Michigan State Football: Revisiting Week 8 goals vs. Michigan
![EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - OCTOBER 21: J.J. McCarthy #9 of the Michigan Wolverines looks for yards during a first half run next to Cal Haladay #27 of the Michigan State Spartans at Spartan Stadium on October 21, 2023 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN - OCTOBER 21: J.J. McCarthy #9 of the Michigan Wolverines looks for yards during a first half run next to Cal Haladay #27 of the Michigan State Spartans at Spartan Stadium on October 21, 2023 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/c919eb537dc4c60ecad2e619a6a556ec0043c2b449e179978c2781140bbcd4d7.jpg)
2. Keep the interception train rolling
Outside of one physics-defying play where the ball teleported through Jordan Hall’s hands, the Spartans had no opportunities to make an interception because the defenders couldn’t get within five yards of the receivers and even worse coverage when it came to the tight ends on about 75 percent of Michigan’s pass attempts.
I don’t understand how 500,000 alumni know that Cal Haladay absolutely, positivity cannot be in coverage, but the coaches to continue to allow it. Not on a running back, not on a tight end, and not on a wide receiver. He’s a tackling machine and by all means, a great veteran for the team, but to put him out there on known passing downs and asking him to cover anyone is not putting him in a position to succeed, the opposite of what a coach is supposed to do.
Granted, there’s essentially no one on this roster that can cover outside of Angelo Grose and even he had a bad game on Saturday.
The fans often ask if it’s the personnel or the scheme that makes the defense historically bad over the past four years but on Saturday, it was the players, it was the coaches, it was the athletic director, it was the Board of Trustees. Incompetence starts at the top and is so ingrained in this university, that this institution might be too toxic for any coach not named Tom Izzo to succeed.