Spartan Offense Hands Badgers Win
- SpartyOnline Writer
- Sep 27, 2016
- 3 min read
The Wisconsin defense looked like the real deal in their 30-6 win over the Spartans Saturday, however the score wasn’t indicative of how good this Michigan State team can be this season. The Spartan offense turned the ball over 4 times. Couple that with a Hartbarger botched punt, giving the Badgers the ball on the Spartan five, well, you won’t win too many games that way. Wisconsin scored 20 points off of those lapses. The one bright spot for the Spartan offense was Donnie Corley.
The Michigan State Defense played like a top 10 team, just as they did last week. The offense and special teams were another story and unfortunately for the Spartans, they needed all three phases of the game to win against a very good Badger team.
The defense was outstanding all game long. Even without linebackers Riley Bullough out the entire game, and Jon Reschke out 5 minutes into the second half, the Spartan defense was able to pressure freshman QB Alex Hornibrook, sacking him a number of times. In fact the MSU defensive line was able to hold their own. Neither team dominated the line of scrimmage. The defense was the highlight for the Spartans, only giving up 10 points and forcing two turnovers. Unfortunately, the offense could only convert those turnovers into three points.
The offensive line played well. They were not getting blown off the line. In fact at times they were protecting well, and giving O’Conner time to throw. If you were to take away the turnovers, the Spartan offense played well enough to win. However, like the Furman game, this offense looked flat from the very beginning. For most teams that usually translates into bad things happening. The reality is this. Offensively the Spartans needed Conner Cook today. Cook had a way of rallying his team and creating a sense of urgency. He also had a sense of the flow of the game and had the uncanny ability to throw a strike or make a play out of nothing at key moments in a game. When his offensive line was in trouble, he had a quick release that could bail them out. Some of that comes with experience; some of that was Conner Cook.
Mark Dantonio always talks about college football being a game of inches. Well the Spartans definitely lost the battle for those inches against the Badgers. Tyler O’Conner delivered some strikes of his own, but he also looked like someone playing only his fourth start. It took him way too long to check down his receivers, and he missed a couple of key throws that most likely would have been touchdowns and possibly the difference in the game. The defense also just missed on a couple of picks that could have changed the game. Demetrius Cox just missed a pick six to tie the game coming out of halftime. If a couple of those situations would have gone the Spartans way, Michigan State would be 3-0 and most likely in the top 10 today. We learned last season that one game – win or lose – does not make a season. As it is, there is no time to rest. The Spartans travel to Indiana on Saturday, and the Hoosiers gave MSU all it could handle last year.
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