Biggies and Slappies: Notre Dame
by LVS on Sep 21, 2010 12:00 PM CDT
in Michigan State Spartans Football
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PrintWelcome to week three of Biggies and Slappies, wherein we honor the best performances of the week with a Biggie Award, and dishonor the worst with a Slappy. As always, we start with the best:
BIGGIES
Aaron Bates. Only the most obvious Biggie ever. His pass on the winning play was a gorgeous throw -- and he showed patience befitting a full-time quarterback, waiting for Gantt to come open before hitting him perfectly. And, oh, by the way, his 45.6 yard average on 8 punts had a lot to do with us being in the game in the first place.
Le'Veon Bell. We're running out of superlatives to describe his play. His two-play sequence in the third quarter--where he escaped from Manti Te'o in the backfield (a 5-star missed tackle, if you will) and ran for a first down, and then scampered for a 16-yard touchdown--was absolutely amazing. He follows his blocks incredibly well for someone with such little experience, and then has the ability to shed tackles with ease. Bell won his second Big Ten Freshman of the Week award, and I'm pretty certain it won't be his last one. Another remarkable performance for a player who is completely shattering even our most wildly optimistic expectations.
B.J. Cunningham. With apologies to Bell, I think Cunningham was our best offensive player on Saturday. Seven catches -- several of which were difficult grabs -- no drops, and 6 of his 7 catches went for first downs. (He also drew a pass interference call.) He showed great awareness getting back in bounds immediately after being forced out, so that his touchdown catch would stand. A great day from a player who may be becoming Cousins' favorite target.
Edwin Baker. He's not higher on the list because most of his rushes were for little or no gain. But, he gets the biggie for two crucial plays in the game. First, his 10-yard run to begin MSU's first touchdown drive immediately got the offense out of a tough situation following Adams' interception. The run would have gone for much more without the horse collar tackle at the end, but I'm sure the coaching staff was happy to accept the 15 extra yards. The second, of course, was his 56-yard touchdown run, where he eluded the linebackers and safeties, and then showed amazing speed to beat the ND cornerback to the endzone.
Johnny Adams and Chris L. Rucker. Yes, it's difficult awarding Biggies to the two cornerbacks when we gave up 369 yards passing. But, as Joe Rexrode said, they both "did way more good than bad." Crist's last two touchdown passes came at the expense of Robinson and Hyde, respectively, and in any event, ND has the best receivers MSU will see all season. I thought they did a good job, overall. The Biggies are awarded for the one huge play each made. Adams' interception killed off a ND drive which appeared destined for the endzone, and Rucker's crushing tackle on Kyle Rudolph in overtime prevented ND from picking up a first down, and forced them to settle for a field goal.
More, after the jump.
MORE BIGGIE THAN SLAPPY
Kirk Cousins. He doesn't get the full Biggie because 1) his first quarter interception was brutal, and 2) the illegal forward pass penalty was a truly stupid decision. But I think MSU fans, for the most part, are being unduly critical of Cousins' performance on Saturday. Yes, he was sacked four times, but on three of them the pocket collapsed in all forward directions and there wasn't much he could do. The guy went 12-for-12 in the second half, threw two fantastic touchdown passes, and looked better than he did last week (and against a better defense). He's primed to absolutely shred Northern Colorado's defense this weekend, and that's something that could give him a lot of confidence going forward.
SLAPPIES
The defensive line. A terrible, terrible day. They didn't manage a single sack of Crist, and barely hurried him at all. The lack of pressure allowed Crist to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait until his receivers finally shed coverage. I'm completely certain that this, and not the secondary, was the biggest problem with our pass defense on Saturday. And while some have written that MSU's rush defense was good on Saturday, I don't think that's exactly right. MSU only allowed 92 rushing yards, yes, but that's largely because ND abandoned the running game, not because we were stopping them. Armando Allen rushed for 5.5 yards per carry; while ND clearly was gaining chunks of yards against us through the air, it was questionable to turn away from the ground game as much as they did. In short: not good.
Trenton Robinson and Marcus Hyde. Really poor game from both of them. Struggled to contain Riddick and Floyd on deeper throws; Riddick's third quarter touchdown, in particular, was waaaay too easy. Again, their job wasn't made any easier by the lack of any pass rush for MSU, but after looking pretty decent against FAU, this was a big step back. Thankfully, MSU won't see a better passing offense all season.
Greg Jones. This is semi-unfair, because 1) Jones wasn't actively bad, and 2) he had to assume even more responsibility than usual because of Eric Gordon's injury. But aside from his one sack, this was one of the quietest games for Jones I can ever remember. He had only 9 tackles (8 of them were assisted) and wasn't in the thick of every play like he usually is. Furthermore, Jones came back to MSU to improve his pass coverage skills, and nearly every time he was matched up with Kyle Rudolph, he lost the battle. Granted, Rudolph is fantastic -- but so is Jones, and he definitely came up short.
As always, feel free to divvy out your own awards in the comments.
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A Biggie to the MSU Training Staff
They kept Gordon out of the game after an apparent concussion, even though MSU really could’ve used him. Nice to see in contrast to Crist coming back against Michigan.
Particularly when Gordon had a really strong start to the game
Gordon was no doubt our best defensive player on the first two series.
PP-TPW.
The Only Colors
Hate to say it, but I agree about Jones....
….his pass D is just not up to par. I re-watched the game last night, and was focusing on Jones when we were on D. He seems slow in making a read and dropping into coverage (possibly part of the scheme to defend the run first). Once he is in coverage, he doesn’t break on the ball, but waits until after it’s caught to deliver a hit. There were at least 2 plays I noticed where literally 1 step would have put Jones in position to knock down or intercept a pass. I can see why NFL teams would be hesitant to draft him high as an MLB with his coverage skills where they are.
i do not remember when...
…but jones was also pancaked by number 75 (their right guard, i think), during a run play. it was like he couldn’t shed the block. i was pretty disappointed with seeing that. i had binoculars and decided to watch him on that play. oops.
I wonder how much Jones' added weight is contributing...
…and how much of it is just poor technique (either from poor coaching, or lack of experience as a cover MLB).
Good list LVS
I would like to hand out an additional Biggy and Slappy. The Biggy would be for Coach D. I know these awards are mostly for players, but his fake field goal call took a ton of balls and is a play I will never forget. I love his effort, but I need to give a Slappy to Keith Nichol. I believe he had 3 penalties. One critical false start at the end of the first half and two seperate holding penalties. Plus he didn’t have a catch all game.
Defense definitely not better than last year
CPT — it’s funny how you wrote an entire article about how the defense was better than last year, yet you agree that the entire defense aside from the OLBs and CBs deserved slappies.
I was cosigning on a Biggie for Coach D and a Slappy for Nichols.
Maybe I should have used “QFT” instead.
Also: Are you really saying the “defense is definitely not better than last year”? Can you please explain your reasoning why?
The reality is that the defense is brutal.
1. By simply watching the games, you can see that the defense is still horrible. It’s obvious. Look at the slappies above. Almost the entire defense is on it. They are definitely not any better this year compared to the last.
2. If you need statistics, we rank 108th in passing defense so far. That is ridiculous!! We finished 112th last year and that included all of the Big Ten opponents of a full season. They also faced more potent offenses last year through 3 games (CMU and ND) vs (Western, FAU, and ND) this year.
I don’t know how you take the two points above and come away with a feeling that this defense is better than last year’s. It’s either the same or worse.
It’s all dissappointing because most people thought the players would have learned from their experiences from the previous season and improve. They certainly have not.
The defense is better. Just not enough better.
Last year I don’t understand why anyone bothered to run on us at all; our pass defense was incompetent in every manner imaginable. This year, at least our corners are making occasional plays. We’re still giving up the short pass far too easily, but it’s better than giving up both the short pass and the long bomb too easily.
You obviously disagree with me and feel strongly that the defense is not better this year. But I just don't understand your reasoning why.
First of all, you can’t judge that the defense is better or worse than last year’s, or is good or brutal, based on Slappies. I’m sure LVS will tell you that Slappies are about as un-scientific as they come. They are a visceral, emotional, conventional wisdom-type “award” to stimulate discussion amongst fans. What would the Slappies have looked like last year had they existed? Just because Hyde and Robinson “earned” Slappies does not make them a disaster. It’s all relative. Without any analysis of football-equivalent VORP, or Range Factor, or Pass Defensed Rate, or any other individual comparative statistic, you can’t say the MSU safeties are better or worse than themselves last year, much less against any other player. Also, LVS says (correctly) that ND has “the best receivers” and “the best passing offense” MSU will face all season, so could the defense have done much much worse? Without doubt.
Secondly, 108th in passing defense in what category? I think you mean passing yards per game allowed, but how does that relate to win percentage? Yards without scores are wasted.
You can go to cfbstats.com and sort the passing defense stats any way you like. Here are the calculated traditional passing stats compared to last year:
In 2010, MSU is T-69 for opponent pass completion percentage (56.3%). 2009: T-80, 60.9%. Improvement.
In 2010, MSU is #110 for passing yards allowed (863). 2009: #114, 3479. Improvement.
In 2010, MSU is T-39 for passing yards per atttempt (6.0) 2009: T-66, 7.2. Improvement.
In 2010, MSU is #60 for opponent passer rating (122.48). 2009: #101, 141.14. Improvement.
In 2010, MSU is #120 in opponent pass attempts per game (48.3). 2009: #116, 37.0. It is what it is, but indicative of what strategy opponents are using.
In 2010, MSU is #108 in opponent passing yards per game (287.7). 2009: #112, 267.6. Worse, but considering that MSU has faced an additional 11.3 pass attempts per game, an additional 10 yards per game (less than 1 yard per additional pass attempt) is an Improvement.
Most importantly, in 2010, through the first three games against FBS opponents, MSU’s record is 3-0. In 2009, it was 0-3. Improvement.
Finally, you state that the opponents’ pass offenses were less potent this year than last year. Right now, Notre Dame, Western, and Florida Atlantic are all in the top 32 nationally in passing yards per game, and top 63 nationally in passer rating. Western and Notre Dame are top ten in passing yardage (Florida Atlantic is #80, but has a more balanced run-pass selection).
I strongly encourage you to do some deeper analysis, either based on empirical observation (as you put it, “just by watching the games”) or through traditional stats. Post a FanPost as a counterpoint to my post that stated why I think the defense is better. I’ll even help you write it. I can take screen grabs, add arrows, help point out defensive breakdowns, whatever you like. I’ll be very interested to hear what you have to say.
The statistical improvements that you point out are not apparent when you watch the game.
The bottom line is that the defense is terrible. Whether they are #108 against the pass this year or #112 last year, neither is good enough for Michigan State. A Big Ten school in the bottom 5% nationally is not acceptable. If that is an improvement for you, then I agree to disagree.
But they are not bottom 5% in *any* category.
Opponent pass yards per game, rank #108, is the closest (89th percentile).
However, the number of pass yards per game allowed has not translated to points.
Here are some additional meaningful defensive stats:
Total defense (yards per game): 2010: #73, 361.7 yards per game. 2009: #73, 380.8 yards per game. Improvement.
Total defense (yards per play): 2010: T-#32, 4.6 yards per play. 2009: T-#54, 5.4 yards per play. Improvement.
Scoring defense. 2010: T-#50, 20.7 points per game. 2009: T=#65, 26.3 points per game. That is nearly a touchdown a game better than last year!
Almost every single stat shows: opponents are throwing the ball even more in order to attack MSU’s weakness — and are not nearly as successful in doing so as they were last year. The defense is better, in both ranking and raw result, in almost every category.
Summed up, my point is this: MSU’s defense is not terrible; it has improved to mediocre. Is mediocre good enough? No, not at all. But I don’t think that MSU’s defense will have the capability to out-talent and out-scheme opponents, and improve from mediocre to good, until 2011 at the earliest and possibly 2012.
Like I said, I would love to see your qualitative analysis showing why the stats are misleading. It’s entirely possible that small sample size and relative ranking changes are making the stats look better than reality. So show us that it’s the case.
Agree on Nichol
I don’t recall how many times he was thrown to, but the penalties were brainless and for as much as the announcers were talking him up (and deservedly so, I’d like to think), he sure was hurting his team at crucial points during the game.
Tonight's going to be a good night.
by Spartalytical on Sep 21, 2010 12:48 PM CDT up reply actions
It's a feel-good, put-the-team-ahead-of-self story...
….but frankly, Keith Nichol appears to be no Blair White.
It took White 3 seasons to become a good college WR...
…Nichol has had 4 games. Give a the guy who put team first a chance!
Nichol
Nichol had a rough game but Stones1981 is wrong, he did have one catch (for 2 yds). Let’s also keep in mind that this was only his 4th game as a receiver after playing QB all his life. I am willing to give him some slack this time and he did have some nice downfield blocks that were not penalties.
by Sparty in Ohio on Sep 21, 2010 1:21 PM CDT up reply actions
Thanks for the correction Sparty in Ohio
By no means am I expecting him to be all Big Ten, but he does need to minimize his mistakes. I guarantee if you asked him about his performance he wouldn’t be happy.
I thought he did make a positive impact in the first two games, but struggled against ND.
I hear you Stones
I am sure you are right Stones1981 about Nichol’s probable response about his performance. Let’s hope the entire team can minimize the mistakes!
by Sparty in Ohio on Sep 21, 2010 8:45 PM CDT up reply actions
Also a More Slappy than Biggie to the offensive line.
Sure, the run game went well again — once you subtract the sacks, net 225 yards on 39 carries = 5.8 yards per attempt.
But they yielded 4 sacks, 8 tackles for loss, and 2 hurries.
Mainly I blame D.J. Young. He is a good straight-ahead run blocker, but his lack of lateral mobility really makes him a pass blocking liability.
A lot of the blame for the sacks goes to Cousins holding the ball so long, though, right?
And the O-line gave him a lot of extra time on several plays (the Cunningham pass interference play, in particular).
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Sep 21, 2010 1:21 PM CDT up reply actions
You're probably right. Without re-watching....
….I think it was about 50-50 on the O-line and Cousins. There were a couple of held ball sacks and a couple of sieve-like moments by the offensive line.
But the 8 TFL allowed is a concern if MSU wants to keep the run game low-variance.
That sounds about right
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Sep 21, 2010 3:59 PM CDT up reply actions
I know it's the internets and all...
But it seems particularly snarky to call our less than sterling performances “Slappys”.
Granted, his coaching tenure didn’t end well and his actions may have been a bit more extemporaneous than is expected among the generally staid Big Ten coaching fraternity, but he was a welcome relief from his predecessor. In addition, he recruited some players who helped Dantonio to his success and he increased the academic performance of the team as well.
J.L. may not go down in history with other Spartan greats, but if you want to find someone associated with the University (or even specifically the football program) who performed poorly and brought discredit upon our fine institution, there are better choices.
Not to act as a Smith apologist or anything.
Name them after trophies instead?
Paul Bunyans for good performances, Megaphones for mostly good performances with some bad, Spittoons for bad performances with some good and Land Grants for just plain bad plays?
Es gibt keine Freude wie Schadenfreude
Definitely snarky
But, to me, it’s more of a play on the up and down nature of JLS’s tenure (with the slapping incident capsulizing the downs) than it is an indictment of Smith himself.
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Sep 21, 2010 2:11 PM CDT up reply actions
Any suggestions?
Muddies or Bobbies perhaps?
Personally I’m cool with Slappies. But then, snark is (one of) my middle names. Captain Alexander Livingston Snark Hoolie, at your service.
He also . . .
. . . acted like an idiot far too often for my taste, consistently fielded ill-prepared teams that lost in the most humiliating and soul-crushing ways possible, and did very little to resuscitate the program. I get that he’s not a bad guy, but nonetheless I’m not a fan.
I could call them Bobbies, I guess, but Slappies is funnier.
PP-TPW.
The Only Colors
John L.
did very little to resuscitate the program
QFT. If anything, John L. is responsible for irreparably damaging the Sparty “brand”, especially on the internets.
Here’s a quick test. Which of these coaches to you most associate the “Sparty, No!” meme with:
a. George Perles
b. Nick Saban
c. Bobby Williams
d. John L. Smith
John L and Bobby
They both did a great job in ruining all the momentum Saban created. Both those guys can go to hell. Bobby was an awful game coach and wasted so much talent. John L. tried to run the spread in the Big Ten and everyone knows that does not work enough to keep your job.
by That Guy Green on Sep 21, 2010 10:05 PM CDT reply actions
Uh, tell that to Joe Tiller
Running the spread wasn’t the problem. The problem was being a complete idiot for other reasons while doing so.
Always thought JL would have been an awesome OC...
…with somebody sane running the show.
John L's main problem
was that defense was a complete afterthought. We still have limited defensive depth as a result. He probably would have made an excellent offensive coordinator, as we fielded generally good to very good offenses under him. Unfortunately more often than not the defense was worse than the offense was good.
by TheCrestedHelm on Sep 22, 2010 12:58 PM CDT up reply actions
I'm not sure...
…John L. gets the credit for MSU’s offensive success, such as it was, during his tenure. He was a defensive guy in his pre-head coach days. Dave Baldwin was the OC and my impression was that he called the plays. But I could be wrong.
He probably had a case of the Brian Billick syndrome.
by witless chum on Sep 22, 2010 2:54 PM CDT up reply actions
Credit where credit is due
The game is currently being replayed on ESPNU. I had forgotten about Worthy’s pass deflection on first down in overtime. Not as dramatic as Rucker’s tackle on Rudolph — but while the d-line had a bad day, that was a huge play in retrospect and should be recognized.
PP-TPW.
The Only Colors
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