The Good, The Bad, The Random in MSU’s blowout loss vs. Ohio State

Hey, it’s basketball season.

Let’s just keep telling ourselves that.

This one is on the shorter side because, well, you saw what happened yesterday. What else can be said after another blowout this season? Let’s try to sort through the rubble and make something of it.

THE GOOD

I’ll tell you what, this team is really good at telling you what kind of an afternoon it will be within five minutes of game time. If they’re going to get the doors blown off of them, they make it very apparent early on. If they’re going to be scrappy and hang around, they get right to it immediately too.

So shoutout to the team for letting us know what kind of a Saturday we’ll have before the clock strikes 12:10 p.m.

It’s Payton Thorne time. I’m calling it. I’ve seen enough. You’ve seen enough. Hopefully the coaching staff has seen enough. Although this was an odd quote from Mel.

Mel, my man...what? We were dying for just “spurts” after seeing the offense do close to nothing for the entire first half. I agree — “spurts” aren’t going to get it done. But we aren’t even getting those spurts from the other option.

We don’t have to get into it and rip apart Rocky — he gave us some good moments in the Michigan and Northwestern wins that we will forever be thankful for. But he’s not the guy. Thorne is, and he proved it in the second half on Saturday.

THE BAD

Look, contrary to popular belief, I’m not an idiot. I know how great Ohio State is, even with some key starters out. I didn’t expect a win.

But was it too much to ask for the team looking competitive for maybe even four seconds? First drive for OSU they have four botched snaps en route to an opening touchdown drive that looked simple.

On offense, the Spartans had five three-and-outs or worst (the end zone interception) and just two first downs — one which was given via penalty — in the first seven drives. The offense gave the defense enough time on the sidelines to maybe grab a sip of water and get three breathes of air before it was time to stop the Justin Fields Show.

The offense has terribly limited all season, but they didn’t even give MSU a chance this game on either side of the ball on Saturday.

Tough day in the coaching department. Not a great look to come out of a timeout with 10 players, burn up a timeout to correct it, and then come back onto the field with 12 players.

What bothered me the most was a decision made in the third quarter. A decision to quit, essentially. When you have the ball on the OSU 42-yard-line — your second trip into Buckeye territory all game — and staring at foutth-and-five...why are you punting it?

That was as big of a white flag as you can wave with 8:20 left in the third quarter. Look, I know this team wasn’t coming back down 28-0, but it’s the principle of it. You had nothing to lose going for it and you somehow found a way to lose something with missing an opportunity to continue a drive.

I don’t know what else to say. The roster needs as big of a revamp as Mel can possibly get in the transfer market this offseason.

THE RANDOM

I thought I was hallucinating when I saw a donkey in the stands yesterday but, no, sure enough...THAT’S A DONKEY.

Mel Tucker is very good at saying the right things in a postgame press conference. He doesn’t point fingers, he takes accountability and he seems to be a straight-shooter.

Let’s see if this can be backed up in the upcoming years.

YOU KNOW WHAT, I would rather lose by 40 than lose in this fashion. I wouldn’t be able to sleep until Wednesday if I was a BYU fan.

I also miss having fans in the stands.

MSU basketball tipping off at 6 p.m. on Big Ten Network tonight. I would pay $100 to see a game not as stressful as Friday night’s game. If we could get a 30-point blowout right out of the gate, that would just be incredible. Thanks in advance guys.

All right gang, one more game until CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK (likely against Purdue, Illinois or Nebraska). Let’s have ourselves a week.

Go Green.