Michigan State football: 3 not-so-quick takes from rewatching Washington loss
Because I’m such a glutton for punishment, I re-watched the
funeral
Michigan State football game between the Washington Huskies and our beloved Spartans.
It wasn’t fun, there weren’t a whole lot of silver linings and I know the old saying goes “I never lose, I either win or learn,” and if that’s the case, the team is getting a Ph.D. with the amount of stuff they can learn from after being helpless in literally all three phases of the game.
The Washington defense looked like the 2001 Baltimore Ravens without even trying thanks to our offensive line, quarterback, and offensive coordinator. Their offense made Patrick Mahomes look like Christian Ponder, and our special teams can’t count to 11. I understand that Washington is way more talented than the Spartans, but what happened with MSU wasn’t a lack of talent; it was a lack of focus, lack of intensity, and what seemed to be a distraction hanging over the heads of every single player, coach and waterboy.
What happened to this program isn’t fair, but I’ll be damned if that’s an excuse to play poorly for the rest of the season. Anyway, here’s three takes from re-watching the game.
1. Washington’s offense is that good and MSU’s pass defense is still bad
Tallying 713 total offensive yards doesn’t happen by accident — 536 passing yards isn’t because Washington is lucky.
Washington’s offense is elite, probably the best in the entire country. Michael Penix Jr. is a serious Heisman candidate and even had the numbers for it last year. They could have as many as four offensive players get drafted in the first two rounds in Penix, wide receivers Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan and offensive tackle Troy Fautanu.
Even when Spartan defenders had great coverage, the receiver talent gap is so great, that the 50/50 balls turn into 99/1 momentum killers. But the fact that Penix had more passing yards in three quarters than he did against Boise State and Tulsa brings up some serious questions about not just the talent on Michigan State, but the person coordinating it.
A lot of us said, “Hey, it can’t be worse than last year,” and we all got it wrong. So wrong. There were times where defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton had the perfect defense called, and the offense just made a spectacular play or the defender forgot how to tackle.
No wrapping up, leaving their feet instead of driving through the tackle; these are the foundations and fundamentals of tackling, and I just don’t get how they look this bad.