Michigan State football: Don’t count Scottie Hazelton out just yet

This past weekend, Michigan State football was blown out by Ohio State in Columbus 56-7. CJ Stroud put up a massive performance, throwing for over 400 yards and six touchdowns. The Spartans’ defense didn’t stand a chance.

Michigan State defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton has taken some heat for the schemes that he’s been cooking up, resulting in a ton of yards given up.

For those who are most familiar with Hazelton, this is surprising since he was a good coordinator at Kansas State. In 2019, Hazelton made Kansas State the second-best defense in the Big 12. That’s why Mel Tucker hired him.

Michigan State football’s defense isn’t as bad as it seems

Prior to the game against Ohio State, Lansing State Journal’s Graham Couch cited Hazelton saying, “The transfer portal gave us that opportunity and we’ve tried to take the best advantage of it as we could.” It wouldn’t be surprising to find that this isn’t the preferred scheme by either Tucker or Hazelton.

Tucker has even said he doesn’t like the idea of bend-not-break since it means the defense isn’t getting off the field on third downs.

Michigan State has given up 339 passing yards per game, which is worst in FBS. They are behind teams like Maryland, Miami, and even Tennessee. However, Michigan State’s defense does a good job in the red zone. Out of four red-zone appearances, Michigan was only able to convert one of them to touchdowns against the Spartans: a beautiful pass by JJ McCarthy.

That’s been the story all year. They will let the opponent gain yards between the 20s and stiffen up when the field is shorter.

It certainly doesn’t feel like it, but the Spartans have 33 sacks this year, which is second in the Big Ten. Ohio State has 35, Wisconsin has 30, and Michigan has 29. They’re 30th in FBS in rushing yards per game. There are things to like about this defense besides the number of yards they surrender through the air.

So far, Michigan State has excelled with timely blitzes and pressure, relying on the offense, and stiffening up in the red zone. They don’t have an NFL edge rusher, no offense to Jacub Panasiuk. They have safeties that can tackle in open space, but they aren’t great in coverage.

There are ways that the Spartans can close the gap in both recruiting and the transfer portal and it’s presumed that he’ll certainly get it done.