Friday, September 17, 2010

Spartans & the Irish

Let's just be honest. We don't know anything about MSU.

Let's continue with the honesty. We won't know much more after tomorrow night.

MSU has run about 30% of the playbook so far. The game plan has been run, run, and run. Pass on 3rd down. Take a shot down field every other possession. Punt. Kick. Run. The defense get little to no pressure from the front 4, can't seem to contain, and continues to drop interceptions (at least 3 against Western). However, again, that is all out of the base defense with vanilla looks and, with the exception of Rucker on a couple of corner blitzes, no extra pressure to speak of.

And after Notre Dame leaves town? We'll know a little bit more about Cousins, the receivers, and perhaps this 3-4 defense. I would expect to see some of the 3-4 against this spread. It should tell us a little more about how the defense will look against michigan and Northwestern. Other than that? Notre Dame is atypical and, honestly, not that impressive. Kelly will change that by next season and the weaker than normal schedule this year will be deceptive. But this team is a year away from making noise.

I don't even know what to say about Crist's "migraine." The migraine that was not a concussion. The migraine that cause blurred vision, memory loss, incoherence, and came after a hit to the head. Why would anyone think it was a concussion? I wonder, if ND was handling um rather than looking like William & Mary (minus William), my guess is Crist isn't even playing this week. But, magically, he was back in the second half. Maybe it really wasn't a concussion. I'm sure that's the sort of the thing you figure out at halftime.

I like ND's talent positions, with Floyd, Rudolph, and Allen. Crist, when coherent, was by far the best signal caller. Nate Montana was, well, less than impressive. Either um's defense is A LOT better than they should be (somehow doubt it) or ND's offense is underachieving. The defense probably did a good job of keeping Robinson to 2200 yards for the game. Pryor (OSU) took, and takes, all sorts of crap for being a running back that sometimes throws the ball. Robinson had more carries last game than any other Michigan running back has for the season. That is difficult to plan for and even more difficult to stop on the fly. What would I do? Treat him as a running back. Assume he will run on every play. The corners are going to give up plays anyways. Gamble some. Hit him. Hit him again. Hit him hard. Bring corners, safeties, linebackers, bring everyone. Hit him on the option. Hit him when he runs. Hit him when he throws. Then hit Gardner. Then, if he's moved up to the 3rd spot on the depth chart, hit Lil Man tate until his dad feels it.

The MSU defense could be physical, especially Worthy and Ghoulston. I like Worthy in this week's game to get at least 1 sack. I also like the defense to FINALLY make a play on a ball, jump a route, and return one for a score.

Make it:

MSU - 38
ND - 26

2 comments:

Unknown said...

christ, or crist, or whatever, was msu's migraine,eh? 369 yds, 4 td's!

Unknown said...

and now, the beautiful "what's the mater", i mean alma mater, "clock operator"- "msu, we love thy clock operator; although you skills may have declined. you seem to be asleep, until our team has got behind; u of m has got a beef,si? and old nd has got screwed too, god forbid, a team plays at sparty stadium, 'specially if their colors are gold and blue!" (sung to the tune "shadows")