I thought Tyriq Thompson might have had his best game as a Spartan on Saturday. He was firm against blocks and tackled well. He was solid and had some energy.
I don't think Jon Reschke played again after the 76-yard bust in the first quarter. Initially, I thought Bachie didn't instinctively go to the correct gap while the DTs two-gapped in front of him. That might have been part of the issue. But most of the issue, as I watched it again, centered around the fact that MSU had only five players in the box. That's the only snap I can think of, in the Dantonio era (not counting Hail Mary situations) when MSU had only five players in the box.
A sixth was undoubtedly supposed to be there. But MSU, probably accidentally, put bracket coverage on BOTH slot WRs. They used the star LB and a safety to bracket the No. 2 receiver to the right, and the Sam LB (Reschke) with a safety to bracket the No. 2 WR to the left. You can't do that. You need 12 guys on defense to do that. Teams try to do that against Washington State, and that's when WSU runs the ball on you. You can't leave 5 vs 5 in the box.
So it looks to me like Reschke is the guy who wasn't supposed to bracket a slot WR and instead was supposed to man the box vs. the run.
And I don't think he played again after that.
Back to the main point: Thompson played well.
That's a tough break for Reschke. It looked to me like he was finding his form a week earlier vs Northwestern.
I don't think Jon Reschke played again after the 76-yard bust in the first quarter. Initially, I thought Bachie didn't instinctively go to the correct gap while the DTs two-gapped in front of him. That might have been part of the issue. But most of the issue, as I watched it again, centered around the fact that MSU had only five players in the box. That's the only snap I can think of, in the Dantonio era (not counting Hail Mary situations) when MSU had only five players in the box.
A sixth was undoubtedly supposed to be there. But MSU, probably accidentally, put bracket coverage on BOTH slot WRs. They used the star LB and a safety to bracket the No. 2 receiver to the right, and the Sam LB (Reschke) with a safety to bracket the No. 2 WR to the left. You can't do that. You need 12 guys on defense to do that. Teams try to do that against Washington State, and that's when WSU runs the ball on you. You can't leave 5 vs 5 in the box.
So it looks to me like Reschke is the guy who wasn't supposed to bracket a slot WR and instead was supposed to man the box vs. the run.
And I don't think he played again after that.
Back to the main point: Thompson played well.
That's a tough break for Reschke. It looked to me like he was finding his form a week earlier vs Northwestern.
