Thoughts on Notre Dame Game

Well, we found out quite a bit about the Spartans in this game.

Offense

- It turns out that the O-line is not the strength we thought it was, going into the season. They are not physically elite, and they looked lost. MSU simply has to recruit more physically gifted O-linemen.

- The receivers are much more of a liability than I had hoped they would be. They dropped too many passes, and had trouble separating from a weak Notre Dame secondary.

- Maxwell played OK, but he needs to improve his accuracy a bit more and he has to get better at feeling pressure and getting rid of the ball.

Defense

- The defense is still pretty good, but opposing coaches now see a way to score enough points on this defense. That is, you try to beat the secondary with some long bombs, especially in the early part of the game. MSU's secondary has given up big plays on long passes in 3 of the last 4 games (dating back to the Outback Bowl). If opposing quarterbacks were a little more accurate, MSU would give up quite a few points per game on long bombs.

- The defensive line can stop the run, but they are not getting to the quarterback as well as last year. Other teams may have figured something out, but I also wonder if the D-line put on too much mass this year. Gholston, in particular, looks huge, but he doesn't look as fast as he did in the Outback Bowl.

Upshot

In sum, this MSU team has many pieces in place, but the offense is a year away from being adequate. MSU's offense now makes me believe that this team will not beat OSU, and they may even lose to Purdue, if they have to face them in the B1G championship game -- Kawan Short will demolish this O-line. Thankfully, the weakness of the B1G may still allow the Spartans to win 11 games this season. I had extremely high hopes for this year, but I'll settle for another 11-win season.

As for future, I expect Maxwell and the receivers to be a strength next year.  And next year's O-line will be very experienced and deep, and should be MSU's best line under Dantonio. Nonetheless, this game makes me think that the lack of elite O-line recruits could be what keeps MSU from winning a national championship over the next few years.

Unfortunately, the Spartans only have 1 O-line recruit for the class of 2013 and they only have about 3 scholarships left. I think they now need to think about taking 3 O-linemen in this class, especially if they can significantly improve the talent on the roster. A guy like Caleb Benenoch has to be a top priority, and if they can't get top high school talent, then they may need to scour the junior colleges for talent.

I don't want to panic about this stuff. I mean, even if things stay as they are, MSU will be one of the top 3 teams in the B1G for years to come. But I do think that the O-line is the area that will keep Dantonio from winning the national championship at MSU, and worst of all, it could be what allows OSU and UM to leap/stay ahead of MSU.