IMO, as a fan, it's difficult to objectively judge a game or your team because you have so much invested in it emotionally. This is particularly true when you're dealing with a game against a hated rival (like MSU). With that in mind, some thoughts:
- I know we want to beat our rivals (particularly MSU and OSU). But if we want to judge how good our team actually is, we have to be careful about placing too much weight on the name on the opponent's jersey. The reality is, although unexpected, MSU is a very good team this year. They were able to do this by taking advantage of the portal and with a great deal of good fortune (such as getting a guy who has turned out to be the best running back in the country, a very good QB, and some key pieces on defense). It's not clear whether Tucker is a guy who could ever achieve long term success at MSU, but clearly has done a great job this year.
- So we must look at yesterday's game objectively. MSU is clearly a top 10 team this year (and perhaps top 5 team). Yesterday we went on the road against one of the best teams in the country, went toe to toe with them despite them playing a great game with great execution, and lost in a very close game. What yesterday validated is that we are a very good team.
- I know winning is paramount. But we have to understand that but for 1 or 2 plays (or perhaps one or 2 officiating calls), we win yesterday. Had 1 or 2 of those plays/calls gone our way and we won, today's conversation would be entirely different. We would not be questioning the program, our coaches, etc. This tells me that the doom and gloom of today's discussion is more emotional than objective. Frankly, had those couple calls/play gone our way and we win, our discussion would likely have been overly positive (again, more fueled by emotion than objectivity).
- If you had said before the season that 8 games into the season, we would be 7-1 with our lone loss being a close game on the road to a top 5 team where we outgained them by 150 yards and marred by calls going against us, I think almost everyone takes that.
What were some of the positives from yesterday?:
- McNamara really played well in the passing game. I'm not sure if he's just improving or whether the coaches are gaining confidence him and took the training wheels off, but he looked damn good. Was he perfect? No. But he sure made some great passes and decisions and but for Corum dropping the ball, throws for over 400 yards. He didn't get sacked and also gained some opportune yards with his feet. It looks like he's a guy who can move the ball through the air and I think answered some questions.
- Andrel Anthony emerged. We badly needed a go to receiver and maybe we found one. However, we have to manage our expectations because surely teams will game plan for him going forward.
- Given that our receivers have not been successful, we are seeing an increased focus on using our tight ends. And we have an emerging star at that position in All. Schoonmaker also is pretty good. Even though Corum dropped a pass, we are also seeing the ability and willingness to throw to both backs out the backfield. If you can use your tight ends and backs as weapons in the passing game, it takes some pressure off of having to use receivers. FWIW, I haven't given up on CJ. There is no reason to expect that he and other receivers won't continue to improve (although many fans are so quick to assume college football players don't continue to evolve and improve).
- Our pass pro was great, and our backs are good/willing pass blockers.
Negatives:
- We still struggle to score touchdowns once inside the red zone. I hope that we'll start figuring out ways to use our tight ends/All to help with this. I also think that, in a way, Moody being so automatic as a FG kicker may hurt us here. If you have a guaranteed 3 points when in the red zone, it gives you less incentive to make riskier throws because you don't want to turn the ball over and lose those 3 points. If we had a shitty kicker, we probably would be a little more aggressive.
- I know MSU focused on stopping our run game, but it was still disappointing that Corum and Haskins were kept so in check. To me the biggest problem with Cade is that he makes it easier for teams to stop our run because he's not a threat to keep the ball (it seemed that our backs had more room when McCarthy handed the ball off to them). Either way, our offensive line did not do a great job run blocking yesterday. We underperformed in this area.
- Our problems dealing with MSU's tempo (including penalties and not being set) were really inexcusable. This falls on McDonald and hopefully he'll learn from it. I'm guessing he will. Unfortunately, this was a major factor in costing us the game yesterday.
- In general, the D didn't play very well. We have some great players but too many young/developing on the field and there were a lot of mistakes and missed tackles. We were really exposed yesterday and McDonald kind of got taken to school. But, again, he's very young and I'm guessing he learns from this.
I'm as pissed as anyone that we lost yesterday. I live in Michigan and am surrounded by MSU fans that just love to rub it in every time they beat us. But the season is anything but over. In our wildest dreams, we never though we would be in the playoffs this year so we need to avoid a "bubble burst" reaction to one loss in an otherwise great season to date. We've got a ton to play for. As it stands now, every game remaining on our schedule is meaningful. Football games are unpredictable (especially college games played by young/developing players) and we still have a shot at winning the B10. Enjoy each game and there is still the chance that when we play OSU later in November, that game could be for everything.
- I know we want to beat our rivals (particularly MSU and OSU). But if we want to judge how good our team actually is, we have to be careful about placing too much weight on the name on the opponent's jersey. The reality is, although unexpected, MSU is a very good team this year. They were able to do this by taking advantage of the portal and with a great deal of good fortune (such as getting a guy who has turned out to be the best running back in the country, a very good QB, and some key pieces on defense). It's not clear whether Tucker is a guy who could ever achieve long term success at MSU, but clearly has done a great job this year.
- So we must look at yesterday's game objectively. MSU is clearly a top 10 team this year (and perhaps top 5 team). Yesterday we went on the road against one of the best teams in the country, went toe to toe with them despite them playing a great game with great execution, and lost in a very close game. What yesterday validated is that we are a very good team.
- I know winning is paramount. But we have to understand that but for 1 or 2 plays (or perhaps one or 2 officiating calls), we win yesterday. Had 1 or 2 of those plays/calls gone our way and we won, today's conversation would be entirely different. We would not be questioning the program, our coaches, etc. This tells me that the doom and gloom of today's discussion is more emotional than objective. Frankly, had those couple calls/play gone our way and we win, our discussion would likely have been overly positive (again, more fueled by emotion than objectivity).
- If you had said before the season that 8 games into the season, we would be 7-1 with our lone loss being a close game on the road to a top 5 team where we outgained them by 150 yards and marred by calls going against us, I think almost everyone takes that.
What were some of the positives from yesterday?:
- McNamara really played well in the passing game. I'm not sure if he's just improving or whether the coaches are gaining confidence him and took the training wheels off, but he looked damn good. Was he perfect? No. But he sure made some great passes and decisions and but for Corum dropping the ball, throws for over 400 yards. He didn't get sacked and also gained some opportune yards with his feet. It looks like he's a guy who can move the ball through the air and I think answered some questions.
- Andrel Anthony emerged. We badly needed a go to receiver and maybe we found one. However, we have to manage our expectations because surely teams will game plan for him going forward.
- Given that our receivers have not been successful, we are seeing an increased focus on using our tight ends. And we have an emerging star at that position in All. Schoonmaker also is pretty good. Even though Corum dropped a pass, we are also seeing the ability and willingness to throw to both backs out the backfield. If you can use your tight ends and backs as weapons in the passing game, it takes some pressure off of having to use receivers. FWIW, I haven't given up on CJ. There is no reason to expect that he and other receivers won't continue to improve (although many fans are so quick to assume college football players don't continue to evolve and improve).
- Our pass pro was great, and our backs are good/willing pass blockers.
Negatives:
- We still struggle to score touchdowns once inside the red zone. I hope that we'll start figuring out ways to use our tight ends/All to help with this. I also think that, in a way, Moody being so automatic as a FG kicker may hurt us here. If you have a guaranteed 3 points when in the red zone, it gives you less incentive to make riskier throws because you don't want to turn the ball over and lose those 3 points. If we had a shitty kicker, we probably would be a little more aggressive.
- I know MSU focused on stopping our run game, but it was still disappointing that Corum and Haskins were kept so in check. To me the biggest problem with Cade is that he makes it easier for teams to stop our run because he's not a threat to keep the ball (it seemed that our backs had more room when McCarthy handed the ball off to them). Either way, our offensive line did not do a great job run blocking yesterday. We underperformed in this area.
- Our problems dealing with MSU's tempo (including penalties and not being set) were really inexcusable. This falls on McDonald and hopefully he'll learn from it. I'm guessing he will. Unfortunately, this was a major factor in costing us the game yesterday.
- In general, the D didn't play very well. We have some great players but too many young/developing on the field and there were a lot of mistakes and missed tackles. We were really exposed yesterday and McDonald kind of got taken to school. But, again, he's very young and I'm guessing he learns from this.
I'm as pissed as anyone that we lost yesterday. I live in Michigan and am surrounded by MSU fans that just love to rub it in every time they beat us. But the season is anything but over. In our wildest dreams, we never though we would be in the playoffs this year so we need to avoid a "bubble burst" reaction to one loss in an otherwise great season to date. We've got a ton to play for. As it stands now, every game remaining on our schedule is meaningful. Football games are unpredictable (especially college games played by young/developing players) and we still have a shot at winning the B10. Enjoy each game and there is still the chance that when we play OSU later in November, that game could be for everything.
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