Woof. While there was a slim hope of upsetting the No. 8 Washington Huskies, I think we all suspected that Michigan State football would put up a much better fight.
Washington was the one who had to travel, the Rose Bowl team was back, and Mark Dantonio was back on the sideline to bring a calm presence to a team that needed focus. None of it got through, but let’s see how they performed in terms of the goals I mentioned last week.
1. Score on the first drive
This didn’t happen nor did it happen on the next 10 offensive drives for Michigan State. In fact, that was one coaching challenge away from being the worst-case scenario for the Spartans.
The running game went nowhere, Noah Kim was sacked for the same amount of yards as his only completed pass of the drive, and Washington should’ve had the ball at MSU’s 30-yard line but mistakes by the referees and the Washington coaching staff generously gave the Spartans another shot at putting together a decent drive.
Instead, Noah Kim had overthrows that would make Argentinian militias jealous.
To cap it all off, The Spartans got called back five yards for having too many men on the field. It was a chef’s kiss of ineptitude to start the game and truly a microcosm of how the rest of the game was going to play out.
2. Batting balls at the line of scrimmage
Be careful what you wish for as freshman Jordan Hall had a beautiful batting ball at the linebacker position.
The problem? The ball was suspended in the air for roughly three minutes only to fall into the hands of Washington wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk who broke a half-hearted arm tackle attempt by Jaden Mangham and scampered into the end zone.
It was one good thing negated by three bad things in a single play. Jordan Hall did everything right on that play and was rewarded with a Washington touchdown.
Undisciplined play + bad luck = blowout loss.
3. Look like a focused team
If I were to grade each goal, this one would get an F-.
Missed assignments, blown coverage, miscommunication on passing plays, mental mistakes, and dumb penalties; these are all reasons teams lose games, and the Spartans excelled in each of them. Even broadcaster Chris Simms pointed out numerous mistakes by the defensive backs not being in the right spot in coverage, the poor tackling, and the mind-numbingly dumb unsportsmanlike conduct penalty or tackling the punt returner when he clearly called for a fair catch.
To say there was a lack of focus would be to say that there was any at all. Bad passes, weak run blocking by the offensive line that got dominated all game, questionable play-calling, extremely poor tackling, gaping holes in coverage, I could go on for 1,000 more words about the things that MSU players and coaches couldn’t get right that has absolutely nothing to do with talent and everything to do with attitude, focus, and will.
I understand that it was a chaotic week and they were not expected to win this game, but to come out in front of a crowd that knew they needed to support the players and coaches and put that kind of product on the field is unacceptable. At home against a West Coast team and yet Boise State and Tulsa gave better performances when they were at Washington. MSU unquestionably has more talent than those two programs which means it was a matter of effort and focus, which is partly on the players and partly on the coaches.
The players are young and resilient and should want to play football to forget about the news of the week. The coaches needed to put these players in the best possible position to succeed and whatever the game plan for running the ball was didn’t do that.
The Spartans have one week to get their heads in order and show up against lackluster Maryland in a must-win game. If they’re flat against Maryland, we are looking at 2016 territory and I just don’t have the energy to endure a poor season after so much expectation.