Sept 17th @ ND

[Spartanmack]

I'm not sure what Johnny Adams or Connor Cook have to do with Deshon Kizer. I see a mobile qb who's a good runner, has a very strong and accurate arm and good decision making. I don't buy that ND's QB isn't very good, but I'm sure you're hell bent on taking this off the rails and arguing it for days so have at it.

ND does have a strong front 7, of course the linebackers have to cheat, drop back and not blitz as much since their secondary is decimated right now. ND also has a great offensive line and didn't run the ball very well against us, they do have a tackle and guard that are projected as football picks, which generally doesn't mean anything unless Mack blesses them. He's better than Mel Kiper at prognosticating in his spare time.

As for ND not being ranked, of course they aren't, they just lost a second game. if they beat us they'd be ranked but the loss dropped them out, I'm not sure what your point is. Yes I'm happy for MSU being a ranked team on the road in a tough place to play. I never said that ND is a great team but this is a win we should be happy about, not many of us were picking a win beforehand, rightfully so. I'm pleasantly surprised by the win, I don't see anything wrong with that.

I'm not surprised that you missed the point - they were both the highest rated players at their position by the experts you use to dismiss my opinion about deshone kizer offhand. I don't want to argue for days about this - go look at his QBR from 2015 and look what he did against us this year up until the last 20 minutes when we stopped playing defense. He's not a great QB, he's average and his stats prove it. All you have is the same folks that told you Johnny Adams and Connor Cook were great also think Deshone Kizer is even better than they thought those two were - despite not having the stats to back it up. But hey, why bother thinking for yourself? You need to believe it, so you're going to believe it - I can only show you the facts, I can't make you not be a fool.

I'm also not surprised you didn't get the point about ND being ranked. The point is ND was technically ranked but rankings this early are meaningless as evidenced by what's gone on with ND and Texas. They didn't beat us - we kicked their asses up and down the field and then our coach let them back in. They're not good. Saying we beat a ranked team on the road is kind of ridiculous when it seems pretty clear they didn't deserve to be ranked. Rankings, particularly this early are highly flawed.

 

[Spartanmack]

Yes, these are fluid and imperfect. That doesn't change the fact that Deshon Kaizer is a good QB. Being projected to go #1 doesn't mean that I think he's the best pro prospect in college football but it does indicate that he is a very good QB.

It doesn't - what changes the fact that Deshone Kizer is a great QB is the fact that Deshone Kizer isn't even that good of a QB.

 

[Sbee]

Finished watching the game a second time, hard to believe we outgained them on the ground 260 to 57, ND rushed for over 230 in each of their first two games. I know they abandoned the run late as teams that are down multiple scores tend to do, they still only averaged 2.3 per carry. They have two OL that are projected as 1st rounders on ESPN. Our D-line is progressing faster than I thought they would, good sign for the rest of the season.

 

[tomdalton22]

Finished watching the game a second time, hard to believe we outgained them on the ground 260 to 57, ND rushed for over 230 in each of their first two games. I know they abandoned the run late as teams that are down multiple scores tend to do, they still only averaged 2.3 per carry. They have two OL that are projected as 1st rounders on ESPN. Our D-line is progressing faster than I thought they would, good sign for the rest of the season.

I didn't watch the entire game, but I agree that it probably had a lot to do with game script. Also, the way college calculates rushing yards after taking away sacks. That will also skew the yards per attempt. Most of the box scores that I found don't even list the sacks & yards lost like they do in NFL box scores.

 

[Spartanmack]

I didn't watch the entire game, but I agree that it probably had a lot to do with game script. Also, the way college calculates rushing yards after taking away sacks. That will also skew the yards per attempt. Most of the box scores that I found don't even list the sacks & yards lost like they do in NFL box scores.

yeah, that's weak. Sacks should absolutely be a line item in the box score and the summary team stats. There's a lot of information lost in the mix by just showing net yards. It can't be hard to break those out. I'd like to see tackles for loss in there too - although those should definitely be part of the rushing totals.