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Michigan State Football: Report card from win over Western Kentucky

By Connor Muldowney

Michigan State's Payton Thorne, left, and Kenneth Walker III celebrate after beating Western Kentucky on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.211002 Msu Wku Fb 225a
Michigan State's Payton Thorne, left, and Kenneth Walker III celebrate after beating Western Kentucky on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.211002 Msu Wku Fb 225a /
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EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN – OCTOBER 02: Quavaris Crouch #6 of the Michigan State Spartans tackles Adam Cofield #7 of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers during the second quarter of the game at Spartan Stadium on October 02, 2021 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN – OCTOBER 02: Quavaris Crouch #6 of the Michigan State Spartans tackles Adam Cofield #7 of the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers during the second quarter of the game at Spartan Stadium on October 02, 2021 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images) /

Linebackers: B

First off, let me just say #FreeCalHaladay.

OK, now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about another solid game from the linebackers on Saturday night. There were some coverage issues (the whiffed pass breakup in the end zone by Noah Harvey in the fourth quarter comes to mind) but overall, the linebackers were solid. The missed tackles, however, are becoming a concern, but that’s more so in the secondary.

Haladay had another really good game that was headlined by a nice strip and fumble recovery in the first half. He seems to be all over the place all the time and he’s been the most pleasant surprise on the defensive side of the ball this season. He finished with 10 tackles, a tackle for loss, and a forced fumble before getting ejected on a horrible targeting call.

Quavaris Crouch was solid again as well but I’d like to see both step up to plug holes in the run a little more. He finished with eight tackles.

Outside of the starters, we didn’t see a ton of others. We did see the aforementioned Harvey who had a nice play but did make a mistake when he didn’t get his head turned around in the end zone on a well-covered pass. If he turns around, he picks off the ball. Instead, it was six.

Ben VanSumeren played minimally but we did get to see Ma’a Gaoteote and he had a huge hit to break up a pass.

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