Michigan State Football: What worked and what didn’t against Indiana

Oct 24, 2015; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans wide receiver Monty Madaris (88) reacts to a play during the 2nd half of a game at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

The final score for most of Michigan State football’s early games made the games seem was closer than the games actually were. The exact opposite happened on Saturday when a close game against Indiana became a blowout with a 52-26 win.

Michigan State was favored by more than two touchdowns going into the weekend and halfway through the fourth quarter it didn’t look like it would cover the point spread. A 24-0 scoring spurt to end the game meant the Spartans covered for the second weekend in a row after failing to cover in their first six contests.

Mark Dantonio and company don’t care about point spreads, though, they only care about being 8-0 and 4-0 in the Big Ten. Halfway through the conference season and the Spartans’ record is exactly where it needs to be.

Next week they have a much needed bye and will use that time to heal from the many injuries plaguing them. In the meantime, we break down what went right and what didn’t against Indiana, by position.

Quarterbacks

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

Connor Cook played his behind off on Saturday. He had career highs in pass attempts, completions, and yards. His 398 yards passing is the second most in school history and his 416 total yards is a school record.

For his efforts, he was named Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week.

MSU doesn’t want to throw it 52 times a game, that’s not how this ship was built. It’s nice, however, that they can and are willing to.

Offensive coordinator Dave Warner could not be accused of being overly conservative in this contest. We also got to see who the second-string quarterback is when Spartan Nation collectively held their breath as Connor Cook went down with an apparent rib injury.

Tyler O’Connor came in for one play and handed the ball off. Third stringer Damion Terry also saw action running no fewer than 4 wildcat plays (for a net of 8 yards).

What worked: NFL throws

One of the hardest transitions for college quarterbacks to the NFL game is throwing to receivers who aren’t wide open. In college, through schemes and disparity in talent, quarterbacks are often throwing to wide open players. That’s not so much the case in the NFL.

In the NFL, quarterbacks have to be able to throw it to guys who are covered and still complete the passes. Connor Cook has shown time and again his ability to “throw guys open.” That is to throw the ball to someone who is covered, but still put it in a position where they have the best chance at coming down with the ball. Cook does it with the back shoulder, he does it going over the top of the defender, he does it against man coverage, and agains the zone.

What didn’t: Taking care of the extra blitzer

There isn’t a whole lot to complain about when it comes to Cook’s performance, but the next step in Cook’s maturation is the ability to account for the extra blitzer. On some plays the defense is going to send more guys than MSU can block. Cook has to learn to identify that quickly and adjust his reads accordingly.

I’m not suggesting he should be Peyton Manning already, but it would be nice to see him develop some kind of signals with his receivers that indicate that they recognize the blitz coming and will adjust the route and read to accommodate that.

Next: Running backs