Unpopular opinion? We're possibly/probably overrated...

[Spartanmack]

Let me preface this by saying I'm as pleased as anyone with the progress the team has made - light years ahead of where we were last year and ahead of my expectations going into the season. But after re-watching the Miami game and what happened this past weekend, there are concerns.

Miami ended up being a blowout but if a few things went differently threw 3 quarters, we could have been in a position where we needed that 4th quarter performance to come back from down 14 - Miami penalties, King missing receivers, etc. The counter argument to that is the run game was dominant and Thorne played his best game - it's not like we were lucky to be in it through the 3rd, but the score is probably not a great indicator of how the game played out.

Nebraska on the other hand was a disaster where they looked like a John L. Smith MSU team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The run game was nonexistent, Thorne looked horrible and was possibly the worst player on the field the second half. If not for Martinez missing guys, esp wide-open tight ends and Reed's running back the punt (which according to Frost, was another Nebraska f-up) we would all be saying we lost because we got beat, badly. The best counter argument I can think of is that's been the issue for Martinez throughout his career so it's not like a one-off bad night and it was a let down game after the big win. Other than that, some weaknesses were definitely exposed - horrible run and pass blocking, Thorne eating too many balls or flat out missing guys, secondary looked awful as well. Tough to blame the d-line for all the rushing yards since the offense couldn't keep them off the field (only 1st down after half time came in OT) and a big chunk came from Martinez, but that was a problem too. After Reed, 2nd MVP probably goes to the punter.

 

[gotime909]

Until I see the same problems more than once I'm not quite as worried as you. Thorne however, worries me. Even in the first 3 games he missed guys. I get the same vibes as I did with Conner Cook. He'd miss guys for a good part of the game and then just hit an insane throw that would just amaze you. We don't have that caliber of defense and oline that cook had so I'm sure we'll lose some frustrating games coming up.

 

[tinselwolverine]

Every game is its own game. Tough win for Sparty and Michigan Saturday but a win is a win.

Hope that the October 30 games has championship implications for both team.

And ?Boo!?

Cause the game is October 30.

Get it? Boo? October 30? Boo? Get it? Get it?

 

[johnny2x2x]

The offense has had 1 half of bad football among the 8 halves they've played this year. I think the next 3 games are games we should be favored in. We'll find out a lot at Rutgers and at Indiana. It's how much you improve week to week that determines your season, I still see the team improving despite last week's second half offensive setback.

And let's not forget that Nebraska's front 7 is really really good.

 

[Spartanmack]

Until I see the same problems more than once I'm not quite as worried as you. Thorne however, worries me. Even in the first 3 games he missed guys. I get the same vibes as I did with Conner Cook. He'd miss guys for a good part of the game and then just hit an insane throw that would just amaze you. We don't have that caliber of defense and oline that cook had so I'm sure we'll lose some frustrating games coming up.

Maybe I gave the wrong impression - this post was more of a conversation starter than sounding the alarm. I don't really care about rankings at this point and I'm not all that worried about the team either - as I said we're clearly better and more fun to watch and unless there is a complete meltdown, I have little doubt they'll win more games than I expected them to.

After giving it more thought, there aren't more than 7 or 8 really good teams and maybe only 1 great team so there are going to be a lot of flawed teams in the top 20. If our weaknesses aren't that bad, maybe that's not far off. Maybe these are just reasons to remain grounded and not raise expectations too much.

Time will tell - unfortunately we probably won't learn much this weekend on offense as WKU's run defense is currently 120th while their pass defense is 62nd (because teams don't need to pass against them?). It could be a test for our defense though as they currently rank 2nd in passing offense vs. our 106th place passing defense - they don't really run the ball (barely 15 attempts/game so far) - time for Narduzzi style all-out blitzing all day?

 

[Spartanmack]

The offense has had 1 half of bad football among the 8 halves they've played this year. I think the next 3 games are games we should be favored in. We'll find out a lot at Rutgers and at Indiana. It's how much you improve week to week that determines your season, I still see the team improving despite last week's second half offensive setback.

And let's not forget that Nebraska's front 7 is really really good.

the 1st half against Nebraska wasn't very good either. We had 49 yards in the 1st quarter with an interception, turnover on downs after starting w/ great field position and a 3-and-out. The second quarter was better but miscues forced us to settle for 2 FGs after failing to score TDs from inside the 10yd line and a botched FG attempt instead of TDs

 

[zyxt9]

MSU and UM will hopefully be going into their game both undefeated and both ranked in too 10. Shaping up to be a potentially great game.

 

[everyoneneedsasmil]

Post-Rutgers, I think the OP is still roughly correct. This does seem like a good team. The offense can really move the ball, though it's probably not as efficient as some of the super talented teams out there. The defense is getting things done, but not one I'd feel comfortable relying on against better teams (basically the inverse of former Dantonio teams).

Is this team really top 10 in the nation? Probably not right now. But could they get there? Yeah. I think that's perhaps the biggest difference this year. The schedule definitely works out in our favor early, but we can see the pathway to playing like a legit big ten contender. Keep improving on defense, keep expanding the the offense. Maybe by the end of the year, that actually gets us to being a top 10 team. But even if not, I like the direction the team is going.

 

[boogerlovejoy]

Post-Rutgers, I think the OP is still roughly correct. This does seem like a good team. The offense can really move the ball, though it's probably not as efficient as some of the super talented teams out there. The defense is getting things done, but not one I'd feel comfortable relying on against better teams (basically the inverse of former Dantonio teams).

Is this team really top 10 in the nation? Probably not right now. But could they get there? Yeah. I think that's perhaps the biggest difference this year. The schedule definitely works out in our favor early, but we can see the pathway to playing like a legit big ten contender. Keep improving on defense, keep expanding the the offense. Maybe by the end of the year, that actually gets us to being a top 10 team. But even if not, I like the direction the team is going.

Agreed. I love how far this team has come in such a short amount of time. Not just the record....thats great n all.....but this team has more talented than I thought it did. Walker is a fucking beast.....so is Reed. Nailor a really good compliment. Thorne has really gotten better. Defense is solid against the run. Secondary will cost us games this year, but from 2-5 with a couple UGLY losses to 6-0 is amazing.

One of the signs of good coaching is player progression in the program and coaches putting players in the best places/schemes to succeed. I feel like our staff has done that really well. Thorne is not a super accurate short passer....but throws a really good deep ball. So instead of putting him in a quick pass, tempo, catch and run offense.....we go deep a lot. Love it.

So far it's worked. I certainly don't expect to finish the year undefeated or even in the top 15.....but i have a lot more confidence that we will play the OSU's, PSU's and U of M's tough in 2021 than I did in the beginning of the year. We probably come away with a win in one of those games.

9-3. Solid bowl.

 

[Michchamp]

...

One of the signs of good coaching is player progression in the program ...

Well, how does that square with all the stories noting Tucker rebuilt this team through offseason transfers?

I checked; this is from June; he booted 27 players into the transfer portal (not sure if all of them left; the names I recognize did; more entered since, right?), and brought 19 on, including Walker, probably the best player on the team, and a Heisman candidate so far.

 

[Spartanmack]

Easily, by not making dumb arguments based on an assumption gleaned from a headline for an article you probably didn't read. Yes Walker is a transfer and so far has been one of if not the best player on the field in every game - did uofm go after him? How about teams that don't just think they're elite, but actually are? To be fair, uofm has their own surprise at TB this year - been a while, glad to see you guys get excited about the potential 3rd place September Heisman again. Sure, Reed is a transfer but this is his second year as a Spartan and it's undeniable that he's made progress as a Spartan. The rest of the skill position players on offense are all career Spartans (Thorne, Nailor and Mosely are all contributing). The line, while not great and still a relative weakness is much improved with just one transfer. The defense is also improved with Crouch being a contributor but not a big difference maker and the other transfer, VanSumeran is a nothing special backup - maybe they just took him to get his little brother to commit, but this weekend he got playing time in the 1h due to Haladay's BS targeting penalty and the guy couldn't fight off a block from a tiny wide receiver - wouldn't say he's much of a difference maker either.

 

[Spartanmack]

Post-Rutgers, I think the OP is still roughly correct. This does seem like a good team. The offense can really move the ball, though it's probably not as efficient as some of the super talented teams out there. The defense is getting things done, but not one I'd feel comfortable relying on against better teams (basically the inverse of former Dantonio teams).

Is this team really top 10 in the nation? Probably not right now. But could they get there? Yeah. I think that's perhaps the biggest difference this year. The schedule definitely works out in our favor early, but we can see the pathway to playing like a legit big ten contender. Keep improving on defense, keep expanding the the offense. Maybe by the end of the year, that actually gets us to being a top 10 team. But even if not, I like the direction the team is going.

the schedule is favorable for MSU to remain highly ranked over the next 4 games with Michigan being the biggest challenge. I see a lot of similarities with them - they look much improved but haven't really been tested. I didn't see the whole game but they seemed to have a much better outing against Nebraska than we did.

After last season, I would have been ecstatic to go 8-4 this year but now that means we finish 2-4. That's a rough six weeks and at least 1 bad loss. We have to get better - we're not going to beat psu or osu and probably not uofm either by scoring four 65+ yard TDs, committing special teams blunders and play clock violations among other dumb penalties. Fingers xx'd maybe it will be cold and rainy in Columbus again. 9-3 and a top 15 finish would still be pretty awesome. And if we can only win 1 of the 3 big games, I want to beat psu the most. Can't stand that team.