Trends, Schemes & Analysis
Jim Comparoni | Publisher
EAST LANSING - Michigan State heads into its next challenge at Minnesota on Saturday night still searching for improvement in its run offense.
Michigan State (4-1, ranked No. 21 by the Associated Press) hasn’t been bad on the ground, but with most other areas of the team looking quite good, if the Spartans could spruce up its running attack, Michigan State fans might really be in for a feel-good season.
The Spartans rank No. 5 in the Big Ten in rush offense at 181.6 yards per game and No. 5 in the conference in yards per rush at 4.4.
The Spartans rushed for 158 yards during Michigan State’s 14-10 victory at Michigan on Saturday. Michigan went into the game ranked No. 1 in the nation in rushing defense.
“It was tough sledding in there, but we had to take that,” said head coach Mark Dantonio. “That was something I said we had to be able to do - run the ball.
“The production might not be there as much as we want, but we were going to run it and we were going to force the issue at the very least in terms of not getting behind the chains. We couldn’t become a third-and-12 team, a third-and-15 team and take sacks and pass the ball 50 times in that weather. We had to endure whatever came with the run, and that meant running some.”
Quarterback Brian Lewerke has been MSU’s leading rusher through every checkpoint of the season. He has 309 yards for the year, averaging 5.8 per carry.
Lewerke has accounted for 37 percent of Michigan State’s carries and 38 percent of the Spartan’s rushing yardage.
“Our quarterback is creating,” Dantonio said. “He’s making some plays with his feet. He’s also got a couple called runs maybe that we’ve used as well. But there’s just been a different dynamic in terms of what we’ve done offensively maybe than what we have before. But there’s no question we have to get our tailbacks running the ball. The production has to come, I think, for us to continue to grow as a football team.”
Michigan State will work to get its tailbacks a bigger chunk of that ball-carrying pie. But Lewerke’s work on the ground has been a big bonus for the offense through five games. Two late scrambles against Iowa and Michigan were key in melting the clock, and a 16-yard TD tuck-and-run against the Wolverines - punctuated by a brave dive for the goal line - gave the Spartans their first lead at 7-3.
Madre London rushed for 59 yards against the Wolverines, but 50 of those yards came on a single burst.
INSIDE LONDON'S 50-YARDER: Freshmen Rule
The freshman tandem of Luke Campbell and Kevin Jarvis made the play. They double-teamed All-America candidate Maurice Hurst and drove him three yards downfield and two yards inward as part of a counter-gap play.
The dominant block forced Hurst back into the lap of middle linebacker Devon Bush.Bush was not able to pursue the alley and cut off London as London broke into daylight.
With the freshmen dominating Hurst, pull guard Tyler Higby had a clear shot at Michigan defensive end Rashan Gary.
Gary is such a quick, troublesome player that Michigan State didn’t leave him totally unblocked on this counter-gap. Usually, the d-end is allowed to come straight upfield, and the pull blocker executes a kickout block. This time, Michigan State assigned tight end Mark Sokol to chip Gary for an instant before Sokol turned and blocked a Michigan cornerback.
With Gary having been held up briefly by the chip, Higby had time to pull, cross the formation and drive Gary outward and out of the play.
Fullback Collin Lucas was offset to the left. He blocked linebacker Mike McCray in the c-gap.
McCray succeeded in meeting Lucas on the offense’s side of the line of scrimmage but he wasn’t able to close up the massive daylight left in Hurst’s wake. If Hurst had held strong, McCray’s stalemate would have log-jammed the interior and stuffed London.
By design, Lucas’ initial trek was to his left, and then he veered to the right c-gap. The initial trek to the left influenced Bush to that side of the line. Having been influenced in the wrong direction, Bush was more easily caught up in the Hurst/Jarvis/Campbell avalanche that caved through the right side of the line.
In all, credit the Jarvis/Campbell tag team with plusses on the play, along with Sokol and Lucas, and Spartan coaches with fine play design.
London did a good job of folloing his blocker and darting to daylight. However, he was caught from behind by five Wolverines, including a defensive end.
London has never improved his top-end speed from the day he was caught from behind in his first Green-White Game. If London had the speed of Edwin Baker, Jeremy Langford or even Gerald Holmes from last year or perhaps even LJ Scott from last year’s Ohio State game, that play might have gone for 83 yards and a 21-3 lead.
**
Gerald Holmes rushed for 27 yards, including a 15-yarder behind pulling Brian Allen during MSU’s first touchdown drive against the Wolverines.
BREAKING DOWN HOLMES' RUN: Freshmen Again
On Holmes’ 15-yarder, Holmes followed Allen on a counter to the weak side. After snapping and pulling, Allen blasted into play-side defensive end Chase Winovich and drove him three yards downfield.
Michigan went away from its base 30 front and played an over/4-3 on this snap, probably because Michigan State had gone heavy with two TEs and a fullback. Michigan briefly took 205-pound viper linebacker Khaleke Hudson out of the game and replaced him with 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive tackle Bryan Mone as a second defensive tackle, to get more beef on the field. But the beef didn't hold up.
Mone didn’t withstand the double-team block of freshmen Jarvis and Campbell. They drove Mone three yards downfield.
Elsewhere, Sokol won his collision with play-side linebacker Mike McCray and bounced him to the outside. And fullback Lucas got enough of middle linebacker Devin Bush.
Michigan State blockers batted 1.000 on this play and Holmes turned in seven additional yards after contact. Campbell got away with a borderline late hit at the end of the run on Bush.
Interestingly Michigan went away from its base 30 defensive front and opted for a 4-3 on these two plays, which went for a combined 65 yards on the ground.
**
L.J. Scott, last year’s leading rusher, missed the Michigan game with an undisclosed injury. Head coach Mark Dantonio said Scott could have played in case of an emergency, but they elected to hold him out.
The Spartans averaged a respectable 3.9 yards per carry against Michigan, but were unable to consistently get positive yards from its tailbacks, a factor which led to a series of three-and-outs during Saturday’s rainstorm.
HOW ABOUT THAT O-LINE?
Michigan State’s offensive line was outstanding in pass protection, allowing no sacks against a Michigan team that came into the game leading the nation in sacks.
The combination of providing good pass protection and not getting stonewalled in the ground game enabled the o-line to grade out well, overall, while remaining one of the youngest offensive lines in the Big Ten.
“When you have a redshirt freshman at right tackle (Luke Campbell), when you are playing with your left tackle as a sophomore (Cole Chewins), your left guard is a redshirt sophomore (Tyler Higby), and we have a true freshman starting at right guard (Kevin Jarvis), who played pretty well all things considering, I think our football team is unique in the fact that we’re a young football team in a lot of areas,” Dantonio said. “You got young receivers out there as well. You could say the same about the defensive side of our ball, playing a lot of different players, a lot of first-time starters. So we’re going to grow every time we get an opportunity to play.”
ABOUT THAT GROWTH …
During Dantonio’s weekly teleconference on Sunday, I asked if the developmental process for the offensive line will be sped up by the fact that the Spartans have played against two excellent defensive fronts in the last two weeks - Iowa and Michigan - which play two vastly different styles of play.
“I do think you’re correct in that,” Dantonio said. “I do think Iowa played very well. Michigan’s great, up there as well. A lot of different things thrown at our guys relative to the things conceptually from Michigan’s defense. A little more basic from Iowa, but they do it very, very well.
“Both games we knew we would be challenged up front,” Dantonio added. “We knew it was going to be tough to run the football. But nevertheless, we decided we were going to run it.”
Michigan State gained 105 yards rushing against Iowa, but netted only 88.
Iowa has had some mediocre outings in terms of run defense, including an allowance of 295 yards on the ground against Penn State (212 to Saquon Barkley). Iowa allowed 200 yards rushing to Illinois last weekend in a 45-16 Hawkeye victory. A 58-yarder by Illinois freshman RB Mike Epstein bolstered those stats. But Iowa held Illinois to 49 yards rushing in the second half.
Forget the numbers and trust the eye test. Iowa has a stout run defense and the numbers will show that by the end of the year.
Michigan’s defensive line doesn’t have a lot of huge humans, but they are quick, and create confusion with fast slants and stunts, plus plenty of horsepower. The Wolverines are low on second-string help, but they haven’t needed much of it thus far. They will need it when they face quality uptempo teams.
As for this week’s opponent for the Spartans, Minnesota ranks No. 4 in the Big Ten in rush defense, allowing 114 yards per game, and No. 8 in the Big Ten in yards allowed per rush at 4.1.
Rushing yards allowed by Gopher opponents this year (and per-carry averages in parentheses):
Buffalo: 51 yards (2.3).
Oregon State: 80 yards (3.1)
Middle Tennessee State: 46 yards (3.1)
Maryland: 262 yards (5.6 per)
Purdue: 132 yards (4.6 per)
SpartanMag Prediction: Michigan State running backs will have their best output of the season on Saturday night in Minneapolis. More on the reasons why later in the week in the Pre-Snap Read.
WHAT ABOUT THAT PASS PROTECTION?
Michigan’s fierce pass rush was expected to be a massive plus in the Wolverines’ favor. Instead, Michigan State attempted 22 passes without a sack, and there were few hits on Lewerke in the pocket.
“I thought as much as anything, the structure of what we did was very sound,” Dantonio said. “(Chase) Gianacakos played some tight end for us. He’s a 6-5, 300-pound guy.”
Gianacakos, an offensive guard by trade, has donned the No. 94 in the past two games and served as a tight end.
The No. 94 makes him an eligible receiver, when he isn’t covered up by a split end.
Wearing a number in the 90s and serving as basically an extra offensive tackle, Spartan coaches affectionately refer to the role as a “yackle.” Most recently, second-string offensive lineman Michael Dennis played the role in 2014.
“(Gianacakos) may not have gone out for a pass but he was in a protection mode,” Dantonio said. “He was part of the protection.
“Up front, obviously Brian Allen is playing very well and he controls a lot of things up there,” Dantonio added. “Beyond that, everybody has their moments.”
WHAT ABOUT THE PHANTOM HOLDING PENALTY?
Gianacakos was flagged for holding during a Lewerke run with 1:26 remaining when Michigan had no time outs. The flag stopped the clock. MSU’s next snap, on third-and-eight, would have been made with :46 seconds left. If that play had taken more than :06 seconds for the pile to settle and the officials to reset the play clock, Michigan State wouldn’t have had to snap the ball on fourth down.
Instead, the holding call gave Michigan a chance to advance the ball for a Hail Mary pass in the final seconds.
On Sunday night, I mentioned to Dantonio that the only angle we in media could see was the television angle, which showed Gianacakos having his left arm and hand inside the framework of the player he was blocking, which is legal, textbook hand placement. I mentioned that the play looked like a legal pancake to me and asked Dantonio if he had any thoughts on the holding call.
“You mean without criticizing the officials? No.” Dantonio said.
I asked Dantonio if Gianacakos graded out well on that play.
“He graded out pretty well on that play, but a lot of things happen on the field,” he said. “I can only do my job to the best of my abilities.”
Because the flag was on the team with the lead, officials didn’t restart the game clock until MSU’s next snap.
“The way I understand the rule is whoever doesn’t have the penalty is going to be the team that benefits,” Dantonio said. “It won’t benefit the team that the penalty is against. So if it was on us, the clock would not run. If it had been on them, the clock would have run. And if they would have been ahead of us (on the scoreboard), the clock would have run. That’s the way I understand it. That’s the way the rule was interpreted to me on the field.”
DANTONIO UNPLUGGED
“I think the keys to the game really, after I watched the film, from an offensive perspective -- zero turnovers, and we were not sacked,” Dantonio said. “When we got in the red zone we went 2-for-2 on touchdowns.
“Obviously we didn’t have the production we wanted to have, had the one dropped pass in the second quarter, but we had bad field position and the weather and everything else in the second half.
“But those are the key components. Quarterback being able to create and scramble for a touchdown and then a couple times for yardage, getting first downs. No turnovers, no sacks.
“Basically a great football game. I thought our guys played extremely wel. Obviously some things we want to change to better ourselves. But just a great win, great bus ride home and right now we’re 4-1, 2-0 in the conference and we need to look forward.”
THE AFTERGLOW
Dantonio was asked about the celebration in the hours and day that followed Michigan State’s eighth victory over Michigan in the last 10 years.
Did he have time to appreciate the win?
“Well, a little bit Sunday morning before we came in to work, but we got home at about 2 o’clock in the morning,” Dantonio said. “But just the ride itself - nothing important on the ride, it’s just sitting sort of with yourself and collecting yourself.”
Michigan passed for 198 yards against Michigan State, but completed less than 50 percent of its passes while doing so (16-of-35) and threw three interceptions.
Michigan State came out of the game ranked No. 2 in the nation in pass efficiency defense.
Spartan cornerbacks Justin Layne and Josiah Scott have settled in as team strengths. Tyson Smith and Josh Butler have been assets earlier in the season but haven’t played as much lately.
Meanwhile, sophomore David Dowell emerged as a starting safety for the Iowa game, and came forward as a difference-maker against Michigan.
“I thought our safeties played very, very well,” Dantonio said. “David (Dowell) also had some tackles and a pass break-up, obviously was on the front end of three turnovers. So huge plays.
“Khari (Willis) played very well. Tracked a guy down on the reverse, tracked another guy down one time, just ran him down. So he played extremely well.
“Our defense obviously kept us in the game. We were difficult to run on after the first series. We really only gave up one explosive play, and they fumbled on that one, the pass play. So when you’re talking about 20-yard passes, we gave up zero; and 15-yard runs, we gave up zero. So we come away with five turnovers and did not give up the big plays. Good things start to happen.”
Michigan State effectively changed between zone and man-to-man, forcing to Michigan quarterback John O’Korn to holding the ball too long in the pocket at times, leading coverage sacks and pressures.
“I thought we pressured the quarterback,” Dantonio said. “He didn’t have a lot of time. And we pressured him into mistakes, and then we had four sacks as well.
“Our safeties played very well. Obviously Joe Bachie continues to play very well. We got good play out of our defensive front. I thought Josiah Scott and Justin Layne played very solid, too.”
BACHIE, PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Bachie was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. He had a team-high 10 tackles, marking the third time he has reached double digits.
Bachie had an 11-yard sack in the second quarter. He forced a fumble on Michigan’s second offensive series of the game, a play that was arguably the turning point of the game. That fumble set up Michigan State’s go-ahead touchdown drive at 7-3, and changed the tenor of the game.
He recorded the first interception of his career on the second play of the fourth quarter. On that play, he showed lateral movement, quick burst and seemed to have knowledge of where the receiver was headed as O’Korn attempted the pass. From there, Bachie made a diving catch that would make a tight end proud.
On the game’s final play, Bachie commanded air space in the end zone, and high-pointed the ball for a pass-break-up. He put himself in the optimal place to play the pass, and out-jumped the crowd.
FROSH RETURN MEN
Michigan State has a pair of promising return men in true freshman Laress Nelson and Andre Welch. But each player made mistakes in the second half, causing Michigan State to begin its first two drives of the second half inside the Spartan 5-yard line.
Welch bobbled the opening kickoff of the second half, sending him on a lateral trek, which led to a holding penalty by a teammate.
Nelson muffed a punt, which rolled inside the 5-yard line before he covered it.
Dantonio indicated that both players will remain in their roles, although Nelson was replaced by Darrell Stewart late in the Michigan game.
“Laress has done a good job back there,” Dantonio said. “We want to continue to help him grow in that area. But the circumstances were tough. You know, he’s not playing all the time on offense, he’s in and out a little bit, but not all the time.
“He’s not caught six balls in 30 games, he’s a freshman. So that was difficult.
“Same with Andre Welch. On the back end, he bobbled the one when he did catch it at the goal line.
“So those are some of the things we have to look at and there’s growing pains as we go. Some of those things we have to make decisions on obviously.
“But (it was) not a perfect game on our part, just not a perfect game. At the end of the game, I felt like time could’ve been taken off and obviously we didn’t get that happening with the penalty call. So we live and we learn, but we got through it.”
Jim Comparoni | Publisher
EAST LANSING - Michigan State heads into its next challenge at Minnesota on Saturday night still searching for improvement in its run offense.
Michigan State (4-1, ranked No. 21 by the Associated Press) hasn’t been bad on the ground, but with most other areas of the team looking quite good, if the Spartans could spruce up its running attack, Michigan State fans might really be in for a feel-good season.
The Spartans rank No. 5 in the Big Ten in rush offense at 181.6 yards per game and No. 5 in the conference in yards per rush at 4.4.
The Spartans rushed for 158 yards during Michigan State’s 14-10 victory at Michigan on Saturday. Michigan went into the game ranked No. 1 in the nation in rushing defense.
“It was tough sledding in there, but we had to take that,” said head coach Mark Dantonio. “That was something I said we had to be able to do - run the ball.
“The production might not be there as much as we want, but we were going to run it and we were going to force the issue at the very least in terms of not getting behind the chains. We couldn’t become a third-and-12 team, a third-and-15 team and take sacks and pass the ball 50 times in that weather. We had to endure whatever came with the run, and that meant running some.”
Quarterback Brian Lewerke has been MSU’s leading rusher through every checkpoint of the season. He has 309 yards for the year, averaging 5.8 per carry.
Lewerke has accounted for 37 percent of Michigan State’s carries and 38 percent of the Spartan’s rushing yardage.
“Our quarterback is creating,” Dantonio said. “He’s making some plays with his feet. He’s also got a couple called runs maybe that we’ve used as well. But there’s just been a different dynamic in terms of what we’ve done offensively maybe than what we have before. But there’s no question we have to get our tailbacks running the ball. The production has to come, I think, for us to continue to grow as a football team.”
Michigan State will work to get its tailbacks a bigger chunk of that ball-carrying pie. But Lewerke’s work on the ground has been a big bonus for the offense through five games. Two late scrambles against Iowa and Michigan were key in melting the clock, and a 16-yard TD tuck-and-run against the Wolverines - punctuated by a brave dive for the goal line - gave the Spartans their first lead at 7-3.
Madre London rushed for 59 yards against the Wolverines, but 50 of those yards came on a single burst.
INSIDE LONDON'S 50-YARDER: Freshmen Rule
The freshman tandem of Luke Campbell and Kevin Jarvis made the play. They double-teamed All-America candidate Maurice Hurst and drove him three yards downfield and two yards inward as part of a counter-gap play.
The dominant block forced Hurst back into the lap of middle linebacker Devon Bush.Bush was not able to pursue the alley and cut off London as London broke into daylight.
With the freshmen dominating Hurst, pull guard Tyler Higby had a clear shot at Michigan defensive end Rashan Gary.
Gary is such a quick, troublesome player that Michigan State didn’t leave him totally unblocked on this counter-gap. Usually, the d-end is allowed to come straight upfield, and the pull blocker executes a kickout block. This time, Michigan State assigned tight end Mark Sokol to chip Gary for an instant before Sokol turned and blocked a Michigan cornerback.
With Gary having been held up briefly by the chip, Higby had time to pull, cross the formation and drive Gary outward and out of the play.
Fullback Collin Lucas was offset to the left. He blocked linebacker Mike McCray in the c-gap.
McCray succeeded in meeting Lucas on the offense’s side of the line of scrimmage but he wasn’t able to close up the massive daylight left in Hurst’s wake. If Hurst had held strong, McCray’s stalemate would have log-jammed the interior and stuffed London.
By design, Lucas’ initial trek was to his left, and then he veered to the right c-gap. The initial trek to the left influenced Bush to that side of the line. Having been influenced in the wrong direction, Bush was more easily caught up in the Hurst/Jarvis/Campbell avalanche that caved through the right side of the line.
In all, credit the Jarvis/Campbell tag team with plusses on the play, along with Sokol and Lucas, and Spartan coaches with fine play design.
London did a good job of folloing his blocker and darting to daylight. However, he was caught from behind by five Wolverines, including a defensive end.
London has never improved his top-end speed from the day he was caught from behind in his first Green-White Game. If London had the speed of Edwin Baker, Jeremy Langford or even Gerald Holmes from last year or perhaps even LJ Scott from last year’s Ohio State game, that play might have gone for 83 yards and a 21-3 lead.
**
Gerald Holmes rushed for 27 yards, including a 15-yarder behind pulling Brian Allen during MSU’s first touchdown drive against the Wolverines.
BREAKING DOWN HOLMES' RUN: Freshmen Again
On Holmes’ 15-yarder, Holmes followed Allen on a counter to the weak side. After snapping and pulling, Allen blasted into play-side defensive end Chase Winovich and drove him three yards downfield.
Michigan went away from its base 30 front and played an over/4-3 on this snap, probably because Michigan State had gone heavy with two TEs and a fullback. Michigan briefly took 205-pound viper linebacker Khaleke Hudson out of the game and replaced him with 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive tackle Bryan Mone as a second defensive tackle, to get more beef on the field. But the beef didn't hold up.
Mone didn’t withstand the double-team block of freshmen Jarvis and Campbell. They drove Mone three yards downfield.
Elsewhere, Sokol won his collision with play-side linebacker Mike McCray and bounced him to the outside. And fullback Lucas got enough of middle linebacker Devin Bush.
Michigan State blockers batted 1.000 on this play and Holmes turned in seven additional yards after contact. Campbell got away with a borderline late hit at the end of the run on Bush.
Interestingly Michigan went away from its base 30 defensive front and opted for a 4-3 on these two plays, which went for a combined 65 yards on the ground.
**
L.J. Scott, last year’s leading rusher, missed the Michigan game with an undisclosed injury. Head coach Mark Dantonio said Scott could have played in case of an emergency, but they elected to hold him out.
The Spartans averaged a respectable 3.9 yards per carry against Michigan, but were unable to consistently get positive yards from its tailbacks, a factor which led to a series of three-and-outs during Saturday’s rainstorm.
HOW ABOUT THAT O-LINE?
Michigan State’s offensive line was outstanding in pass protection, allowing no sacks against a Michigan team that came into the game leading the nation in sacks.
The combination of providing good pass protection and not getting stonewalled in the ground game enabled the o-line to grade out well, overall, while remaining one of the youngest offensive lines in the Big Ten.
“When you have a redshirt freshman at right tackle (Luke Campbell), when you are playing with your left tackle as a sophomore (Cole Chewins), your left guard is a redshirt sophomore (Tyler Higby), and we have a true freshman starting at right guard (Kevin Jarvis), who played pretty well all things considering, I think our football team is unique in the fact that we’re a young football team in a lot of areas,” Dantonio said. “You got young receivers out there as well. You could say the same about the defensive side of our ball, playing a lot of different players, a lot of first-time starters. So we’re going to grow every time we get an opportunity to play.”
ABOUT THAT GROWTH …
During Dantonio’s weekly teleconference on Sunday, I asked if the developmental process for the offensive line will be sped up by the fact that the Spartans have played against two excellent defensive fronts in the last two weeks - Iowa and Michigan - which play two vastly different styles of play.
“I do think you’re correct in that,” Dantonio said. “I do think Iowa played very well. Michigan’s great, up there as well. A lot of different things thrown at our guys relative to the things conceptually from Michigan’s defense. A little more basic from Iowa, but they do it very, very well.
“Both games we knew we would be challenged up front,” Dantonio added. “We knew it was going to be tough to run the football. But nevertheless, we decided we were going to run it.”
Michigan State gained 105 yards rushing against Iowa, but netted only 88.
Iowa has had some mediocre outings in terms of run defense, including an allowance of 295 yards on the ground against Penn State (212 to Saquon Barkley). Iowa allowed 200 yards rushing to Illinois last weekend in a 45-16 Hawkeye victory. A 58-yarder by Illinois freshman RB Mike Epstein bolstered those stats. But Iowa held Illinois to 49 yards rushing in the second half.
Forget the numbers and trust the eye test. Iowa has a stout run defense and the numbers will show that by the end of the year.
Michigan’s defensive line doesn’t have a lot of huge humans, but they are quick, and create confusion with fast slants and stunts, plus plenty of horsepower. The Wolverines are low on second-string help, but they haven’t needed much of it thus far. They will need it when they face quality uptempo teams.
As for this week’s opponent for the Spartans, Minnesota ranks No. 4 in the Big Ten in rush defense, allowing 114 yards per game, and No. 8 in the Big Ten in yards allowed per rush at 4.1.
Rushing yards allowed by Gopher opponents this year (and per-carry averages in parentheses):
Buffalo: 51 yards (2.3).
Oregon State: 80 yards (3.1)
Middle Tennessee State: 46 yards (3.1)
Maryland: 262 yards (5.6 per)
Purdue: 132 yards (4.6 per)
SpartanMag Prediction: Michigan State running backs will have their best output of the season on Saturday night in Minneapolis. More on the reasons why later in the week in the Pre-Snap Read.
WHAT ABOUT THAT PASS PROTECTION?
Michigan’s fierce pass rush was expected to be a massive plus in the Wolverines’ favor. Instead, Michigan State attempted 22 passes without a sack, and there were few hits on Lewerke in the pocket.
“I thought as much as anything, the structure of what we did was very sound,” Dantonio said. “(Chase) Gianacakos played some tight end for us. He’s a 6-5, 300-pound guy.”
Gianacakos, an offensive guard by trade, has donned the No. 94 in the past two games and served as a tight end.
The No. 94 makes him an eligible receiver, when he isn’t covered up by a split end.
Wearing a number in the 90s and serving as basically an extra offensive tackle, Spartan coaches affectionately refer to the role as a “yackle.” Most recently, second-string offensive lineman Michael Dennis played the role in 2014.
“(Gianacakos) may not have gone out for a pass but he was in a protection mode,” Dantonio said. “He was part of the protection.
“Up front, obviously Brian Allen is playing very well and he controls a lot of things up there,” Dantonio added. “Beyond that, everybody has their moments.”
WHAT ABOUT THE PHANTOM HOLDING PENALTY?
Gianacakos was flagged for holding during a Lewerke run with 1:26 remaining when Michigan had no time outs. The flag stopped the clock. MSU’s next snap, on third-and-eight, would have been made with :46 seconds left. If that play had taken more than :06 seconds for the pile to settle and the officials to reset the play clock, Michigan State wouldn’t have had to snap the ball on fourth down.
Instead, the holding call gave Michigan a chance to advance the ball for a Hail Mary pass in the final seconds.
On Sunday night, I mentioned to Dantonio that the only angle we in media could see was the television angle, which showed Gianacakos having his left arm and hand inside the framework of the player he was blocking, which is legal, textbook hand placement. I mentioned that the play looked like a legal pancake to me and asked Dantonio if he had any thoughts on the holding call.
“You mean without criticizing the officials? No.” Dantonio said.
I asked Dantonio if Gianacakos graded out well on that play.
“He graded out pretty well on that play, but a lot of things happen on the field,” he said. “I can only do my job to the best of my abilities.”
Because the flag was on the team with the lead, officials didn’t restart the game clock until MSU’s next snap.
“The way I understand the rule is whoever doesn’t have the penalty is going to be the team that benefits,” Dantonio said. “It won’t benefit the team that the penalty is against. So if it was on us, the clock would not run. If it had been on them, the clock would have run. And if they would have been ahead of us (on the scoreboard), the clock would have run. That’s the way I understand it. That’s the way the rule was interpreted to me on the field.”
DANTONIO UNPLUGGED
“I think the keys to the game really, after I watched the film, from an offensive perspective -- zero turnovers, and we were not sacked,” Dantonio said. “When we got in the red zone we went 2-for-2 on touchdowns.
“Obviously we didn’t have the production we wanted to have, had the one dropped pass in the second quarter, but we had bad field position and the weather and everything else in the second half.
“But those are the key components. Quarterback being able to create and scramble for a touchdown and then a couple times for yardage, getting first downs. No turnovers, no sacks.
“Basically a great football game. I thought our guys played extremely wel. Obviously some things we want to change to better ourselves. But just a great win, great bus ride home and right now we’re 4-1, 2-0 in the conference and we need to look forward.”
THE AFTERGLOW
Dantonio was asked about the celebration in the hours and day that followed Michigan State’s eighth victory over Michigan in the last 10 years.
Did he have time to appreciate the win?
“Well, a little bit Sunday morning before we came in to work, but we got home at about 2 o’clock in the morning,” Dantonio said. “But just the ride itself - nothing important on the ride, it’s just sitting sort of with yourself and collecting yourself.”
Michigan passed for 198 yards against Michigan State, but completed less than 50 percent of its passes while doing so (16-of-35) and threw three interceptions.
Michigan State came out of the game ranked No. 2 in the nation in pass efficiency defense.
Spartan cornerbacks Justin Layne and Josiah Scott have settled in as team strengths. Tyson Smith and Josh Butler have been assets earlier in the season but haven’t played as much lately.
Meanwhile, sophomore David Dowell emerged as a starting safety for the Iowa game, and came forward as a difference-maker against Michigan.
“I thought our safeties played very, very well,” Dantonio said. “David (Dowell) also had some tackles and a pass break-up, obviously was on the front end of three turnovers. So huge plays.
“Khari (Willis) played very well. Tracked a guy down on the reverse, tracked another guy down one time, just ran him down. So he played extremely well.
“Our defense obviously kept us in the game. We were difficult to run on after the first series. We really only gave up one explosive play, and they fumbled on that one, the pass play. So when you’re talking about 20-yard passes, we gave up zero; and 15-yard runs, we gave up zero. So we come away with five turnovers and did not give up the big plays. Good things start to happen.”
Michigan State effectively changed between zone and man-to-man, forcing to Michigan quarterback John O’Korn to holding the ball too long in the pocket at times, leading coverage sacks and pressures.
“I thought we pressured the quarterback,” Dantonio said. “He didn’t have a lot of time. And we pressured him into mistakes, and then we had four sacks as well.
“Our safeties played very well. Obviously Joe Bachie continues to play very well. We got good play out of our defensive front. I thought Josiah Scott and Justin Layne played very solid, too.”
BACHIE, PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Bachie was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. He had a team-high 10 tackles, marking the third time he has reached double digits.
Bachie had an 11-yard sack in the second quarter. He forced a fumble on Michigan’s second offensive series of the game, a play that was arguably the turning point of the game. That fumble set up Michigan State’s go-ahead touchdown drive at 7-3, and changed the tenor of the game.
He recorded the first interception of his career on the second play of the fourth quarter. On that play, he showed lateral movement, quick burst and seemed to have knowledge of where the receiver was headed as O’Korn attempted the pass. From there, Bachie made a diving catch that would make a tight end proud.
On the game’s final play, Bachie commanded air space in the end zone, and high-pointed the ball for a pass-break-up. He put himself in the optimal place to play the pass, and out-jumped the crowd.
FROSH RETURN MEN
Michigan State has a pair of promising return men in true freshman Laress Nelson and Andre Welch. But each player made mistakes in the second half, causing Michigan State to begin its first two drives of the second half inside the Spartan 5-yard line.
Welch bobbled the opening kickoff of the second half, sending him on a lateral trek, which led to a holding penalty by a teammate.
Nelson muffed a punt, which rolled inside the 5-yard line before he covered it.
Dantonio indicated that both players will remain in their roles, although Nelson was replaced by Darrell Stewart late in the Michigan game.
“Laress has done a good job back there,” Dantonio said. “We want to continue to help him grow in that area. But the circumstances were tough. You know, he’s not playing all the time on offense, he’s in and out a little bit, but not all the time.
“He’s not caught six balls in 30 games, he’s a freshman. So that was difficult.
“Same with Andre Welch. On the back end, he bobbled the one when he did catch it at the goal line.
“So those are some of the things we have to look at and there’s growing pains as we go. Some of those things we have to make decisions on obviously.
“But (it was) not a perfect game on our part, just not a perfect game. At the end of the game, I felt like time could’ve been taken off and obviously we didn’t get that happening with the penalty call. So we live and we learn, but we got through it.”
