Football Outsiders article on MSU D-Line

[Comish]

I said in another thread, Beck will have to call the game of his career Sat. I have hoped, and been disappointed year after year, that we were "holding things back" until the big game. You know "vanilla" D, simple O, etc.... I would love to see the diamond. A LOT. Lead AA with a FB, traps and misdirection. Bell and Quince exploit man coverage. Pre snap motion to make them communicate to adjust.

The play calling needs to help the OL not have to give seconds in the pocket. If we ned to pass, pull a Fresno St with Carr and roll the whole pocket to give time.

They are the real deal. Stacked with seniors, a scheme they can excute and they play aggressive and fast. We need to make this hurt them.

I agree-Beck needs to call a solid creative game-NOT CUTE. If the run is working STAY WITH IT!! If it's not then change. Don't be afraid to take some risks but please no cute plays.

Agree. But we also need to get AA the ball in space. Swing passes will give us the same opportunity as the option.

 

[JJ Husker]

What we really need is for MSU's offense to stink up the place, throw a a couple of picks to give us short fields, blow a couple of possessions by letting His Holiness the Dalai Gregory sack the QB for minus ten.
We need to win this game like we won against Michigan. Don't expect to put thirty on the board. Don't even bother trying; if it happens, great. Keep that defense fresh, make damn sure those blitzes get home, and let Ameer be himself. Let's face it: Sparty hasn't played a back like him in awhile. And as for Tommy: take. care. of. the. football.

I agree. The keys to this game will be protecting the ball, keeping our D fresh, and creating turnovers. We don't have to score a lot to win but we will at least have to sustain some drives to gain some field position and rest our D. Beck is going to have to call a great game and we absolutely have to win on turnovers.

 

[Danny Bateman]

It's a shame our receiving corps is so banged up right now.

If we had QE, KB, and JT all at full strength... It woulda been a real nice twist to run some wildcat with JT as the QB. You could do it with Abdullah but personally I'd put him at sweep man. He could get the ball in space or JT could keep it and work some of that improv QB magic from high school.

That'd be one of the very few trick plays I'd approve of.

 

[Landlord]

What we really need is for MSU's offense to stink up the place, throw a a couple of picks to give us short fields, blow a couple of possessions by letting His Holiness the Dalai Gregory sack the QB for minus ten.

We need to win this game like we won against Michigan. Don't expect to put thirty on the board. Don't even bother trying; if it happens, great. Keep that defense fresh, make damn sure those blitzes get home, and let Ameer be himself. Let's face it: Sparty hasn't played a back like him in awhile. And as for Tommy: take. care. of. the. football.

2009 Oklahoma comes to mind, except without the purposeful shut-down of any and all offensive creativity.

 

[RedRedJarvisRedwine]

I'd like to see beck run off the outside corners and deepen the safeties and then hit crossing routes underneath all damn day. Jamal turner, Ameer or whoever. Hardest route to defend and with all the man coverage we will see, we should employ this principle. Hell it works agains us. Drag routes, crossing routes, screens. Get em to sit for a split second longer and not allow them to be so aggressive at the LOS. Then take shots deep. Rub routes. A well timed trick play and I think we squeak one out 23-20!

Then we sh#t the bed next week cause of the hangover.

 

[Count 'Bility]

gotta spread these guys out all across the field like was said. Force them to use a lot of nickel and dime to get some 3rd and 4th tier defenders on the field instead of allowing them to use their top 3 linebackers all day. Also increases our chances of winning some one on one battles up front and getting some gashing runs for 5-15 yards as opposed to trying to block 7 with 5. Spread em as much as possible use the run to set up some playaction. And for god's sake, be patient with the 3-4 yard gains. That final drive in Ann Arbor last week was a think of beauty. Used the clock, and just trickled it down the field and waited for the big play to come to us, instead of pressing for it, when Bell made the big play. I also think that if it's immediately apparent our D is dialed in the ready to roll, that we should play concervative offensively in obvious pass situations like 3rd and longs. Run some draws and screens. Something that could work, but conceding to punting for field position as opposed to trying to force something that isnt there and resulting in a game changing turnover.

 

[SpartanMacks]

gotta spread these guys out all across the field like was said. Force them to use a lot of nickel and dime to get some 3rd and 4th tier defenders on the field instead of allowing them to use their top 3 linebackers all day. Also increases our chances of winning some one on one battles up front and getting some gashing runs for 5-15 yards as opposed to trying to block 7 with 5. Spread em as much as possible use the run to set up some playaction. And for god's sake, be patient with the 3-4 yard gains. That final drive in Ann Arbor last week was a think of beauty. Used the clock, and just trickled it down the field and waited for the big play to come to us, instead of pressing for it, when Bell made the big play. I also think that if it's immediately apparent our D is dialed in the ready to roll, that we should play concervative offensively in obvious pass situations like 3rd and longs. Run some draws and screens. Something that could work, but conceding to punting for field position as opposed to trying to force something that isnt there and resulting in a game changing turnover.

We play 5 different LBs regularly (outside the starters, it's RS Sr Kyler Elsworth and RS Soph Ed Davis). RS Soph Darien Harris may get some looks because he's a converted safety and might be more of an asset in coverage. Elsworth has a lot of playing experience, former walk-on who is a big play machine. Davis is a bit more raw and is being groomed as Allen's replacement at SAM. Not sure on his coverage ability yet.

Our 5th DB (RJ Williamson) is essentially a co-starter and he is every bit as good as the starting 4. So no dropoff there. When we start getting to 6 and more then there's more inexperience.

We don't tend to go pass-happy a lot but we usually go with a 3 WR/1TE/1RB or 4 WR/1TE set on obvious passing downs. How are your nickel guys?

 

[MichiganDad3]

I said in another thread, Beck will have to call the game of his career Sat. I have hoped, and been disappointed year after year, that we were "holding things back" until the big game. You know "vanilla" D, simple O, etc.... I would love to see the diamond. A LOT. Lead AA with a FB, traps and misdirection. Bell and Quince exploit man coverage. Pre snap motion to make them communicate to adjust.

The play calling needs to help the OL not have to give seconds in the pocket. If we ned to pass, pull a Fresno St with Carr and roll the whole pocket to give time.

They are the real deal. Stacked with seniors, a scheme they can excute and they play aggressive and fast. We need to make this hurt them.

Agree, lets see a FB to help pave the way for AA, and mix in some misdirection with AA and the FB, and some FB quick hitters.

 

[MichiganDad3]

The glory of the diamond formation and a lot of the reason it is so effective when we mix it in is because it is not the basis of our offense. Most of the time when we run it, we are doing so out of a hurry-up situation, and it catches the defense off-guard due to the unique look of it.

I still think we should run it more than once or twice a game, but running it too much would make it easier for teams to adjust to it.

Reason I don't like it for this particular game is it's going to allow their LBs to get closer to the LOS because we only have two real immediate vertical threats. We've got to try to get them to defend sideline to sideline and all the way back to the endzone.

Why can't the diamond formation do that?

If the OL can give the QB a couple of seconds, then one of the backs could get behind a LB

 

[EZ-E]

Four of the five we will start on OL played against Georgia last year. Which I would argue had more NFL talent than this MSU team. I'm still worried, but it isn't like we are trotting 5 guys out there that haven't played a snap.

 

[EZ-E]

It's a shame our receiving corps is so banged up right now.

If we had QE, KB, and JT all at full strength... It woulda been a real nice twist to run some wildcat with JT as the QB. You could do it with Abdullah but personally I'd put him at sweep man. He could get the ball in space or JT could keep it and work some of that improv QB magic from high school.

That'd be one of the very few trick plays I'd approve of.

I'd like Newby or Moore to get a jet sweep. More speed to the corner.

 

[ADS]

It's a shame our receiving corps is so banged up right now.

If we had QE, KB, and JT all at full strength... It woulda been a real nice twist to run some wildcat with JT as the QB. You could do it with Abdullah but personally I'd put him at sweep man. He could get the ball in space or JT could keep it and work some of that improv QB magic from high school.

That'd be one of the very few trick plays I'd approve of.

I'd like Newby or Moore to get a jet sweep. More speed to the corner.

We ran a jet sweep to Newby once during the NW game, haven't seen it since.

 

[EZ-E]

It's a shame our receiving corps is so banged up right now.

If we had QE, KB, and JT all at full strength... It woulda been a real nice twist to run some wildcat with JT as the QB. You could do it with Abdullah but personally I'd put him at sweep man. He could get the ball in space or JT could keep it and work some of that improv QB magic from high school.

That'd be one of the very few trick plays I'd approve of.

I'd like Newby or Moore to get a jet sweep. More speed to the corner.

We ran a jet sweep to Newby once during the NW game, haven't seen it since.

Yup. I think a good criticism for Newby is that he's gotta read his blocks better and make the proper cuts off of them. Once he does that, the 30 yard runs we see will be to the barn because Newby has better top end speed.