Michigan State Football: Report card against Indiana

Oct 24, 2015; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans quarterback Connor Cook (18) throws off his back foot against the Indiana Hoosiers during the 1st half of a game at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

The game ended with a route on the scoreboard, the Michigan State football team closed the game out with a 24-point fourth quarter to beat the Indiana Hoosiers 52-26. At the start of the fourth quarter however it was much tight with the Spartans clinging to a two point lead as the Hoosiers had special teams problems of their own, missing two extra points and a field goal.

Let’s take a look at the grades for each position group in this win.

Connor Cook: A+

Oct 24, 2015; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans quarterback Connor Cook (18) attempts to throw the ball against the Indiana Hoosiers during the 1st half of a game at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

The Spartans truly closed this game out in dominating fashion and the lead catalyst behind the convincing final score was quarter back Connor Cook. If I could give Cook a grade higher than an A+, I would.

Cook played his best game in a Spartan uniform with pinpoint accuracy and spreading the ball throughout the entire field. His final statistics show how truly dominating he was and when he plays as well as this the absolute reason the Spartans will go as far as he can take them.

He finished the day 30-52 for 398 yards, two yards short of the all time single game yards record, for four touchdowns, which gave him a quarterback rating of 77.5. Cook was truly special on this day and put the Spartans on his back.

It appeared in the first half that the Spartan defense was going to struggle all day against the Indiana offense, which meant Cook was going to have to carry the offense to victory. He did just that, and more.

Several of his touchdown passes came on third-and-long situations hitting Josiah Price and R.J. Shelton with perfect throws. Cook was able to move the pocket and throw on the run pulling the strings on the offense like a puppet master.

If Connor Cook continues to play this way for the rest of the season the sky is the limit for the Spartans. He made every NFL throw during this game and showed why pro scouts love him.

Next: Running Backs