SpartanMacks

I can still see Tommie starting out and then dropping back to air mail 6 the easy way. Love that play action off the option. We've added that to our playbook this year too with great success. Cook fakes the rollout, stays in the pocket and hits a receiver deep. Works almost entirely due to the OL/RBs being great in pass protection.

Some of it is due to strength of schedule, but it's pretty impressive nonetheless.

TE on LB could work, but if you have a WR in the middle we'll likely bring a safety to match him. Our safeties are fairly solid at coverage, lot of interchangeability between the DB position in Dantonio's defense. I'd dare Narduzzi to bring a safety up on a WR. Then it's pick your poison because we've got man to man coverage on either Kenny Bell or Quincy Enunwa with no safety help over the top. Dennard and Waynes pretty much never get safety help anyway. That's why this defense is what it is. They'll need it against QE. If he can play well enough to demand it on Saturday, we'll adjust for it as necessary. Don't think we've provided any safety help much at all this year, not even against ND whose gameplan basically involved max protect + deep shots.

TE on LB could work, but if you have a WR in the middle we'll likely bring a safety to match him. Our safeties are fairly solid at coverage, lot of interchangeability between the DB position in Dantonio's defense. I'd dare Narduzzi to bring a safety up on a WR. Then it's pick your poison because we've got man to man coverage on either Kenny Bell or Quincy Enunwa with no safety help over the top. Dennard and Waynes pretty much never get safety help anyway. That's why this defense is what it is.

They were also head to their (by far) lowest statistical outputs of the season. I don't know anything about Indiana's offense and their tendencies and schemes, but the only way we have success running the ball is if Armstrong can be serviceable and accurate in the passing game. MSU is going to put 8-9 guys in the box every play, as they are not scared in the least to leave their corners on islands. I really hope they put 8-9 guys on the line...we'll option off that all day long. 8-9 guys on the line is not the same as 8-9 in the box, just saying. One problem for us is that we were hoping for our STAR (weakside) LB Jairus Jones (started at free safety last year before injury) to be back for this game. Would have been great in coverage and lateral pursuit ability. He had suffered an MCL sprain against ND, but he is now likely out for the year and his career is over. So that's a bit of a blow.

TE on LB could work, but if you have a WR in the middle we'll likely bring a safety to match him. Our safeties are fairly solid at coverage, lot of interchangeability between the DB position in Dantonio's defense.

Power run is just not going to work. Last team to effectively utilize the power run against us was Wisconsin in the 2011 CCG. In Camp Randall last year they were held to 0.5 YPC. Abdullah is your best weapon and has the speed to stretch a defense, why on earth would you not try to utilize him and exploit matchups?

I'll take the under on that. MSU has given up 7 all season, albeit to worse pass rushes. O/U on combined punts: 10

MSU was also coming off two emotional games vs. Michigan and Wisconsin (the latter being an always physical and gritty matchup, and that one in particular ended in the hail mary). The team was physically and emotionally exhausted. Injuries were a much bigger issue in that game on our end. Also, our retarded monkey OC Roushar decided that Bell getting 5 YPC against you guys was no fun and it would be more fun to throw at the teeth of the cover 2 instead. We're coming off a bye and have been relatively healthy, other than losing co-starter at weakside LB since the ND game (he's done for the season). Didn't work out so well when they gave him 36 carries either.... Boy I am still so salty on that loss, not against Nebraska but against Bill Lemmonier. That bs call on Adams during Dennard's INT return, and then the pass interference flag at the end of the game. I need to stop thinking about it before I have an aneurysm...

To think, if he hadn't punched a cop he would have gone so much higher. He's been pretty good for the Pats

To be fair, MSU's D has the respect of basically anyone who isn't entirely delusional or batsh#t insane. Excellent reasoning! Well not really. Now anyone who doesn't agree that MSU's D has to have respect is lumped in with delusional or insane people. Still, you've committed a logical fallacy and used a rhetorical device to hammer your point home so it really doesn't mean much. MSU's defense will demand respect if they shut down our rushing offense. We're the highest ranked one they've faced all year so far. Until then, no conclusions can be made except that they have shut down some of the worst offenses in college football in games to this point. Agreed. FWIW, Indiana's rushing offense actually averages more YPC than you (5.36 vs. 5.15) and has two more TDs (23 to 21). Not a big difference.

Dantonio: "The last time we went there, I don't think our players understood the environment." Dantonio: "They certainly invite you into the lion's den. Come on in, plenty of room." (CB) Dennard: Nebraska environment "is just different. They're friendly." Dennard: "It kind of throws teams off a little bit. This year in road games we've done a good job of handling the environment." (DE) Calhoun: "This is going to be my first trip to Neb. I have heard they're extremely kind, and that throws you off a little bit." Quite the reputation you guys have.

Hey, hey, hey. Let's slow down here. He wasn't getting 5 YPC. It was only 4.8. I rounded.

Defense yes, offense, no. 2011 had the best skill positions on offense with 6 NFL picks (Cousins, Baker, Bell, Martin, Cunningham, Sims) and a couple other guys who made it as UDFAs (Garrett Celek, Chris McDonald). 2013 though is BY FAR the best offensive line of the Dantonio era. They've been putrid for the last couple of years due to injuries (and i'm sure you can relate this year). Cook is developing, Langford is coming along nicely, and the WRs are finally coming into their own. It's not our best offense but probably one of our more consistent ones.

MSU was also coming off two emotional games vs. Michigan and Wisconsin (the latter being an always physical and gritty matchup, and that one in particular ended in the hail mary). The team was physically and emotionally exhausted. Injuries were a much bigger issue in that game on our end. Also, our retarded monkey OC Roushar decided that Bell getting 5 YPC against you guys was no fun and it would be more fun to throw at the teeth of the cover 2 instead. We're coming off a bye and have been relatively healthy, other than losing co-starter at weakside LB since the ND game (he's done for the season).

Why can't you run a screen pass? Ameer is perfect for running that. Doesn't even have to be a middle screen - line Ameer up on the outside and run a tunnel screen to him. We've actually been really good at defending screens this year due to the discipline exhibited by our DEs. One thing that Abdullah would be perfect for is a quick flare out of the backfield, assuming you have some good blocking WRs. A counter draw would also probably be quite effective.

Can you name a defense that has faced a far more rigorous offensive slate and still performed at an elite level? Sure the stats are skewed by played some meh offenses, but a lot of these offenses were putting up points before MSU shut them down. I don't really care if our #1 ranking is legit or not, fact is that this is a really good, physical defense with few glaring weaknesses. For those bringing up the Notre Dame loss - the D held them to 220 total yards and 17 points. They also didn't have a scoring drive that was not assisted by a Pass Interference penalty (some of which were dubious at best, and many occured on 3rd or 4th down). That loss was squarely on the offense. People love to pull up the Indiana game and us giving up 28 points as proof that we struggled against the only good offense we played. I just want to refute that through a couple of points. - 3rd play of the game was a 64 yard TD run by Coleman who was untouched. After that play, we held Indiana to 28 yards on 26 carries. We make adjustments. - Indiana's last TD was with 2 minutes left and the score was 42-21. If that's not considered garbage time, I don't know what is. Furthermore, it was off an interception (tipped ball IIRC) where they started on MSU's 37 yard line, playing against mostly the 2nd string. - A fumbled catch on a punt gave Indiana the ball at the MSU 41 yard line, leading to a TD. I'm not trying to make excuses, but the defense didn't exactly struggle against an opponent that is scoring 43.1 PPG and racking up 527 YPG. If you take out the MSU game they're scoring more like 45 PPG and 549 YPG. So effectively, MSU held them to 62.2% of their scoring average and 63.9% of their yardage average. And that's against that crazy hurry-up scheme that almost every defense struggles heavily with. Not really sure how much more the MSU D has to do to gain any respect. The rushing yards allowed per game (43.44) are nearly 35 less than the #2 rush D Louisville (78). The YPC is almost a full yard less (1.62 vs. 2.55). Did Louisville play rushing offenses that are twice as good as anyone we've played? It's not even like the MSU offense is blowing teams away so that they have to pass to keep up. On top of the gaudy rushing numbers, we're number one in the country at holding opposing QBs to a 90.3 QBR, so it's not even like people are avoiding rushing because they can light it up through the air. I'm not saying that any of this makes MSU undefeatable. The special teams are meh, the offense is still a work in progress. Nebraska has a surging defense and home field advantage. But I don't know how you can watch this MSU defense and tell me that they're not legit. By either the statistical test or the eye test.

Pro-style for the most part, with some read-option elements (not a lot, but just to keep the D honest). Yes, we do like jet sweeps and the occasional end around. The D is good. Obliterates the run, much better pass rush than last year (especially interior) and the DEs are better at containing mobile QBs. There is a lot of depth, at almost every position except MLB and boundary CB we could put in someone else with little to no dropoff. We also don't have to move out of our base package much, our personnel match up well against almost every style of offense. Our MLB Bullough is a computer on the field, he often wins the chess match of audibling at the line vs. the QB. Weaknesses would be that we are aggressive, and thus susceptible at times to misdirection (although less so this year than the last 2). Also, our quarters coverage leaves the flats to be covered by our LBs which can be exploited via a mismatch. You have to prove that you can hit the deep ball though, otherwise the safeties will cheat up quite a bit. We are extremely comfortable with leaving our corners on an island, a matchup they dominate more often than not. Frees up the rest of the defense, which is why we're so good.

We've really liked the jet sweep this year after almost never using it the last two years. Lots of power run and short to intermediate passing. We loooooove shallow crossing routes on third downs. Can't wait. I think they got the jet sweep figured out FINALLY, but power run is an issue. Better see McMullen, Curry, Valentine, Gregory or Moss, a lot... As for the shallow crossing routes on third downs, that scares me. I absolutely HATE Ciante matched up with slot receivers. You'll figure it out quickly. We seem to do it almost EVERY third down.

18/22 of the two-deeps was among the sh**ty MSU team last year that held Wisconsin to 0.5 YPC in Camp Randall last year. MSU has also had a top 10 D for the last 3 years. How long do you claim it's a fluke?

Something clicked for us in the 2nd half of the NW game, you'd be better served to look at that game and move forward from there through Michigan. I know what you mean, the MSU offense has been continually improving every game aside from that blip against Purdue. With two decent to good offenses performances before and after, i'm willing to dismiss it as an abberation where a young QB read a few too many press clippings and didn't take the opponent seriously. I literally tuned in to the NW game for the hail mary, but I watched you guys vs. UM. Not sure how much we can read into either of our games vs. them, really. Their OL is a dumpster fire and their OC is doing nothing to help it out.

One thing that I wonder about is the MSU OL vs. NU DL. I watched the latter half of the Minnesota game and they didn't seem to have much trouble moving your big uglies around in the run game.

Yeah, that's an impressive stat. On 3rd downs against us, opponents have rushed 41 times for -32 yards.

We are a power running O, but it's kind of strange. Our OL doesn't really get a ton of push early on or blast open big holes...but we also don't really get pushed back. We're second in the conference in TFL allowed (4.11/game). As the game goes on we tend to wear teams out a bit more due to our huge TOP advantage (2nd in the nation) and then run a little more consistently. In fact: 1st half rushing - 3.84 YPC, 4 TDs 2nd half rushing - 4.91 YPC, 10 TDs We also utilize a fair amount of jet sweeps with a speedy true freshman RB/WR RJ Shelton. He's used as a decoy sometimes but you'll notice us motioning him across the formation almost every other play.

MSU has turned the ball over 10 times all season. Cook has only thrown 3 picks. Our offense isn't great, but they've done a very solid job at protecting the ball. I could see us having a pick and a fumble. I think TO margin is more likely to favor MSU though - Armstrong has been turning the ball over quite a bit. Maybe he's fixed those issues vs. UM, but the pass rush he faces should be a lot better and there's one less starting OL to protect him. If I have to guess, the TO margin is either 0 or +1 MSU. Not at all. This is the same talk they had last year, and we put 300 on the ground alone. We will test them a LOT more than they think, and I think we will wear them out. I have a feeling with weather, this game will become more one dimensional than most think. I mean, we did stop Michigan at -21 rushing yards. Michigan did have 216 yards on their "elite" secondary. I think there are more holes in that defense than some realize. Not discrediting them, because stats wise, they are good, but the competition they have faced has not been all that "great". No huddle doesn't bother us too much, surprisingly. We rotate a lot on the DL which keeps guys rested (so even if two guys have to play a full series, they can sit on the bench for the next entire one) and we go 4-deep at both DE and DT. Also, we rarely ever have to switch out personnel out of our base package, although on 3rd and longs we like to switch into a 3-3-5 "Delta" formation with 3 down pass rushers. We should get our senior DT Tyler Hoover back for this game, he missed the games vs. Illinois and Michigan and was having a great season (3.5 sacks, 4 TFL, 2 PBU, 2 QBH, 1 FF) prior to his injury. Nebraska will definitely be the stiffest defensive test we've faced to date, but MSU has surprisngly done really well at protecting the QB. Both the OL and the RBs have excelled in pass protection, and Cook can buy some time with his feet. We're the best in the conference with only 0.78 sacks allowed per game. Strangely enough, Cook almost seems to be better under pressure. He buys time and makes plays. On the flip side, when he's sitting in the pocket forever he has a tendence to completely miss wide open receivers. It's aggravating.