Week 5: The Badgers

This past Saturday the Spartans took on Wisconsin at Camp-Randall Stadium in Madison. The badgers came into the game ranked #9 in the country, the Spartans were on the rankings radar at #23 and both teams were undefeated.

I'll cut to the chase. The Spartans lost 37-34 after a valiant comeback effort failed on 4th down and 2 around the Wisconsin 40 with just over a minute left. Now I'll work to piece together the key plays leading up to the close loss.

The Spartans continued to run the ball fairly well and continued to have trouble at QB. Hoyer again had a deceiving stat line at the end of the game (22-36 for 323 yards) with most of his yardage and completions coming on screens and slants. In the second half, with the bulk of the roster being J.L.Smith recruits, Dantonio went to a pseudo spread offense. It worked. After finding themselves down 34-24 in the 4th quarter, the defense tightened down and the offense dinked and dunked it's way down the field, capping drives with big plays from short yardage passes. Suddenly the score was 34-34.

After scoring to tie the game at 34, the Spartan defense backed the Badgers up to a 3rd down and 14 from Wisconsin's own 27. Things were looking good as Wisconsin's QB dropped back, scrambled away from pressure, and threw an incomplete pass. 4th down and long with Wisconsin pinned deep was just starting to sound good when a little yellow flag came out. Roughing the passer, late hit on the QB. 15 yard penalty, automatic first down. A few plays later the Spartans picked up a 15 yard face mask penalty. The Spartans were responsible for almost as many yards of offense as Wisconsin during the drive. The defense held strong on a goal line series limiting the Badgers to a field goal and giving the offense another chance.

The offense drove down the field seemingly at will. On 3rd down and 7, rather than passing the ball, the play call was a draw to Javon Ringer. He was stopped after a 1 yard gain and on 4th down MSU tried a 53 yard field goal. It really wasn't even close; while the distance was enough the kick was pulled left by about 15 yards.

Wisconsin took over and began to milk to clock. The defense stood strong and forced one last Wisconsin punt. The offense had no timeouts left and began on its own 15 yard line.

Short passes, screens, and draws were again used on the final drive. Hoyer was not asked to make difficult throws or tough decisions. Get the ball to your playmakers and let them make plays. Unfortunately the offense went to the well one too many times. On 4th down and 2 the coordinator again dialed up a screen pass. The defense read the play perfectly, and with the receivers busy blocking downfield and the running back smothered, Hoyer had no place to go. Ringer, instead of staying put in the backfield, cut upfield to try to get open. A pass was lofted just out of reach and the game was over.

My take? 2 things: the defense was solid in the second half after a rough first half. I enjoy the Thornhill Family stories, the plays Charlie and Josh made as Spartans, the leadership current Spartan Kaleb provides. That said, Kaleb is the epitome of a legacy player. He is likeable, he's wearing his late father's number this year before it is retired, he has great intentions. He looks as though the jersey has already been retired. He can't tackle. Sure, he could tackle me, but he misses more tackles than he makes. He's a liability. Second, the offense is suspect so long as Brian Hoyer is QB. The bad news is I'm about 99% sure we don't want to see 2nd string take the field, so we're stuck with what we've got. I compare Hoyer to Trent Dilfer, of the NFL. Dilfer won a superbowl with the Ravens by "managing" the game while the defense shut teams out and/or outscored the offense. Hoyer seems to have all the skills, he is just not wowing.

This week the running backs should parade up and down the field. Northwestern is in town. They make good doctors, not so good at the football thing though. The talk all week has been about "Same old Spartans;" strong starts (4-0) with laughable finishes (losing 5 of 6). I'm sure this team is tired of hearing about it and will come out strong. NU also has reason to be motivated. MSU is the team that pulled off the NCAA's biggest comeback of all time last year, on the road, at Northwestern. I'm pretty sure being on ESPN Classic for a month following that game has gotten to the fine future M.D.'s of Northwestern. The BigTen Network will televise the game this week so we, of course, will be at a local establishment.