Michigan State Football: 5 overreactions from loss to Northwestern

EVANSTON, IL - OCTOBER 28: Members of the Michigan State Spartans walk off of the field after a loss to the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field on October 28, 2017 in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern defeated Michigan State 39-31 in triple overtime.(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

2 of 5

EVANSTON, IL – OCTOBER 28: Justin Jackson #21 of the Northwestern Wildcats is stopped short of the goal by David Dowell #6 of the Michigan State Spartans at Ryan Field on October 28, 2017 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

4. Spartan secondary was exposed by Northwestern

Exposed is a strong word to use to describe what happened to Michigan State’s secondary on Saturday evening. While Clayton Thorson passed for 356 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, completing 33-of-48 passes, he did so by not burning Michigan State’s secondary on any deep balls.

In fact, Northwestern’s longest pass of the day was just 25 yards, which is both good and bad news for Michigan State’s defensive backfield. The good news is that this unit doesn’t get burned deep often. The bad news is it struggles against the short passes over the middle and in the flats.

Michigan State needs to figure out a way to press receivers and get the linebackers into coverage to prevent the quick slants over the middle. The safeties played way too far back the entire game as well, trying to avoid getting beat deep.

The secondary has had one bad game (and a bad quarter against Minnesota), so it wasn’t exactly exposed, but there are fixed that surely need to be made.

Home/Spartans Football