I didn't 'break down' MSU's game last week because, let's face it, it was Northern Colorado and I don't think I even watched a full quarter. With that being said, I'm back with another State breakdown, after we won 34-24 over #11 Wisconsin.
Good:
-We played a complete game. In the past years of MSU, there would be games where we'd jump out to a lead, but then once a team responded and the chips were against us, we'd fold. (vs. ND in 06 is the most clear example of this) However, even with 3 first half turnovers, we were still going into the half up 10. Then, whenever Wisconsin seemed to score, we had an answer. Sure, we got stopped on a 4th and short, but we had a 3 and out and punched it in on the next drive. The D played it's first good game against a competent offense, which will definitely need to show up next week in the big game against Michigan. Plus, they only had 4 penalties, none being on the Defense.
-Special Teams. Not only did Keyshawn Martin get a punt return touchdown, MSU's first since 02, that shifted the momentum to State and helped them take control of the game. Dan Conroy remained perfect, even if they were both 36 yarders, it's still good to have a kicker that can punch it in. I think this was the real difference as to why we won yesterday.
-Kirk Cousins had arguably his best game of the season. Aside from the two picks thrown, he looked quite awesome throughout, which is what I was expecting from him throughout this year. You take away the picks he goes 20/27 269 yds and 3 TD's. That's damn impressive. His 3rd down passing was his biggest strength. I don't know what his exact numbers were, but I believe at one point he was 9/11 or 9/12 with 5 first downs. That's exactly how he's gonna have to play next week, which he should considering Michigan's defense couldn't stop the Michigan State BASKETBALL team from scoring touchdowns on them.
-The pass defense for the first time played well. Scott Tolzien isn't a bad quarterback. He's not great, but he's not terrible. They benefited from some timely Wisconsin drops, but they didn't drop 14 passes, which is how many incompletions he had. 11/25, 127 yards and 1 touchdown. That's how you make a team 1 dimensional.
-Run offense continued to play well. They didn't break 200 for the fifth straight game, but they did get 175, with a bulk of them coming from Baker and Bell. Wisconsin has a stout run D, which makes me confident about next week with regards to running the football.
Bad:
-Run defense didn't really contain Wisconsin. Sure, John Clay didn't get over 100, but that's because he was injured early and never really was the same. The other back, White, had 98 yards on only 10 carries, plus 2 TD's, both of which could've been avoided if Johnny Adams didn't take such bad routes to the ball. This will be the key place to be successful next week in containing Robinson. Keep the big plays from happening. He'll, barring injury, probably break 100 again, but try to have the other guys beat you and, when you have your hands around him, don't let him slip through. If you can't bring him down, at least hold on until teammates get by and help you out. Containing the big play of Robinson will be the biggest factor, imo.
-3 turnovers in the first half. No matter how you shake it, they did give the ball away 3 times in the first half by turnovers, and they won't be able to get away with that next week if they plan on beating Michigan. I only saw the first pick by Cousins, and it was just a bad decision. It was the same thing against ND. Sometimes he'll make 2-3 shows that he shouldn't, and he has to limit those to just incompletions, because turnovers in a game like MSU/UM won't be helpful at all.
Not a whole lot of bad to say here. This really was our best game of the season, and thankfully, it was against probably the 2nd best team on our schedule. Hopefully we stay on this emotional high and take care of UM, because if we do, our schedule is quite favorable to finish 6-2 at worst, imo, and even the Penn State game we should be favored. This next week will really tell us where we are. If we win, we're legimate Big 10 contenders since we don't have OSU on our schedule and the only two good teams that we will play after is Iowa and Penn State, which I think are both almost toss ups. We don't need to shut Robinson down, but if we contain him, say 6-7 punting situations throughout the game, I think we'll be in good shape. UM has pretty much shown they can't stop anyone with a lick of offense, so we should be able to hit 30 for our 6th straight game. Our D will be physical with Robinson, so if we can give him a few good shots early it will wear on him late. Really excited to next weeks game, because people around me keep giving me shit about State, even though they are 5-0, and have looked pretty good in pretty much every game. I'd love nothing more then to beat UM for the third year in a row, start 6-0, and shut those guys up for yet another year. It will be an interesting game, and I can't wait.
