SB Nation - Keshawn Martin

MSU-TT in the Alamo Bowl: Suspension Impact?

grahamfiller10 — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:52:33 -0000

Tearing on another team's disciplinary or academic problems is usually an uninteresting pursuit that can quickly turn against you. For every Ed Martin (Michigan booster who gave 280k to Chris Webber), there's a Maurice Clarett and a Charles Rogers. So MSU's reputation, although tarnished by the fact that there are gangs of unruly Spartan football players roving around East Lansing, will remain similar to any other major program.

So will there be any REAL impact on the Texas Tech game? What does Leach need to know about Animal House 2: When Players Attack?

Here is a list from TOC of the players suspended over the incident -

Roderick Jenrette, 22, of East Lansing; conspiracy and three counts of assault or assault and battery.

Glenn Winston, 20, East Lansing; conspiracy and two counts of assault or assault and battery.

Frederick Smith, 19, Macomb Township; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

B.J. Cunningham, 20, Lansing; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

Jamiihr Williams, 20, East Lansing; conspiracy and count of assault or assault and battery.

Mark Dell, 20, Lansing; a count of assault or assault and battery.

Ashton Leggett, 20, Muskegon; conspiracy and two counts of assault or assault and battery.

J'Micheal Deane, 23, East Lansing; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

Chris L. Rucker, 21, East Lansing; conspiracy and a count of assault or assault and battery.

All nine individuals are charged with conspiracy, which is a misdemeanor with a one-year maximum. The other charges are also misdemeanors, and have a 93-day maximum sentence.

You know what happens every time TO gets traded from a a team? Everyone breathes a sign of relief because the negative distraction is gone. Might that be at play here with some of these players? Probably not. Dell, Cunningham, and Rucker were healthy and would have started versus TT if not for the Night of the Long Masks. Although the secondary was generally horrendous, Rucker was an aggressive corner, which is obviously helpful if DC Narduzzi had decided to pull up his corners in bump coverage. Dell and Cunningham were #2 and #3 in reception yards for Sparty, which leads me to believe that 1) Blair White is going to be doubled, 2) we're going to see a TE in a slot position and 3) if a backup WR drops a ball early or runs a wrong route, there is going to be great wailing and gnashing of teeth (H/T: Book of Job).

Is Mike Leach giggling like a schoolgirl ~~in the hopes that Saint Nicholas will soon be there~~ because of the general upheaval that has enveloped the depth chart and pissed off some of the Spartan fan base? Probably not. Vegas will steadily increase that 8 point line for the Red Raiders and overconfidence can grow, which will give Leach incentive to push his troops. Kirk Cousins is still around with his laser rocket arm, though featuring less weapons to throw too. Adversity usually has one of two effects on individuals: Either people step up and play more minutes than usual while making plays...or they wilt under the scrutiny and added responsibility. Blair White and Keshawn Martin are talented enough to play the whole game, while MSU's tight end depth is the best in the Big Ten. Both Sims or Linthicum are quick enough to play slot.

A huge gut check is in line for Michigan State at the Alamo Bowl. Will they go out like Jim Bowie, cursing and firing until bayoneted? Or will the tumult and addition of walk-ons getting PT be too much for the Spartans to endure?

Michigan State to face Texas Tech in Alamo Bowl

Pete Rossman — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:07:51 -0000

In what had been projected for weeks on end, Michigan State will play Texas Tech in the Alamo Bowl Saturday January 2nd 2010, 9 PM EST on ESPN. This marks the second time MSU's played in the Alamo Bowl, with the first being a 17-3 loss to Nebraska in 2003. While there was some speculation that the Alamo Bowl execs might be a bit loathe to pick the Spartans due to their *ahem* off the field transgressions, money once again trumps everything, which leads us back to San Antonio for the first time in six years. More on the Red Raiders after the jump.

Here's the breakdown on Texas Tech this season:

Total Offense: 461.8 ypg (7th in D1)
Passing Yardage: 405.8 ypg (2nd in D1)
Rushing Yardage: 81.1 ypg (115th in D1)
Total Defense: 348.8 ypg (48th in D1)
Passing Defense: 223.8 ypg (71st in D1)
Rushing Defense: 125.00 ypg (36th in D1)

Now, don't freak out about the passing yardage. Even though the Red Raiders have the 2nd most profilic passing offense in division 1 (behind Houston), they average only 7.3 yards per attempt, which ranks them 48th in the nation. The team at number 49? Iowa. Tech averages a little over 51 passing attempts a game, and I wouldn't expect them to change their run-pass defense in the bowl game.

With Tech's shaky pass defense, The odds of this game being a shootout on both sides significantly decreased with the suspensions of Mark Dell and B.J. Cunningham. Blair White, Keshawn Martin, we're going to need you in this game.

As for now, MSU's going to a bowl game that's not in Detroit against a team tailor-made to take advantage of their biggest weakness. This one's going to be good?

Multitude of Casualties - Penn State 42, Michigan State 14

Pete Rossman — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:14:30 -0000

More photos » by Al Goldis - AP

Yup.

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"It's worth noting throughout history / kids come around corners to a multitude of casualties."

- The Hold Steady

In the third quarter, Penn State actually punted. I certainly don't remember the game occurring in such a fashion, I remember Daryll Clark completing passes to his wide receivers on the sidelines and having said receivers walk into the end zone. It's not just that Penn State's offense was playing so well, it's that Michigan State offered them prime field position by way of spotty kick return coverage or two uncharacteristic Kirk Cousins interceptions where he forced the ball down the field. Either way, Michigan State got blown out, and thus ends one of the most painful struggles to bowl eligibility in Michigan State history.

The most shocking aspect of this game was the contrast between the two halves Michigan State played. The adjective for the first half was "conservative". The offense was balanced (almost to a fault, even though the run game was fine), and couldn't sustain a drive. The defense went into its typical "bend but don't break" mentality, and I was stunned to see it actually...well, work. Twice Penn State had to settle for field goal attempts (although one of these FGs was attempted on 3rd and 15), which they both missed. A late touchdown gave Penn State a 7-0 lead, then MSU had its best (read: only) significant drive of the game, an 87-yard drive ending with a gorgeous catch by Charlie Gantt to tie the game back up.

Then came the downfall.

I'm not going to rehash all aspects of the third quarter; I'm not interested in giving any Spartan PTSD. The one moment that sticks out in my mind was Clark dropping back with Penn State up 21-7, fresh off a Cousins' interception. The MSU rush was prolonged in reaching Clark, and when that happened, I cringed, and waited for the inevitable. Yup, completed pass to Zug near the sideline, and Zug did the Lindy Hop* into the end zone.

Alright, enough negativity. Next up is a bowl game, something Illinois, Indiana, Purdue and Michigan fans wish they could say. This bowl game will most likely not be in Detroit, also a positive. As for other glints of hope, Keshawn Martin once again had a 70+ yard TD play, Greg Jones had another stellar performance (15 tackles, 2.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks), and Cousins knows what he did wrong:

Yeah, I made poor decisions on both of them. I can't do that, it cost the football team and when you get in a little bit of a catch up mode because you're doing three-and-outs and then they get ahead by a couple of touchdowns. Instead of just staying patient and letting the game still come to me, I just tried to do too much to try and get it back so fast that I was trying to make plays where there weren't plays there to be made.

The biggest positive - any shred of credibility this defensive scheme had was obliterated last afternoon by 6 PM. That means changes will have to be made by Narduzzi, Dantonio, etc., because if they want to remain competitive; bend but don't break won't cut it anymore. One of the reasons MSU was so successful last year was that in the games they won, they won the turnover battle in almost every game. This year, State didn't force as near as many turnovers (I don't have the numbers to prove this, but this sure seems to be the case). At any rate, something needs to change, and any change in scheme to accommodate a better pass defense is welcomed

One more month until the last MSU football game of the season. In the meantime, I hear Michigan State plays this game with an orange sphere and two peach baskets. Apparently they're quite good in their matches, and if you need a break from fishing the remote control out from your drywall, that'd be your best bet.

At any rate, play us out Craig.

*Note - may not have happened. Zug definitely had the time for it though.

Preview: Michigan State vs. Penn State

LVS — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:20:02 -0000

More photos » by Al Goldis - AP

about 1 month ago: Michigan State's Keshawn Martin (82) scores a touchdown on a 48-yard pass reception during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game against Western Michigan, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan State won 49-14. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

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Your MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS vs. the PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS

SPARTAN STADIUM, EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN

3:30 (ET), ABC (coverage map)

WEATHER: 52 DEGREES AT KICKOFF, TEMPERATURE FALLING AFTER DUSK.

Hey, a game that's not the most important of the season! Your Spartans obviously did the heavy lifting last week against Purdue; in all likelihood, this game is not about whether MSU will make a bowl, but rather, about whether we're going to San Antonio or Orlando or, of course, rollin' down Woodward to Ford Field (!). Penn State, after a season that has to be characterized as quite disappointing, amazingly still has a shot at a BCS berth. You know the backstory: last season, PSU absolutely demolished us; the season before, however, was good times:

It appears that the play-by-play guy attended the Joe Buck school of announcing excitement. Also, I miss Devin Thomas.

So, here cometh TEH GREATEST RIVALRY GAME IN ALL TEH LAND, and the opportunity to beat a team with a pulse for the first time this season. (Says the guy whose team's best win is against Temple. w00t.) The 8-million member PSU blogosphere and commentariat seems surprisingly reticent about this game. But, after last week's defensive fiasco I'm simply not comfortable picking us to win against teams with competent offenses. Penn State is such a team. I'd love to be proven wrong.

More, after the jump.

Big game plz, Colin.

WHEN MICHIGAN STATE IS ON DEFENSE: At this point, I think the secondary is probably going to suck no matter what we do, so we might as well stack the box to try to stop the run and get as much pressure on Darryl Clark as possible. Indeed, as RUTS told us, this is what you want to do with Clark:

He's like about any other good, but not great, quarterback. If he has a clean pocket and can set his feet, he's as good as anyone in the country. If he gets hit too much, he gets rattled and starts making bad decisions with the ball. In that sense, he can be knocked back into looking like a talented quarterback in his second or third start -- he thinks he can make throws that he can't actually pull off.

Clark struggled mightily in the Iowa and Ohio State games--and even in the Illinois game--because he was under pressure (ding ding ding da da ding ding). Pressuring him may allow Clark some opportunities to scramble (as Brian said earlier this year, he's "not Michael Vick but isn't John Navarre, either."), but it's probably the best chance to contain the PSU offense. PSU partisans seem to think that our defensive line will have success against their offensive line, and pressure Clark heavily; I'm not so certain. Many anticipated that Penn State's offensive line was going to be the downfall of the team this year, as it was the most inexperienced group in the conference. PSU has allowed only 12 sacks on the season, although it looked overmatched against Adrian Clayborn and Cameron Heyward, among others. But, uh, we don't have Clayborn or Heyward; we've got a defensive line which failed to pressure Joey Elliott (until the last play, of course), and hasn't proven the ability to apply pressure on its own. My suspicion is that, if PSU is content to throw from three-step drops, they'll have a lot of success: we won't have the ability to get to Clark that quickly, and our secondary is obviously vulnerable. Bottom line: stack the box, try to get pressure, hope for the best.

And, about those guys Clark will be throwing to: RUTS sez . . .

Starting WR Chaz Powell is out for the game with a shoulder injury. In his place, you'll see a rotating group including the very tall Brett Brackett and the very quick Curtis Drake. Maybe true freshman Justin Brown gets in the game, but I doubt it. Graham Zug had a nightmare game against Indiana last week, but that was mostly due to fumbling punts. He runs good routes and gets open against passive zone coverages. Really, that goes for the whole group -- if you can press and bump them, they become ineffective quickly. [ . . . ]

Derek Moye is probably our best receiver, but he was totally shut out by Ohio State's press coverage and only had two catches for 28 yards against Indiana. Because of that, I suspect PSU will make an effort to get him involved quickly.

Moye is indeed good: 41 catches for 676 yards and 5 touchdowns this season. He's 6'5", 195 pounds . . . and if you're thinking, "holy hell, he's Mike Floyd in disguise," well, yeah, me too. He's not quite there, talent-wise, but, erm, I wouldn't want to be fighting for a jump ball against him. I suspect that our cornerbacks wouldn't want to be, either. And, yeah, about that Quarless guy: he reminds me a lot of Kellen Davis in that he's ludicrous athletically, but the results don't quite meet the expectations. But, the same could be said of Garrett Graham, and that didn't end so well for us earlier this year.

This is probably Evan Royster's last regular season game for Penn State, as most expect him to jump to the NFL.
Last year, he only carried the ball 12 times against MSU, but those carries were relatively successful, as he averaged 6.6 yards per game. This season, he's been a bit up-and-down: he had big games against Northwestern and Minnesota, but not-so-good efforts against Iowa and Ohio State. MSU's rush defense has been mostly a positive this season, although last week was a bit of a regression. I suspect that Royster will approach 100 yards but not be the deciding factor in this game. His backup, Stephfon Green, has intermittently battled injuries and hasn't played much or well since the Illinois game much earlier this season.

Safe to say at this point: one of my all-time favorite Spartan football players.

WHEN MICHIGAN STATE IS ON OFFENSE: . . . we need for Kirk Cousins to have the best game of his career. As a preliminary matter, let's stipulate that we're going to get basically nothing against Penn State on the ground: the Lions are 8th nationally against the run, and our rushing offense is not good. The goal in this game should be to do just enough to semi-effectively set up play action.

Ah, so the main event: MSU's passing offense vs. Penn State's pass defense. It starts wtih the offensive line, obviously. Penn State doesn't have Tamba Hali or Courtney Brown or anyone of similar fear-producing ability, but the stats are certainly there: they lead the conference in sacks, and while Brian noted that:

[t]he numbers are impressive—PSU is 11th nationally with three sacks per game—but there is the whole schedule thing to take into account. Jack Crawford has four sacks, all of which come against the Akrons and Temples on the schedule. In Penn State's three real-ish games, they acquired one sack (Odrick) against Minnesota, three (Crawford, Latimore, Stanley) against Illinois, and two (Hull and Crawford/Lynn) against Iowa.

. . . Penn State sacked Forcier/Robinson 5 times, and then, the next week, sacked Mike Kafka 6 times. Since then, things have cooled down a bit: they weren't able to sack Terrelle Pryor (although Pryor is surely one of the most difficult sacks in the country), and were only able to get to Ben Chappell twice last week. Nonetheless, this is an impressive line; they're led by scary beast Jared Odrick, who has 6 sacks, and the aforementioned Jack Crawford, who now has 5.5. RUTS says that:

Penn State loves to just send the defensive line if they can get away with it. The defensive scheme actually depends on it, but PSU's defensive ends have been several notches below their predecessors. There's no Aaron Maybin, Maurice Evans, or Tamba Hali on this defensive line, so they'll send linebackers on occasion, and maybe mix in a corner blitz once or twice per game, but that's it.

We can't let them get tons of pressure from the front four alone. I know it's tempting disaster to say that I *want* Navorro Bowman, Sean Lee, and the corners to blitz, but Penn State blitzing and leaving the secondary exposed is how Cousins will be able to throw for lots of yards.

Penn State's defense is statistically impressive against the pass: 16th nationally in pass efficiency defense, and 17th nationally in pass defense. Once again, I'll let RUTS write my preview for me:

Penn State can be thrown on, but they do their best to protect any obvious liabilities in the secondary. Free Safety Nick Sukay has steadily improved throughout the year. Drew Astorino (#28) plays the other safety position, and it's no secret that he's trying to fight through a shoulder injury. CB A.J. Wallace sustained a concussion last week, he's listed as "possible" for Sparty. So there may be opportunities for you in the passing game.

So, PSU is good, but they're not scary in the way that Iowa is: this season, the Lions have allowed 252 yards passing to Northwestern, 263 to Illinois (!), and 298 last week to Indiana. (Note that they won all three of those games, however.) Quite frankly, our passing offense is better than any of those teams'. I think Cousins has a big day, and throws for at least 250 yards; look for B.J. Cunningham to play the Devin Thomas role this time around. If he's able to deliver, Cousins stands in line for first team all-conference honors, so there should be some personal motivation, too.

FINAL PREDICTION: Cut and paste, for starters:

Clark picked our defense apart last year, and while you don't have Derrick Williams anymore, our pass defense is even worse this time around. Also, I have distressing visions of Jared Odrick pwning whoever's blocking him and not giving Cousins enough time to be comfortable.

More generally, Dantonio has done a lot of good things during his time at MSU, but beating teams with appreciably more talent certainly hasn't been one of those things. So, I'll remain skeptical until we finally win one of these games. It's at home, which is good, and I could definitely see the special teams stats ending up very lopsided in our favor. But PSU is the better team, and you're playing for more: a win for us would upgrade our bowl game slightly, but a win for PSU might send you guys to the BCS. So, an upset isn't out of the possibility, but I'm not particularly optimistic.

I wrote that yesterday morning, and honestly, I'm a bit more optimistic now. Penn State fans seem quite worried about this game, and one columnist even questions whether Penn State's players even have their hearts into the game anymore. Which, like, what? Even if that's true, you're playing for the BCS! I'd dismiss it out of hand if the sentiment didn't seem to be a common one across the PSU internets.

One thing that doesn't fit into my normal preview format: if you've been reading previews of this game anywhere else, you'll know that PSU's special teams have been an unmitigated disaster this year, and ours have been very good. I'm normally skeptical that special teams play has any predictive value, but here the discrepancy between the teams seems so great that it may indeed be relevant this week. Keshawn Martin, Brett Swenson, Aaron Bates: keep on doing what you do so well. kthx.

Nonetheless, this is a pretty talented football team we're playing. PSU is excellent on defense, and the offense -- with many of the same players -- ripped us apart last year. It seems that I'm saying this every week now, but truly, our defense will determine whether we win this game. If they show up, we have a chance. If they play like they did last week, we don't. It's awfully tempting to say that MSU wins this game on the strength of the passing game and special teams play. But, visions of Quarless and Zug running rampant across the middle of the field prevent me from tempting fate, for now. Penn State 31, Michigan State 27.

Your thoughts welcome, of course.

Stats Fail Me - Michigan State 40, Purdue 37

Pete Rossman — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:47:36 -0000

More photos » by Tom Strattman - AP

Thanks for saving the season, Keshawn. You too, Mr. Swenson.

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Numbers. We deal with them pretty heavily at this site as a way to predict future performance and rank teams. Usually this method is pretty accurate, but then a game like yesterday's occurs and blows those notions to hell. Purdue had 28 first downs to MSU's 12. Purdue gained 524 yards to MSU's 362. The Spartans were completely dominated in all but a few categories. One of those categories was points, and State's three point win means that the Spartans will (hopefully) be going somewhere warm for December.

How did MSU pull this one out? Well, it helped that in the 4th quarter, down 34-23, Don Treadwell took the hammer to the "break in case of emergency" part of the playbook under glass. When you absolutely, positively need a win to get bowl eligible, standard operating procedures say to put the ball in the hands of the best playmaker. For the next two years, this person is Keshawn Martin. One of the joys of college football is watching a player develop from year to year, and watching Martin make the transformation from a receiver with a case of the dropsies to lethal returner in the past three games has been joyous. Kick returns, reverses, wildcat QB - he's the Leatherman of the Michigan State offense.

Underrated part of yesterday's game - the wind. Both of Brett Swenson's 52-yarders were wind-aided, and even though he's one of the best kickers in the NCAA, I'm not sure either of those kicks make it to the uprights without assistance. Enough criticism though - he's legitimately missed one field goal on the year (the other was blocked, I believe - correct me if I'm wrong), is a lock for All-Big Ten, and All-American status is a distinct possibility.

Kirk Cousins had an uncharacteristically inaccurate day (11-25), but two of those passes were huge - the 55-yard completion to Gantt in the second quarter set up a TD and the 73-yard TD throw to Cunningham composed about 60% of his passing yardage on the day. Hats off to Cousins though - even though he was a bit off today, he made the big plays when needed, and didn't throw a pick. Also, we have a running game? Baker and Caper both averaged over 4.0 yards a carry.

As for the defense...ugh. Joey Elliot completed about 70% of his passes and was finding receivers at will - in the flat, off of slants, down the sidelines - he was deadly today. Trenton Robinson made 14 tackles today, proof positive that the secondary was doing more than its fair share of the tackling. Does the defense need adjustment? LVS posted this quote in the afterglow thread, and I'll let Danny Hope's words make my point:

Boilermakers coach Danny Hope said Purdue was able to take advantage of things from a schematic standpoint.

"We had a great game plan. They have a very vanilla defensive formation," Hope said. "We knew what were up against and what we had to do. We just had to execute and I felt like we really did."

So...yeah. What adjustments do the Spartans need to make though? For those advocating a more drastic solution (FIRE NARDUZZI! BLLLLLLAAGGGHHH), I have one word for you:

GERG.

Scott Shafer, by most metrics, was not a good defensive coordinator. Justly, he got the boot after Michigan's abysmal 3-9 season, and was replaced by Greg Robinson, the man who set Syracuse football back to the leather helmet era. This hiring was hilarious in and of itself; more hilarious was watching Michigan fans talk themselves into the hiring. "Hey, he was the defensive coordinator at Texas during the Vince Young era!" was probably my favorite justification. I don't need to tell you what happened next.

Here's my point - some serious retooling does need to be done with the base defensive scheme. Any team with a functioning quarterback has been picking us apart this year, and an adjustment needs to be made - more pressing by the corners at the line of scrimmage, more use of the nickel package, etc. - if MSU wants to compete for the Big Ten title next year. However, firing Narduzzi means we need to hire a new defensive coordinator. New does not mean better; new just means different; and sometimes different equals disastrous (see: Rodriguez, Rich). Let's not fire Narduzzi and GERG ourselves.

Anyway, back to the question at hand: how, how, how did MSU win this game? In a word - execution. Brett Swenson executed his field goals better than Carson Wiggs. The Spartan kickoff returns were much more well executed than the Boilermaker kickoff returns. The Michigan State defense did get enough stops, as evidenced by Purdue's five field goal attempts. Even though Purdue executed better on ~80% of the game's plays, Michigan State executed better in the other ~20%, and all plays are not created equal. That's why football stats are dubious - an assumption is made that all plays count the same - an assumption everyone knows is a lie.

Now we're bowl eligible and have a chance to go to a slightly classier locale (HELLO ORLANDO!) with a win against Penn State on Saturday. The ~~Motor City~~ Little Caesar's Pizza Pizza bowl is definitely a possibility if Michigan beats Ohio State, so root against the Wolverines to your heart's content. As for now, enjoy the win, and never mind the defense - here's to a third straight bowl game.

MSU-Purdue Afterglow Thread

KJ@theonlycolors — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:36:32 -0000

More photos » by Tom Strattman - AP

No picture of Keshawn Martin available yet. But this was nice, too.

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We're going bowling, in large part due to these two brilliant individual performances:

236 all-purpose yards covered by Mr. Keshawn Martin.
4 field goals knocked through the uprights, 2 of them from 52 yards out, by Mr. Brett Swenson.

Beyond those two things, I'm looking forward to having Pete explain exactly how we won this game tomorrow.

Until then, party like it's 2007, my friends. The season has been salvaged.

Michigan State preview

BoilerTMill — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:52:29 -0000

When I saw this game on the schedule I felt it was the biggest toss-up of the year. I expected to be teetering on the edge of bowl eligibility at this point (certainly without wins over Ohio State and Michigan) but I didn't know what to think of the Spartans. Being game 11, it was hard to predict how seasons would turn out on both sides. I felt confidence about beating Indiana, but I have virtually ignored Michigan State for multiple reasons. First, the game felt far off. Second, it later felt like the game would not matter. Now that it is here, I still don't know what to think.

I am really surprised that this is the best offense in the Big Ten. I am more surprised that their defense has been so bad. Like Ben and I discussed in the podcast last night, just about the opposite was expected from the Spartans. The defense has been pretty good at home, but has struggled mightily on the road. As Ben said though, they have faced better offenses (Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Minnesota) on the road than at home (Western Michigan, Montana State, Michigan).

In short this is a huge game for both teams, though we have less of a margin for error (none) than Michigan State.

2009 Record: 5-5, 3-3 Big Ten

2008 Record: 9-4, 6-2 Big Ten

Bowl Result: lost Capitol One Bowl 24-12 to Georgia

Blog Representation: The Only Colors, The Enlightened Spartan, Sparty MSU

Series with Purdue: Michigan State leads 30-28-3

Last Purdue win: 11/4/2006 at Michigan State 17-15

Last Michigan State win: 11/8/2008 at Michigan State 21-7

Long lost brothers meet again

Michigan State offense:

This is really the best offense statistically in the Big Ten? I guess you're right. Michigan is flaky. Ohio State wins with defense, as does Iowa Most of the time. Minnesota has had one great offensive game against Michigan State. Indiana is surprisingly good. Illinois has only been good for two weeks. Northwestern is opportunistic. Purdue moves the ball, but we give it away almost as much as we score. Penn State can't score against good teams. Wisconsin is afraid to pass. That leaves Michigan State.

The Spartans don't have a dominant running back like Javon Ringer any more, but their running game is surprisingly balanced. No one has run for more than 400 yards, but seven players have at least 100 yards rushing (compared to three such players for us). Leading rusher Larry Coyer (375 yard, 6 TD's) is a question mark after suffering a concussion a few weeks ago, but Ashton Leggett (110-4) took over the position with authority last week by running for 110 yards and 4 TD's on 14 carries. He had one carry for 0 yards previously, and that came in the season opener against Montana State. Edwin Baker (242-0) also had his best game of the season last week with 15 carries for 78 yards.

Ashton Leggett had a breakout game against Western Michigan

At quarterback we will see both kirk Cousins and Keith Nichol. Thoughts on that issue are best summed up here by the Michigan State faithful. Cousins (158-148, 14 TD, 5 INT, 2,097 yards) has been by far the better quarterback, but Mark Dantonio insists on getting Nichol (45-86, 6 TD, 3 INT, 680 yards) some work in each game. The duo has combined to be the best passing attack in the league, so our secondary will be tested. Expect Cousins to start and Nichol to play.

Nichol and Cousins like to spread the ball around, though there is one top receiver to focus on. Blair White (58-836-7) will remind Purdue fans a lot of Chris Daniels. He is one of the conference's top receivers and will be the number one option on many plays. B.J. Cunningham (41-510-3) is a solid second option as Michigan State will likely look to pass first. Tight end Brian Linthicum (18-259-2) gives each quarterback a reliable safety valve and goal line option. Keshawn Martin (12-251-3) is a speedy deep threat. He has a 91 yard score on his resume this season. Mark Dell (25-392-1) can also be a deep option.

The reason that Michgian State's passing game has been so successful is its offensive line. The Spartans have given up just 12 sacks on the year, but they have yet to see a pass rush as fierce as ours. I fear another Wisconsin game because Michigan State has a big, experienced offensive line. Seniors Brendon Moss, Joel Nitchman, and Rocco Cironi form the core, but juniors Joel Foreman and D.J. Young are hardly stiffs. This is not a tall line, but they are compact and strong. We must respond tot heir physicality better than we did against Wisconsin.

Michigan State defense:

While our defense may struggle to slow down their very good passing game, our own passing game should have plenty of room to move as long as we can avoid turnovers. Michigan State defends the run well, giving up barely more than 100 yards per game. They are giving up over 230 yards per game through the air with a whopping 22 touchdowns. Ball security could be even more of an issue. Michigan State has forced only 11 turnovers this season, so it is critical that we don't help them out with dumb turnovers like we have helped other teams all year long.

The run defense begins with one of the best linebackers in the Big Ten, if not the entire country. Greg Jones is a beast of a player in the middle. He already has 117 tackles (11 for loss) 7.5 sacks, and a fumble recovery. He loves to get after the quarterback, and you can bet he will end up wherever the ball is. Fellow linebackers Brandon Denson (54 tackles) and Eric Gordon (70 tackles) help him out. All three are the top tacklers for Michigan State.

Michigan State starts a pair of senior defensive ends in Trevor Anderson (4 sacks) and Colin Neely (2 sacks). Tackles Jerel Worthy and Oren Wilson are stout against the run, while Worthy can get into the backfield with 4.5 sacks. Wilson is a big nose tackle that will be difficult to get around in the middle of the line, but we mostly run outside anyway.

The Spartan secondary can be exploited. Corners Chris Rucker and Jeremy Ware have been disappointing this year. Each has just one interception, but more than 40 tackles. Marcus Hyde and Dan Fortener have played every game at the safety spots, but have only one interception between them. We should have some room to move in the passing game since coverage is not their strong suit.

Michigan State Special Teams:

Aaron Bates is one of the league's better punters at 42 yards per kick. Teams are averaging 8 yards per return against him, but we seem to be employing a strategy of catching the ball then falling down of late, so it doesn't matter. Michigan State is giving up 22 yards per kick return, so ATM might have some room.

Brett Swinson is one of the best kickers in the Big Ten. He has hit on 14 of 16 field goal with a long of 45. he did miss his only attempt last week from 37, so he isn't automatic. Keshawn Martin is a dangerous kick returner who has already taken one back for a score. He also returns punts, so our coverage must be better than last week.

Intangibles:

Purdue clearly needs this more. We're on a roll (if you remove the Wisconsin game) and playing at home with a senior class that has overachieved this year. Michigan State can afford a loss, while we cannot. They at least have the fallback of a second chance at home next week. We do not.

Michigan State has also performed poorly on the road this year. They grabbed a win at Illinois when Illinois was terrible, but it was only a hard fought 10 point victory. They gave up a ton of points to Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in their other road trips. I am really surprised that their defense has underperformed this season. It was supposed to be a strength while the offense replaced Brian Hoyer and Jevon Ringer. Instead, the offense has been fine while the defense has given up a ton of yards through the air.

Defensively, we want to make Michigan State run the ball. They do not have a strong running game, and many of its numbers are inflated by last week and the opener against Montana State. They have had the luxury of two laughers there, while we have had about half of one against Toledo. If our secondary can keep the passing game in check I have confidence the run defense will come around. Michigan and Wisconsin have gashed us the last two weeks, but they are much better running teams than the Spartans. Of course, Illinois was a bad running team too.

Offensively, if we can establish some balance with Ralph Bolden I think we will do very well. If we somehow get him to 100 yards I do not see us losing because the passing game will have plenty of time to work.

Keys to the Game for Purdue:

Do not let their running game get moving
Establish Ralph Bolden
No stupid turnovers
Control the clock
Get after Cousins/Nichol

No More Drama - Michigan State 49, Western Michigan 14

Pete Rossman — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:00:23 -0000

More photos » by Al Goldis - AP

Welcome back swagger. We've missed you.

Browse more photos »

This football season has been a season to remember for all the wrong reasons. There was the onside kick recovery against CMU and the game-killing interception against Notre Dame when a field goal would've sent the game to overtime. There was the curb-stomping Wisconsin gave and the slant Iowa ran with two seconds left. Most recently, there was the kick return to start the Minnesota game and one of the most improbable incomplete passes/laterals/touchdowns I've ever seen. The only key play that's gone MSU's way this season was the Caper run in OT to win the Michigan game.

For all of these reasons, that's why few things felt more refreshing in the past few months than an old-fashioned butt kicking. Which is exactly what Michigan State did yesterday, eliminating all modicums of suspense and causing me to name an article after a Mary J. Blige album.

Where to start with the compliments? Let's start with the breakout player of the game, running back/pride of Muskegon and the OK-RED Ashton Leggett. I narrated the first big play of the game thusly to a friend over the phone: "Yeah, the MSU game should be under one of the Big Ten Network side channels...keep looHOLY CRAP LEGGETT JUST RAN 70 YARDS FOR A TOUCHDOWN." After a few weeks of MSU getting denied on nearly every goal line run, it's nice to have a 230 lb. bruiser to pound the ball in. Strange stat - Leggett's the first Spartan RB to have a 100 yard game this season.

22-25, 353 yards, 2 TDs. That's all that needs to be said. Nearly everyone would admit that Kirk Cousins is the best quarterback on the Spartans, but now it's time to start talking about him as the best quarterback in the Big Ten. He leads the Big Ten in passer rating (149.3 to Daryll Clark's 142.0), he has the fewest interceptions of any Big Ten quarterback (5, tied with... Tate Forcier? Weird.), and has the highest completion percentage of any quarterback who does not participate in an offense consisting of eight-yard curls (63.7% to Mike Kafka's 66.2%).

Is it time to start worrying about Greg Jones going pro a year early? He had eight tackles, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble, and two quarterback hurries. He's now tied for second in the Big Ten in sacks, and looking more and more like the front-runner for Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.

It took a year and a half, but Keshawn Martin is finally becoming a playmaker. Cousins hit him in stride for Martin's TD reception, and it's getting harder to tell which WR should sit in MSU's base set. Cunningham, Martin, and Dell are all very good wide receivers prone to cases of the dropsies, and that's to say nothing of the tight ends yet.

Lastly, after the defense got keelhauled last week against Minnesota, they responded by allowing only 211 yards to the Broncos. Nice show gentlemen, and you spare me the sight of FIRE NARDUZZI all over the internet this week.

State's now one game away from being bowl-eligible, and Saturday's match against Purdue will be the easier of the two opportunities to get the win. I feel a lot less confident about this game than I did a month ago, now that Purdue showed it's capable of beating good teams. The game in West Lafayette will be one of the biggest in Mark Dantonio's head coaching career at Michigan State. Win, and MSU will be going to bowls in three straight years since God only knows. Lose, and this officially becomes the most frustrating season in Spartan history.

As for now though, let's just celebrate a win where things went as well as could possibly be hoped for.

Wha Happened? Week Nine

RossWB — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:44:48 -0000

Sooo... that was an uneventful day in the Big Ten, right? A blowout here, an unexpectedly tight game there, wins by two of BHGP's favorite embattled coaches, and a flawless day of work by the league's refereeing and replay officials. Yep. Nothing to see here. Just the usual. But if you insist... here's Wha Happened.

Come to think of it: has anyone ever seen Batman and Ron Zook in the same place? HMM.

Illinois 38, Michigan 13
Not a dream, not a hoax, not an imaginary story -- Illinois really did crush a conference rival by 25 points. The same sad-sack Illini outfit that hadn't cracked 17 points in a single game against FBS competition this year scored more than that by the ten minute mark of the third quarter; then tacked on another 17 points because they were feeling frisky. Much-maligned (and deservedly so) Juice Williams had a quiet but efficient day passing the ball (8/11, 123 yards), but he took care of the ball (no turnovers) and he helped key an Illinois rushing attack that churned out 377 yards on 56 carries (Juice had 97 yards and a score on 21 attempts), numbers would that make even the potent Illinois rushing attack of 2007 envious. Jason Ford and Mikel Williams both finished with over 100 yards rushing, including a 70+ yard touchdown run by each man. This was a very nice and much-needed win for the embattled Zooker, which makes the BHGP joke writers (we pay them in collector's edition STANZI 4 HEISMANZI t-shirts) very pleased. But, hell, after the ongoing nightmare that this season has been, a win like this is a nice port in the storm; so sit back, relax, and do the Batusi, Ron -- for one night, you've earned it. Wha Happened? was all prepared to write the official obituary for the 2009 Illinois season as they became the first B10 team to clinch bowl ineligibility, but that will have to wait for at least one week.

Meanwhile, former wunderkind Tate Forcier continued his brutal October; he did go 13/23 for 257 yards, but he fumbled three times (losing two), failed to throw a touchdown pass, and failed to lead Michigan to touchdowns of any kind after the first quarter (and failed to lead them to any points whatsoever in the second half). In fact, Forcier hasn't thrown a touchdown pass since the end of the Michigan State game. Whether it's his ailing shoulder, the increasingly cold and nasty midwestern weather, or just the physical grind of Big Ten football on an undersized true freshman's body, Forcier's play has clearly taken a dip. That 4-0 start looks more and more like a mirage and with a pair of home games (against Purdue and Ohio State) sandwiched around a road game at resurgent Wisconsin, achieving more than a 6-6 record may be difficult for the LOLverines. Good thing it's a short road trip to Detroit for the Pizza! Pizza! Bowl.

Finally, a sad farewell to the gloriously-named Boubacar Cissoko, unceremoniously booted from the Michigan team earlier this week for the always-mysterious "violation of team rules" (BHGP theory: swindled Rodriguez out of seed money for City Boyz, Inc. 2.0); between this loss and the impending departure of Zoltan Mesko, Michigan is losing ground in the "totally awesome names" department. At least they still have Martavious Odoms.

Only a quarter as insane as this actual game.

Minnesota 42, Michigan State 34
If Iowa-Indiana wasn't the wildest Big 10 game of the day, then this one almost certainly takes that honor. Over 800 total yards of offense, 76 points, five touchdowns of longer than 30 yards, and, oh yeah, 17 penalties for 157 yards for Minnesota (they tacked on 9 penalties for 73 yards against Sparty; needless to say, the officials had some busy whistles). Absolute lunacy. And words can't even begin to describe how preposterous some of the touchdowns were: Minnesota opened up the scoring with a 62-yard bomb that featured Duane Bennett doing one of the best tightrope walks you'll ever see; Brandon Green followed that up by hauling in an acrobatic 37-yard score. MSU scored their first touchdown on one of the wackiest, most schoolyard-looking scramble-and-chuck-it-downfield plays. MSU then attempted to trump that by having Keshawn Martin rattle off a 93-yard kickoff return touchdown and an 84-yard rushing touchdown within a ten minute span in the third quarter. But the icing on the cake was Minnesota's clinching touchdown: Duane Bennett plucked the ball out of the air after the initial receiver, Nick Tow-Arnett, got cracked by brutal hit and coughed the ball up, then scooted 59 yards. Like I said: pre-fucking-posterous.

Meanwhile, the Iowa-Indiana game wasn't the only one that featured some questionable replay calls; moments before Minnesota's clinching touchdown, the replay booth inexplicably overturned a critical fumble call after a Minnesota receiver appeared to catch the ball, take 1-2 steps, and then get hit and fumble the ball. I have no idea what the replay official saw there to change that call. Regardless, Adam Weber had a career day -- 19/31, 416 yards, 5 TD/1 INT -- and the fact that this happened a week after he lost his safety blanket in Eric Decker seemed somehow appropriate on a thoroughly wild and woolly day of Big Ten action. A week after Ricky Stanzi made the Spartan secondary look good for 58:23, Adam Weber confirmed what we all knew to be true: they kinda suck. As for the rest of Spartans, it's hard not to look at the catastrophic opening of the game and not conclude that there was a hangover effect from the Iowa game a week ago; whether there was or not, they're 4-5 and may need to win out to guarantee themselves a bowl game (which could be tricky since they end the season against Penn State), which is not exactly how you want to follow up a 9-win campaign that finished up in the Capital One Bowl. All five of their losses have been by single digits, but close losses don't do anything but keep you up at night. But what to make of the TRY FIGHT WIN HEAVILY PENALIZED Gophers a week after losing their top offensive weapon (Decker) and nearly getting shut out in back-to-back games by Penn State and Ohio State (only a garbage-time touchdown against OSU's reserves prevented that ignominious fate)? Was this an aberration? A sign that the Gopher offense may not be quite as woeful as we thought? Considering that Weber hadn't thrown for a TD pass since the Wisconsin game 28 days ago and that he nearly doubled his season total for TD passes in one game, we lean towards the former explanation.

The Nittany Lion got moves, yo.

Penn State 34, just Northwestern 13
At halftime, jNWU was actually winning 13-10. After three quarters, the game was still tied, 13-13. Then came ~~STANZITIME~~, er, the fourth quarter and Penn State absolutely blew up, scoring touchdowns on three consecutive drives to take control of the game. Daryll Clark continued to cruise towards 1st-team All-Big Ten honors, going 22/31 for 274 yards and a touchdown; just another fine day at the office for him. Evan Royster tacked on 118 yards and a touchdown on just 15 carries. The bad news from LOLcat land is that starting quarterback and existential warrior Mike Kafka left the game with a hamstring injury, which puts into doubt his availability for the Iowa game this coming weekend. Back-up Dan Persa wasn't bad, per se (14/23, 115 yards; 14 carries, 42 yards; 0 TDs), but he didn't exactly do much, either. Once again, the jNWU running backs were a no-show: their top two leading rushers were Persa and Kafka. Actual running backs ran the ball 14 times for 33 yards. These are not exactly the proud descendants of Darnell Autry, Damian Anderson, and Tyrell Sutton.

Is there anything that muppets don't make better? Of course not.

Wisconsin 37, Purdue 0
Two weeks ago, Purdue was on top of the world after engineering a wildly improbable upset over Ohio State. They followed that up with a tidy win over a reeling Illinois team. It's safe to say the honeymoon is over now. John Clay carried the load on offense (123 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries), a blocked punt returned for a touchdown late in the first half deflated Purdue, and the Badger defense squeezed the life out of Purdue, holding them to a measly 141 yards on 62 plays, or barely more than two yards a play. This was vintage, Alvarez-era Wisconsin football.

Honestly one of the first three returns on Youtube on a search for "new mexico state"; maybe they were just playing Ohio State in the wrong sport...

Ohio State 45, New Mexico State 0
Even this seemingly innocuous blowout is still further proof of what a thoroughly insane day it was in the Big Ten. When the fuck does Senator Sweatervest (who is now getting actual political advice from someone who knows a thing or two about moving from coach to politician) ever beat someone 45-0? Especially with an offense that, prior to the past few weeks, had been one of the most anemic offenses of the Sweatervest Era? Has Terrelle Pryor truly turned the proverbial corner? Well, let's not get too hasty -- he was just 11/23 for 135 yards and a touchdown, plus 83 yards and a touchdown on nine carries -- and New Mexico State (who, it should be noted, is not the New Mexico school with the "fists of fury" coach) does have one of the worst defenses in the nation. They also have one of the worst offenses in the nation, which is just making it a little too easy for the stout Buckeye defense; that said, anytime you can hold FBS competition to just 62 yards of total offense, well, you're doing something very, very right. Either way, Ohio State did exactly what a good team is supposed to do at home to a horrifically overmatched team: beat the everloving shit out of them.

Mining the Box Score: Northwestern Edition

KJ@theonlycolors — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:53:02 -0000

Here's to the linebackers. (Photo credit: MSU FB page.)

MSU-NW box score is here. Up-to-date MSU season statistics are here. Up-to-date Big Ten statistical leaders are here.

Bullet-pointing through the numbers from Saturday:

How do you beat a team that gains 3 more first downs than you do (22-19) by 10 points? One way is to give up the majority of those first downs on your opponent's side of the field. Of Northwestern's 13 offensive possessions, 10 resulted in drives of at least 20 yards. But 8 of those drives ended with 41 yards or less of yardage, meaning the Wildcats got into the redzone just twice (scoring touchdowns both times). The bend-but-don't-break thing definitely worked Saturday. The question is whether the success was a function of (a) the MSU defense buckling down once Northwestern crossed midfield, (b) the Northwestern spread offense stalling out when it had less room to work with downfield, or (c) good old-fashioned random good fortune. (Option (b) seems unlikely to me, since Kafka threw downfield pretty infrequently.)

Continuing on that line of thought: A combined 39 tackles for the 3 starting linebackers (15 for Eric Gordon, 14 for Greg Jones, 10 for Brandon Denson). Once again, Pat Narduzzi stuck with the base 4-3 defense for 90% of the defensive snaps, even against 4- and 5-WR sets. It seemed like Northwestern was picking up 5-10 gains at will on passes toward the sidelines all game, but in the end the linebackers made enough plays to get those 8 Northwestern drives in the 20-to-41-yard range to stall out. And, as Pete noted in the game recap, 4.5 of those 39 tackles went for a loss. The result was cumulative losses of 22 yards for Mike Kafka, partially offsetting the 64 yards he picked up eluding Spartan tacklers all afternoon. (He was particularly elusive against MSU defensive linemen, who recorded just 1.0 TFLs.)
47 pass attempts and 18 rush attempts by Kafka (including the 3 sacks) for Northwestern vs. 6 rush attempts by running backs. That's the definition of a one-man show. Easy to see why Kafka seemed to run out of gas on the two final Wildcat drives.
Zero sacks allowed by the MSU O-line. This may sound repetitive, but Kirk Cousins had all day to throw the ball all day.
The result: 4 pass completions of 20 yards or more to Blair White. 3 of them in the 2nd half, when Don Treadwell seemed to stumble on the concept of the play-action pass.
Only one pass completion to a tight end this week (Charlie Gantt). Can we bust the Ganthisimslek monster out against Iowa, please?
Total of 18 yards in negative results for the two running backs. The telegraphing of the runs up the middle needs to stop.

First-down stats:

15 rushing attempts for 83 yards (5.5 yards/carry). Two of those attempts were a first-and-goal from the four and a Keshawn Martin end around. Of the 13 first-and-10 carries by running backs, 8 went for 4 yards or more. The run blocking was actually pretty darn good when the defense didn't necessarily know a run was coming. Only one first down run went for a loss (of 3 yards); the other 15 negative RB rushing yards came in (presumably) shorter-yardage situations in which the Wildcats were expecting the run.
9-13 on passing attempts for 119 yards (69.2% Comp%, 9.2 yards/attempt). And one of the 4 incompletions was a dropped pass by Martin that would have gone for a healthy gain. First-down play-action passes = YES, PLEASE.

In the full-season stats category:

Still the #1 passing offense in the league: total yardage (280.4/game), yards/attempt (8.5), TD-INT ratio (15-7), and pass efficiency (146.3).
We've crept up to #6 in rushing yardage per game but (1) we're over 20 yards/game behind the #5 team and (2) our numbers are skewed upward by the low number of sacks allowed. (Nichol/Cousins rushing yards may also be a factor, although there are certainly other Big Ten teams with mobile QBs.) For the season, MSU running backs are averaging just 3.85 yards/carry. Take out the Montana State game and that number drops to 3.71.
Put it all together and we rank #3 in both total offense and total scoring.
Blair White now ranks 4th in the league in receiving yards per game (90.7) and 2nd in receiving TDs (6).
Somehow, the MSU defense now ranks 4th in the conference in scoring defense and 5th in total defense. In both cases, I'd note we're there's a large gap between the top 3 defenses in the league (Penn State, Ohio State, Iowa) and the #4 team.
Third in the league in rush defense. I think that ranking would hold even if you backed out lost yardage from sacks.
Ninth in the league in pass defense--although we're in the middle of a clump of 6 teams within 15 yards/game of each other. (So we have an average below-average defense against the pass.)
Greg Jones leads the conference in tackles/game at 12.1. Surprisingly, he ranks "just" 4th in solo tackles.
We're dead last in red zone defense: both scoring percentage (18/19=94.7%) and TD percentage (13/19=68.4%). Let's hope those are regression-to-the-mean kind of numbers.
Ninth in the league in penalty yards/game (58.7), ahead of only Indiana and Illinois. Not the kind of company to keep if you want to compete for a conference title.

In the looking-ahead-to-next-week category:

Reason for optimism vs. Iowa: MSU now ranks 1st in the conference in both sacks allowed (6) and sacks by the defense (21, tied with PSU). Iowa, meanwhile, ranks 8th in both categories (15 and 13, respectively).
Reason for pessimism vs. Iowa: Despite the two forced fumbles on Saturday, MSU still ranks dead last in the conference in turnovers created (8). Iowa, on the other very menacing hand, ranks 1st with 22 (15 interceptions, 7 forced fumbles).