Thoughts on Wisconsin Game

Folks, I came within a whisker of giving up completely on this season. But they did it. They took that next step and made me look like a genius this week. Woohoo! Had they kicked the extra point at the end, I would have had the score exactly right.

Offense

Was mostly infuriating, especially after Wisonsin's botched punt. But they looked good at times, especially in their last 2 drives, when it counted most.

Maxwell did not look particularly good, until those last 2 drives. His accuracy is just not where it should be by now. I just hope the last 2 drives are a sign of things to come.

The O-line is improving, but they did get too many penalties. Left tackle is the one big weakness on the line. Dan France really struggled today.

The receivers are catching the ball now. Lippett is starting to emerge. Fowler and Mumphery looked OK. Where was Burbridge? The emergence of the receivers is one reason I'm upset about the futility of the offense. The drops helped explain the futility in the first few games of the season, but now the receivers are starting to play well.

Perhaps the new excuse is the weakness of the tight ends. Dion Sims is clearly not at full strength and LT had that critical fumble. At least you can clearly see their potential. But the Spartans need more than potential right now.

Bell is doing what he can, but the line to needs to get better.

Defense

Another stellar performance against an offense that was putting up points in past weeks. As I said in my preview, I think this defense is reaching its peak. Guys like Gholston and Denicos Allen are starting to look like they did last year. Johnny Adams also seems to have gotten past giving up the long bomb.

Special Teams

No big mistakes.

Coaches

It did seem like the coaches were too conservative in this game, until the last 2 drives. But I too felt like being conservative, so I didn't disagree with many of their play calls. I did think they should run the ball more on that drive after the botched punt. They should have tried to move themselves into better field goal range, rather than trying to go for the first down.

Upshot

The victory feels good, and it should provide a good shot of momentum to this team. But the Spartans have 2 tough games ahead of them. I have more confidence that they can win those, but they will be battles. Most importantly, I want to see the offense continue to improve. I want to see if what they did in their last 2 drives was a fluke, or if they can play like that the rest of the season.