Well folks, it's time to panic. I realize that there may be some degree to which MSU played down to the level of their opponents, but this game has me drastically revising down my expectations for this season.
Offense
-The offense is flat-out bad and we've seen enough games now to understand that it's going to struggle the rest of the season. I think the best we can hope for is that they make some progress throughout the season, just don't expect any miracles. This offense will cost the Spartans at least 4 more games and it is bad enough to cost them as many as 6 games.
- LeVeon Bell and Dion Sims were the offense, today. I'm happy for them, but this is not going to be enough against the good teams.
- The receivers are simply killing this offense. It turns out that replacing 3 starting receivers was simply too much of a task. Apart from Dion Sims, the Spartans don't have a go-to guy. They don't even have a guy that can make more than 2 catches in a row without a drop or a fumble. Their struggles against Eastern lead me to believe that the receivers will be nonexistent against OSU. The Spartans may want to think about running the triple option next week.
- Maxwell keeps playing OK, but his accuracy is not quite where it needs to be. The receivers are just not good enough to deal with a little inaccuracy.
- The offensive line looked OK. They seemed to do well in run-blocking, considering that Eastern just lined up to stop the run. They also gave Maxwell decent time to throw.
Defense
- The defense continues to get burned on long passes. Other teams have figured this out, but the secondary and the coaches seem unable to adjust.
- The defensive line was actually dominated at times by Eastern's offensive line. And what is going on with Gholston? All of this is not confidence-inspiring.
Special Teams
- There were a couple of articles this week about how confident Mark Dantonio was with the special teams. Well, Conroy missed another field goal, Hill muffed a punt, and Sadler shanked several punts . . . what else? A struggling offense needs all the points and field-position help it can get, and these special teams are just making things worse.
Upshot
As I said, MSU's poor play today may be due in part to the fact that it played down to the level of its competition. But overall, I think this team is in trouble. The offense is totally dependent on 2 playmakers and the defense has shown that it has several chinks in its armor. This formula won't go far in the B1G. And so, I now think this team will likely end up winning no more than 8 games. Just goes to show how important it is to be well-stocked at all positions, year after year. Having to completely re-load at receiver is just too difficult.
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