Thoughts on Northwestern Game: A Formula Has Emerged

Alright, we're now starting to get a pretty good sense of MSU's formula for victory. It's basically something like this: slow start on offense, defense keeps it close, offense heats up in the second half, defense throttles opposing offense, oh, and Langford breaks a long one.

Offense

Cook showed significant improvement. I like when he lets it rip, makes him look like a Heisman Trophy candidate. The Spartans will need that kind of performance against Ohio State.

The receivers are now a strength of this team. The talent is outstanding and deep. MSU has to be at least top 2 in the B10, when it comes to receivers. Nice to see Price also making some catches.

Langford is outstanding, but I feel like he's faster in the second half than in the first. I'd like to see him run with more speed early on because that's part of why the offense starts slow.

The o-line was also outstanding. They opened some nice holes for the running backs and they gave Cook all kinds of time.

Defense

They were amazing overall, but it does make me a little anxious that Northwestern was able to move the ball so well in the first half, even without their top 2 offensive players.

The secondary was too much for Nothwestern. But the front seven failed to generate much pressure, even on blitzes. That's two weeks in a row.

One thing I thought about when Kain Koulter went out is that this defense is bruising. It pounds other teams into submission. Now, the hit on Koulter should have been flagged, but I don't think Lewis intentionally targeted him. Nice to see Williamson step in and excel.

Special teams

Tough day for the punting because of the wind, but still effective, while Geiger continues to take the kicking game to new heights.

Coaches

MSU won, so they did well overall. But they need to fix things like clock management, and perhaps getting the offense off to a faster start -- that may be critical against OSU.

Upshot

The Spartans are 10-1 and Legends Division champions. I predicted 12-2 and I hope they make me eat crow by going 13-1. Now on to Minnesota and Ohio State.