Michigan State vs Oregon: Grading the Spartans

Sep 12, 2015; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans quarterback Connor Cook (18) drops back to pass during the fourth quarter against the Oregon Ducks at Spartan Stadium. The Spartans beat the Ducks 31-28. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Quarterback: B

Besides throwing his 50th career touchdown pass in a Spartan uniform on Saturday, Connor Cook completed a good chunk of his passes and did his best to protect the football, making one costly error with an interception near the end of the first half that halted a possible scoring drive.

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I give Cook just a ‘B’ rating because he wasn’t as impressive as he should have been against a very vulnerable and suspect Oregon secondary which allowed over 300 passing yards in a win against Eastern Washington in week one.

Cook completed 63 percent of his passes, 20-of-32, for 192 yards and two touchdowns. Yes, he improved a bit from week one, but his performance against Western Michigan was darn near unacceptable.

For a Heisman contender, his inability to get the ball down field when it needed to, often settling for a short pass and sometimes even missing the open receiver, nearly cost him a win and definitely cost him and the offense at least a couple of scores.

Improvement needs to happen from week to week and he is doing so. He looked solid for the most part, but Oregon’s secondary was very weak and that needed to be taken advantage of by the senior quarterback.

Next: Running backs