Thoughts on CMU Game

Well, it went about as expected . . . well, maybe not. MSU was actually more dominant than I expected. Here are a few things that stood out to me:

- CMU is just not that good, right now. We'll see how they do against MAC opponents, but MSU was able to overwhelm them even with a relatively sloppy performance. 

- CMU's weakness makes it difficult to judge the performance of MSU, but at least CMU's weakness allowed the Spartans to experiment quite a bit. They were able to do a lot more passing and give LeVeon Bell more of a break. And they were able to play a lot of young guys. 

- Speaking of young guys, I guess MSU is concerned enough about the receivers that they were willing to burn the redshirts of Macgarrett Kings and Aaron Burbridge. I think that's a good move. These guys may not make an impact right away, but by the end of the season, they could be making significant contributions. 

- Maxwell obviously played pretty well, but CMU's defense didn't really test him.

- Bennie Fowler had a big game at receiver. I hope he's ready to play that way next week and the rest of the year. If Fowler has turned the corner of stardom, that would give MSU 4 very good weapons on offense: Fowler, Maxwell, Bell, and Dion Sims. It would be nice to see them add at least 2 more over the next few weeks; perhaps guys like Larry Caper and Tony Lippett. Imagine the firepower, if those guys can emerge as playmakers.

- Connor Cook looked pretty good as backup QB, except for the interception. He was pretty accurate with his throws and showed a strong arm. Nonetheless, we're definitely in trouble if Maxwell goes down this year. But by next year, MSU will have the QB depth to match the depth on the rest of the team.

- The defense pitched a shut-out, but once again the offense gave up 7 points. I know it was redshirt freshman QB Connor Cook throwing the pick-six, but I hope this is not some foreshadowing of what's to come in one of the key games of the season.

- Even MSU's backups were able to keep the shutout going. Honestly, that just speaks to the amazing recruiting being done by Dantonio and the coaches.

Final thought: MSU is on the verge, folks. If the offense can just get a few more pieces in place and if this team can clean up mistakes, we are looking at a team that could play in the national championship (but probably not win that game). It helps that Michigan and Wisconsin look weaker than expected, though Ohio State and Nebraska look a little stronger. Fortunately, the Spartans get the latter two at home. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Next week's game against Notre Dame will tell us a whole lot more about who these Spartans are.

Thoughts on Boise Game

The Spartans won! Yay. But there is a lot to be concerned about. Here is a quick list of thoughts about tonight's game:

- Boise is impressive and many of the problems the Spartans had tonight can be attributed to Boise's quality. I would not want to face Boise next year. They are a fundamentally sound and intelligent program.  MSU caught them at just the right time.

The offense

- Obviously, the passing game is the biggest liability at this point. Maxwell really struggled with his accuracy, his touch, and most dangerously, his decision making. MSU is going to have to play Tressel ball this year (meaning play good defense, protect the ball, get good field position, etc.), but it won't work if your quarterback is making costly mistakes. I'm hoping part of the problem for Maxwell was that Boise uses complex defensive schemes -- schemes that he won't see the rest of the season. But Maxwell did blow a few, regardless of the scheme.  So he's going to have to improve.

- The receivers didn't help. You had guys killing drives with turnovers and dropped passes. And while we saw Boise's receivers getting separation against MSU's elite cornerbacks, we didn't see MSU's receivers getting much separation from Boise's cornerbacks. Hopefully, it was just first-game jitters. Otherwise, the passing game is all Dion Sims -- who was huge tonight -- and not much else.

- The offensive line does not look much better than last year. Maybe it's just Boise's line, but Boise was putting a lot of pressure on Maxwell with just 4 or 5 guys. And the O-line struggled to open holes for the running backs. And they had several penalties called against them. This could mean trouble when MSU plays teams with strong D-lines, particularly OSU. I hope the O-line's troubles were just the result of opening-night jitters and Boise's complex defense. Otherwise, Dantonio's best O-line ever could be insufficient against the tough schedule they face this year.

- LeVeon Bell is a legitimate Heisman candidate. Over 200 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns -- could've had 3 at the end. He will be most of MSU's offense this year, like Javon Ringer in his senior year.

The defense 

- The defense came to the rescue again. They only allowed 2 field goals, as a result of the bad field position the offense gave them. I was impressed with how well the defense handled Boise's offensive creativity.

- We miss Worthy. MSU's defensive tackles were not nearly as disruptive as Worthy was last year.

- Boise's plan to neutralize MSU's front four worked. MSU's front four stopped the run cold, but they could not generate much pressure against the pass.

- MSU's cornerbacks struggled more than I expected. I don't know what Boise feeds their receivers or what they teach them, but they really burned Adams and Dennard on several occasions. In fact, Dennard was lucky not to be flagged for a second pass-interference call that could have changed the game. Again, I hope this was just an opening-night/Boise thing, but these guys are supposed to be elite corners, so they need to step it up.

Special teams

- They did well. Conroy's missed field goal was the only concern. Otherwise, Hill did an excellent job of returning, and the coverage teams didn't allow any huge returns.

Coaching

- I hate to say it, but I do think Boise's coaching looked superior. They just couldn't overcome MSU's advantages in talent and home field. MSU's coaches are excellent, but I found myself frustrated at some of the things they were doing. Like when they ended the first half with a long pass that was intercepted.  At that point, they should have concentrated on getting the 3 points to tie the game. I was also bothered by their inability to recognize that this was a Tressel-ball game. They needed to understand that points were going to be hard to come by and yet they took some risks that cost them. The double-reverse, for example, was a bad call. It cost them 10 yards at a time when they were pounding the ball into field goal range. Boise's coaches seemed to understand the situation better.

- You could also see Boise's coaching superiority in the training of their players. Boise's players are fundamentally sound: they don't make many mistakes, they don't commit many penalties, they tackle very well.  MSU looked pretty sloppy for most of the game.

Upshot

- This was actually a more impressive victory for MSU than most people probably realize. Boise is a great team that is nearly unbeatable in big games in which they have time to prepare for the opponent (i.e., openers and bowl games). They will also go on to do very well this year. Many of MSU's problems today can be attributed to Boise's quality, and that's why I think we'll see the Spartans improve their performance dramatically next week. The one area that probably won't improve that fast is the receivers. They played poorly today, and not just because Boise made them look bad.

- Like I said in the beginning, I would not want to face Boise next year. They will be really good.