At long last! We haven't seen this kind of offensive productivity since the Spartans played CMU, roughly a year ago. Yes, it was against an FCS team, but I'll take it. Here are some other thoughts on the game.
- Cook is not as accurate as Maxwell, but his mobility makes him more effective. Obviously, he can make plays with his feet, but I think his mobility also allows him to look at riskier passes down the field. If you have the ability to scramble out of trouble, then you probably have more confidence to take risks with the passing game. I think that may in part explain why Cook tries more long passes than Maxwell.
- O'Connor did some good things, but it's clear he's behind Cook, and probably Maxwell.
- The receivers . . . what can I say? It's Christmas! They looked outstanding, and not just one or two of them, but several of them. The only concern I have is that they got the separation we've been looking for against an FCS team. We saw that this offense can be explosive when the receivers get separation and, basically, do what they're supposed to do. What if they can only perform like this against FCS opponents? If that's the case, the offense could easily regress again. I don't think that's the case, I do think the receivers have finally figured things out. But it's something to keep an eye on.
- MSU has tight ends! But even against this FCS team, they didn't do all that much. Still, Lyles looks like LT 2.0.
- The running backs continue to show some talent. We'll obviously get a much better sense of what we have there next week.
- The offensive line looked good, but not dominant. They gave the quarterbacks a lot of time to throw and opened up some holes for the running backs. On the other hand, this was an FCS team, and they didn't create as many holes as I was hoping to see.
- MSU's defensive talent overwhelmed YSU's offense, so it's hard to say much new about the D. This is the first game, though, where I have started to worry that Calhoun might leave early for the NFL. He's an outstanding talent that will get attention from NFL scouts.
- The special teams looked shaky again. That has to be resolved soon.
- The coaches seemed to do better today. The play calling was sensible, and appropriately bold in some cases. They also are giving some younger guys a chance to make plays, and the young guys have responded well (see Shelton and Kings).
Upshot: let's not get too excited, yet. I do think this team has turned the corner on offense, but it is also quite possible that the struggles could return against teams with better secondaries. I also think the offensive line is not quite where it needs to be. I hope I'm wrong, but unless the o-line makes significant progress by next week, they still look like they will struggle quite a bit against Notre Dame.
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