ready for the offense.”
* Also, senior Ed Davis continues to make progress toward what Dantonio hopes will be a regular role in the defense, soon.
Davis played a handful of snaps against Wisconsin. He didn’t look nearly as fast as he did in 2014 when he was second-team All-Big Ten, but Dantonio says Davis is making progress.
“He practiced much better last week. He had full day of practice a couple days of the week, so that was very positive.
“It's sort of day-by-day, game-by-game with Ed,” Dantonio said. “I want him to feel confident. Part of this is him having confidence and going back and playing at game speed.
“He had a knee injury, and it takes a little bit of time to get back in there and get acclimated. I think he's close to turning the corner.”
* Dantonio said senior Mike linebacker Riley Bullough might play against Indiana. Bullough sat out Saturday’s game against Wisconsin with an undisclosed injury.
“Riley probably is a little bit more day-to-day, and we'll see how that goes as we move through the week,” Dantonio said. “We'll make an announcement prior to the game as to whether or not he can or cannot go.”
Junior Shane Jones played Mike linebacker in place of Bullough, and performed well. Jones, who started last year against Central Michigan in place of Bullough, showed improved speed, and tackled well.
“We've been deep at linebacker,” Dantonio said. “We've got guys who have played and know what to do there. They can pick up the slack. It's an opportunity for people to grow.”
The Spartans were lacking in the leadership and communication department on Saturday, and are working to improve that area for the Indiana game.
“Everybody has to collectively step up with communication and echo it out,” Dowell said, “from d-line, linebackers, safeties, DBs, with him being our vocal leader and him being out, to replace him.”
2. Sunday’s weekly team meeting entailed very little, if anything, about football.
The Spartans gathered, as is customary, at the Skandalaris Center in the late morning. The meeting took place just hours after Dantonio and the Spartans learned of the tragic passing of former Spartan Mylan Hicks.
“Sunday, coming in after what had happened on Saturday afternoon against Wisconsin and then that news, and we had our first team meeting, and we came in and Coach D didn’t have one thing to say about football,” said quarterback Tyler O’Connor. “That’s just shows how much family and love and care has meant around this program.”
“It was a tough day Sunday,” Dantonio said. “Really didn't want to go in there and talk about a football game for sure. Left that up in the air for people whether they did or didn't want to be there. Also had a chapel specifically for him, a chapel with our team to specifically honor him and let our players just sort of be with that memory of that evening.
“There is no question it's been a challenge. Also, I think there is no question that we get on with it, because that's who he was. That's who Mike Sadler was. When you know those people and how committed they were to a football program, you don't want to do anything to steer away from what you're trying to accomplish.”
Dantonio said the Spartans will wear black shoes and black socks at Indiana on Saturday night in honor of Hicks.
“Of all the Spartan gear, he liked to wear black,” Dantonio said. “He liked the black Spartan gear. That's why I wore black today, in memory of him.
“But also we'll honor him with the No. 6 on the back of the helmet this weekend. We will probably travel down there with 41 players I counted that played on the team with him. He'll be in a lot of people's minds as we move forward.
“Mylan is the type of guy that loved football. He loved competing. He went at it 100 miles an hour, and he would be very disappointed in us if we did not do that on a game-by-game basis, throughout practice, and everything we try to accomplish here and go after. So he'll be with us.
“We'll do some special things in upcoming weeks.
“Just a tragic event. Again, it just speaks to how life can change on people very, very quickly. We experienced that with Mike Sadler and now again with Mylan Hicks. It's a tragic event. Just take into account what you have now and cherish it.
“He was a great competitor and teammate, and our guys are missing him. A lot of people are missing him.”
3. The problems on offense against Wisconsin weren’t all Tyler O’Connor’s fault.
O’Connor was the guy with the football, the guy having trouble distributing it on occasion. And he was the guy fans and media were watching, and criticizing after the 30-6 lead.
But Dantonio pointed out on Sunday and Tuesday that there were many culpable entities that had a hand in Michigan State’s problems on offense against the Badgers.
Tyler O'Connor was sacked four times on Saturday, and pressured on several other occasions.
The problems began with Wisconsin’s consistent success in putting pressure on O’Connor.
“It’s not just the offensive line, it’s the protection,” Dantonio said. “Our running backs, for some reason, were cut-blocking people.”
That’s apparently not what they’re taught to do. And Badger defensive players defeat blocks as well as any team MSU will face all year.
“Give credit to Wisconsin,” Dantonio said. “They got good players now. They threw some pressures at us, we didn't block them effectively, and they got home on others and beat us physically. That's football.
“There was pressure in his face. Usually you get pressure in people's face it affects quarterbacks. Makes them throw out their bad foot. Got to do a better job protecting our quarterback, whether it's by structure, recognition of what's coming, or actual execution, combination of things.”
Receivers? They took some blame too.
“Same thing happens if people get tied up down the field,” Dantonio said. “Nobody to throw to, you end up choking the ball, bad things happen.”
O’Connor’s mistakes were more apparent to the casual fan.
“There are some decisions he has to make that have to be better,” Dantonio said.
“Those are the three things all go along with the passing game. I think any of those things can affect you. I think as a quarterback, every experience you have is a learning experience, a growing experience. So even this guy who is in his fifth year, Tyler, he started one game; now he's started three. He’s growing.”
O’Connor doesn’t seem to have lost any confidence.
“Tyler is fine,” Dantonio said. “He's a confident player. I texted him Saturday night, and he had already watched the game twice.”
O’Connor said he downloaded the team’s copy of the film off the cloud, to his laptop. He was getting ready to watch it a third time when friends convinced him to get something to eat with them.
“He's a responsible, responsible guy,” Dantonio said. “He'll take ownership in what he did. He's not a finger-pointer. He's mature in terms of how he handles things.
“This hasn't been the first time in his football career that something has gone wrong. A lot of things can go wrong at that position.
“I’m sure he's prepared to handle these things, and he has an opportunity to bounce back and make it happen.”
TWO QUESTIONS:
Question No. 1. What’s the problem with the pass defense?
This is a common question among fans.
The answer: Nothing.
Chill.
Wisconsin had three scoring drives. There were five third-down plays that helped fuel those 16 points.
The Badgers did damage on a pair of third-and-10s on the first TD drive.
The Badgers converted a third-and-12 on the second TD drive.
The Badgers converted a third-and-11 and a third-and-eight on their field goal drive.
That’s all. Five plays. Five conversions, good for 16 points.
There was reason for review and corrections - although not reason for the coronaries Spartan fans were having over five plays. The negative reaction those five plays, I suspect, was due to the overall frustration of the afternoon. Wisconsin didn’t do as much damage on third down, for instance, as Western Michigan did against MSU last year in a double-digit Spartan victory.
Anyone remember that Central Michigan was 7-of-14 on third down against MSU last year. For math majors, that’s a better percentage than the Badgers had on Saturday.
Plant a flag.
Indiana was 5-of-11 on third downs against Michigan State last year. That’s a better percentage than Wisconsin’s.
Wisconsin ended up 7 of 16 on third down. That’s a good percentage, but not reason to expel anybody.
The five plays:
1. Wisconsin QB Alex Hornibook completed a 25-yard pass to WR Jazz Peavy.
What happened: MSU broke tendency and played man-to-man. The Spartans had Jalen Watts-Jackson in the slot area, playing first-string nickel back for the first time in his career.
Peavy shook Watts-Jackson with a nod to the post and a break to the corner. Very good route, and a perfect pass.
2. Ten plays later (including a third-and-two play action completion to the tight end, which caught Dowell out of position), Hornbook connected with WR Robert Wheelwright for a 9-yard gain.
Wait a minute. This wasn’t a conversion. MSU stopped the WR short of the first down with a fine reaction and tackle by safety Montae Nicholson.
(But Wisconsin converted fourth-and-one with a fullback dive).
As for the 9-yard gain on third-and-10, it was charted as a losing play for the Spartans and deserves mention in this study.
On that play, cornerback Vayante Copeland was beaten to the inside by Wheelwright. The inside release allowed Wheelwright to body-up Copeland for a late post break to the middle.
Good release move. Copeland, who had an excellent game against the run, was out-techniqued at the line of scrimmage. That doesn’t happen to him often. But it happened this time, on third down in the red zone. Not a championship play for Michigan State. But it’s probably not something that’s going to become a recurring problem. No need to fire any coordinators over this one.
(As for Dowell being out of position on the third-and-two play, well Wisconsin did a great job with a late shift of tight end personnel prior to the snap. That shift caused a hesitation in Dowell on the play side while Dowell checked to stop the run first. Then he was too late in getting outside to his receiver assignment.
(A play like that is why Dowell says this week he is “in the book.” Sometimes it takes a loss for players to realize there are consequences, like a national embarrassment of a loss, when too many details get left undone.
(By the way, Wisconsin ran the same play on third-and-short later in the game, but Copeland and Demetrious Cox were all over it for no gain, resulting in a stoppage and Wisconsin’s field goal attempt). [By the way, in the Spartan Plus Pre-Snap Read, we told you Wisconsin would repeat plays that worked, and they would do it similar situations. That was true about their short-yardage fullback dives, and this play-action out route to the tight end.]
3. On the third-and-12 conversion which keyed Wisconsin’s second TD drive, Hornbook found Peavy for 23 yards.
What happened: MSU was in man-to-man again, and Copeland tried to cover Peavy as the Badger WR ran the width of the field on a drag route. Blame this one on the pass rush. MSU came with a five-man rush and didn’t come close to getting home, or affecting the QB.
The QB found a semi-open receiver and once again delivered a perfect pass.
As for the field goal drive:
4. Hornbook hit WR George Rushing for 15 yards in front of Darian Hicks.
Hicks was sinking back into cover-three (three-deep) zone. Don’t believe Matt Millen. The BTN color analyst incorrectly labeled this as off man-to-man. It wasn’t. Hicks is/was supposed to bail deep on that zone coverage, as a safety net behind a blitz.
But once again, the blitz didn’t get home, and Hornibook was well-schooled on where to find a weak spot against a blitz.
MSU had abandoned its tendency-breaking usage of man-to-man coverage in order to go back to its mainstay blitz/cover-three on this play - and the Badgers were equal to that task as well.
“On those third downs it was a different coverage in each situation,” Dantonio said. “But on a scenario where when you bring people (on a blitz), you’ve got to affect the quarterback. Quarterback connected. He was on. Thought he played very well in the game.
“But it's sort of on everybody. Depends on leverage. First one we lost leverage on a corner route (vs. Watts-Jackson). Ball is dropped in right on the money.
“Another time we could have clouded it and had a corner sitting out there. Decision was made on the field not to. This is coach speak.”
(Cloud it, meaning they could have had a cornerback cover the flat tighter as part of cover-two zone. That might have been the cover-three/blitz call. Sometimes the players have the freedom to check to automatic blitzes, based sometimes on a motion by a WR. Sounds like that might have been the case on this one. But don’t blame the cornerback with playing too soft in man-to-man. It wasn’t man-to-man. It was MSU’s favored coverage behind a blitz.)
5. On third-and-eight, Hornbook made the crazy-good pass to Peavy for 31 yards on a deep corner to the wide side of the field vs. good coverage from Cox.
Michigan State hadn’t seen an opposing QB come to Spartan Stadium and make throws like this since J.T. Barrett and the eventual National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes in 2014.
“All of them could have been prevented, but you got to give it to them, too,” Dantonio said. “Dropped a couple right on the dime.”
16 points were generated off of these third down plays. MSU has won a lot of games in recent years while allowing a handful of third-down completions. That aggravating part was how perfect some of the passes were, and MSU’s need on each occasion to get a stop and halt Wisconsin’s momentum.
For the record, Wisconsin’s first third-and-long conversion took place on their first possession of the day, but it didn’t lead to a scoring drive.
On this play, Hornibook threw to his tight end for a gain of 20, leading him perfectly, into a tight window. MSU rushed four on the play, and McDowell came free up the middle for a big hit, off a stunt game - but Hornibrook took the hit to make a perfect throw.
Michigan State was in man-to-man. The tight end made the catch in Cox’s area. Dantonio said on Sunday there were times when underneath coverage needed to be better. This was probably one of those times.
But MSU survived the drive when Raequan Williams strip-sacked Hornibrook three plays later. On this play, MSU showed an outside linebacker blitz out of an aggressive 6-1 alignment. But MSU broke tendency and peeled those OLBs back into a surprising man-to-man coverage. Hornbook froze and was strip-sacked.
Question No. 2: Is there a leadership shortage on this team?
Answer: Stay tuned. Bullough is out with an injury. O’Connor is working through some tasks of his own. MSU graduated a lot of strong personalities last year. Coaches and players agree that now is the time for leaders to emerge. Let’s wait and see what the focus and level of accountability is in the coming game or games.
Prediction:
1. O’Connor will come back just fine against Indiana.
I’m not guaranteeing he’ll be without error when the Spartans meet up with quality defenses in the future. But I think he’ll churn out a good game at Indiana, having more time to throw, continuing to be aware of Donnie Corley as his go-to man, and capitalizing on bootleg and waggle plays when MSU moves the pocket.
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