Michigan State Football: 5 takeaways from loss to Northwestern in Week 9

Michigan State football couldn’t overcome Clayton Thorson and Northwestern Saturday night and here’s what we learned from the overtime loss.

We are now nine weeks into the season with eight Michigan State games under our belts and each week we learn something new about this young team. It’s tough to really get a finger on what the Spartans’ ceiling truly is, but losing to Northwestern just clouds anything we’ve learned.

However, did did take a few things away from the loss to Northwestern and Michigan State might just be better than people give it credit for. There are two games coming that could tell us even more about the Spartans: Penn State and Ohio State.

For now, what did we learn from the Spartans’ loss to Northwestern in Week 9?

5. Secondary could afford to press more

This might seem like nit-picking, but the fact that Michigan State didn’t press receivers more was somewhat shocking. The coaching staff failed to make any adjustments at halftime after watching Clayton Thorson dink and dunk the Spartan secondary all game long.

In fact, Thorson sat back, hit crossing routes, slants and drop-offs all game, leading to 356 passing yards and two touchdowns on 33-of-48 completions. That’s not something you want to see your defense give up, especially if it’s been defending the deep ball so well.

When Northwestern was in a spread, the secondary played off the ball about 10-15 yards with regularity. Josiah Scott and Justin Layne were pressing often, but the safeties allowed a huge cushion which meant that Thorson knew where he was going right away.

Teams like Penn State, Ohio State, Maryland and even Rutgers could take this game film and capitalize on Michigan State’s inability to step up and press. Those quick passes burned MSU against Notre Dame as well as Northwestern. Time to press.