Sports are here for misery and nothing else.
The Good
The run defense gave up just .4 yards per carry. Yay.
Matt Coghlin set a program record for consecutive field goals made with 16 straight. Woohoo.
Felton Davis is a monster. He was also abandoned like a stray dog with rabies in the fourth quarter after his second touchdown grab, but we’ll get to that later.
The pass protection was actually pretty good for this unit...for the first three and a half quarters.
Khari Willis is good at football.
Mike Panasuik had a cool interception.
Cam Chambers had a great coming out game.
The weather was nice.
The Bad
Dave Warner. I wouldn’t trust this guy to make me a bowl of cereal if I laid out the ingredients in front of him.
Yeah, I get it — there are some obstacles with this team. The offensive line and running game isn’t that great due to injury and, well, talent. The wide receiver corps is depleted due to injury.
But dude...you are the one still choosing to run the ball on 4th and 1 with 11 Wildcats in the box on a season-saving drive. That was the drive after you decided to kick off another season-depending drive with a screen pass to your fourth string running back for a loss of six because, well Dave, your line can’t block. I don’t know how the hell you don’t know that after five weeks of the same thing. Stop trying to make a square peg it in a hole that isn’t even there because the defense already collapsed on it.
No one is making you run the ball, especially in giant situations. You had moderate success passing the ball, stop killing drives and tempo with inside runs. We would rather see an incomplete pass that would have gone for eight yards than see you run the ball that has a limit of a two yard gain.
How the hell does Felton Davis not get the ball after his second touchdown? I don’t know if that’s play calling or quarterback error, but Felton Davis isn’t just one of your only healthy receivers — he’s one of the best receivers in this whole country. Find him. Even if he’s not wide open, find him. He’s made insane catches plastered in coverage all season, he’ll keep doing it if you just throw him the damn ball.
I don’t want to throw a student athlete under the bus, so I’ll just say this — Matt Dotson needs to start at tight end. I don’t know why having a tight end that consistently drops passes or can’t stay on his feet for more than two steps the times he actually does catch it is in the game plan, but get it out of there and put in Dotson.
What on earth was this?
IT'S PICKED.@NUFBFamily's Jared McGee snags it away for the interception. pic.twitter.com/PcT3EkiohR
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 6, 2018
The injuries bug continues to bite, now with David Beedle out a month with an arm injury. The injury problem is not an excuse to lose to the 1-3 Wildcats at home. Maybe if this was Penn State or Ohio State and they lost by 10 you could say “well, if we had (this guy) and (that guy) we would have won,” but not against Northwestern. Not against the Wildcats that lost to Akron. You should be able to win that home game with your two-deep.
The penalties were back-breaking, once again. Sure, the Naquan Jones unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was probably BS. You know what? Great teams overcome it and get a stop. They don’t let the entire game turn on it.
The Random
How many wins do you think this team ends the season with? Considering they haven’t even gotten into the tough part of the schedule yet and Rutgers is the only “for sure” win (and even then I’m only 95% sure), I don’t see how on earth they get to eight wins. Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State will probably be losses just on offensive line play alone. Purdue and Maryland are very far from guarantees considering this team can’t beat Arizona State or Northwestern. I say seven wins, and even I can’t explain why I’m going that high.
Poll
How many wins does MSU end the regular season with?
This poll is closed
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3%
3
-
4%
4
-
13%
5
-
34%
6
-
27%
7
-
11%
8
-
2%
9
-
2%
10 (pass the Kool-Aid)
I hope this goes well...
Joe Bachie said on @wjrradio post game there’s going to be a players only meeting where some players’ll be challenged. Doesn’t care if they’re mad at him because the train is leaving with or without them.
— John (@FromEastLansing) October 6, 2018
Alright, I’ll try to lighten it up here with BOWL PROJECTIONS. Yours truly at SBNation and the folks at CBS Sports and 247Sports all have MSU going to the Outback Bowl vs. Kentucky.
College Football News has MSU in Jacksonville for the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against Mississippi State. ESPN is split with their two writers, picking the Gator Bowl or Outback Bowl.
Hey, at least our futbol team is pretty good.
It was a 2-0 #VictoryForMSU at Maryland Friday night for the No. 13 Spartans! pic.twitter.com/q6LqBDXS26
— MSU Men's Soccer (@MSUmsoccer) October 6, 2018
And Midnight Madness happened, which means basketball is only *crunches numbers* 29 days away!
Broke out something special at #MSUMadness to celebrate the 1979 National Championship team #SpartanDawgs pic.twitter.com/0sqJqhVEch
— Spartan Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) October 6, 2018
Get your picks in. MSU opens up as 14.5 underdogs in Happy Valley this weekend. Who do you got?
Poll
Make your picks
This poll is closed
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76%
Penn State -14.5
-
23%
MSU +14.5
And, as always, GO GREEN!
Enjoy your week, everybody.