Michigan State Football: Report card for win over No. 24 Miami

Defensive Backs: C

The only reason I’m not giving the secondary a C- or even worse is because I don’t believe that the struggles were totally on the players. With the soft coverage, Miami receivers were being given a 5-10 yard cushion off the line every time and that allowed D’Eriq King to do exactly what Hunter Johnson did earlier in the season and pick apart the secondary.

King sat back without a ton of pressure and was able to hit his first option almost every time because the Spartans weren’t in press coverage.

Harlon Barnett and Scottie Hazelton seem to be installing the “at least you won’t beat me deep” defense and that’s all well and good until you see a team with a good quarterback who completes 70-plus percent of his passes and wears down the secondary with long drives of 5-10 passes of 5-10 yards. The staff needs to trust the cornerbacks more — at least until they show they can’t stay in front of receivers.

The cornerbacks had a rough day trying to guard the hitch routes and short curls that allowed King to put up over 350 yards through the air. Luckily, it was on just 6.6 yards per attempt, but this secondary needs to be trusted more to defend the deep ball.

Xavier Henderson is still playing really well and the interceptions by Angelo Grose and Ronald Williams Jr. were on fantastic plays.

Also, buy stock in Darius Snow as soon as possible.