jmblue

October 2nd, 2011 at 12:25 PM ^

True, but Sparty also has a game against FCS competition in there (which some stats databases don't count), while we've only played FBS competition.  In four games against FBS opponents, MSU has given up 45 points (11.25 ppg).  In 4.7 games against FBS teams, we've given up 51 points - 10.85 ppg.  QED!

FreddieMercuryHayes

October 2nd, 2011 at 10:07 AM ^

I'm not gonna lie.  The future is looking bright.  If the staff can take essentially the same D that got carved up by crappy indiana, BG (at least at first), and UMass last year and turn them into a top 10 in the nation in scoring D five weeks into the season...geez.  I would not have predicted this at all coming into the year.  I don't expect this to last the whole season, but it's a damn fantastic start.  Anybody got the yardage stats?

Indiana Blue

October 2nd, 2011 at 10:43 AM ^

seems very comfortable in the secondary as a true freshman.  The reason the secondary is so much better is that they are actually learning how to be aggressive in coverage.  That is plain and simple the result of good coaching ... something our defensive players did not have previously.

The credit for this success is our coaches, not age.

Go Blue!

m1jjb00

October 2nd, 2011 at 10:52 AM ^

The thing about the secondary is that the coaches had a plan about technique and taught it. There has not been unanimity over that strategy here. But they are consistently doing something. Obviously the same crew was open to receiving coaching last year but I don't think we saw anything comparable.

I'd also add that through five games we have yet see a bust in the secondary go for a long touchdown

jmblue

October 2nd, 2011 at 12:35 PM ^

We didn't have an all-freshman secondary last year.  Rogers was a senior, and Floyd and Kovacs were both redshirt sophomores.  I would say a greater problem was that several players were playing out of position.  Putting Cam Gordon at free safety, while Thomas Gordon and Carvin Johnson played at the LB/S hybrid spot, was crazy.  To say nothing of Roh playing as a LB in the 3-3-5 scheme for long stretches, or a thoroughly ineffective Ezeh manning the most important playmaking spot in the D.  (And then there was the whole idea of running a 3-3-5 that no one on the staff seemed to fully understand.)

 

Wolverman

October 2nd, 2011 at 1:15 PM ^

  if it was experience the defense would have improved from our first to our last game last year. They say there is no such thing as bad experience , I'd like to point out 3 years of defensive decline.

  We still steadily play freshmen ( 2-3) in our secondary

 

  Not trying to argue, just giving credit where credit is due. The coaching staff is doing an excellent job.

Tater

October 2nd, 2011 at 10:24 AM ^

The upside of having to start too many young players one year is that by the next year, they are older, stronger, and have a year of experience they normally wouldn't have had.  The turnovers are the big difference so far.  Whether they translate to real B1G teams will be determined shortly.  

After seeing continued improvement on defense and the amount of misdirection in the offense starting to look more like Borges' work at SDSU, I have a feeling we are going to see a close road trip against NW and a little "special sauce" on both sides of the ball for Sparty.  

jmblue

October 2nd, 2011 at 3:54 PM ^

It's time to let go of the notion that Woolfolk is a stud corner.  If anything, he's been our least effective corner so far this season.  SDSU went after him every passing down until he left.

As for Floyd, he played in eight games last year.  He was there when UMass dropped 37 on us, IU scored 35 and PSU scored 41.  It's not like our secondary was competent until his injury. 

BigBlue02

October 2nd, 2011 at 5:17 PM ^

I was more pointing to those two being better than 2 true freshmen (or sophomores for that matter).  They help our secondary depth, which was why I mentioned them.  They are the reason we aren't forced to start Countess and Avery.

DGDestroys

October 2nd, 2011 at 10:10 AM ^

I'm more intersted in total D. #32? I'll take that. 

 

Of course, MSU is #1 in total D. Which is a bit humbling.

 

Woo! #1 Red Zone Defense in the land! 

unWavering

October 2nd, 2011 at 10:15 AM ^

MSU clearly has a good D, but they are definitely not number 1 in the nation. They've faced an FCS school, and the 84, 98, and 120(!) ranked offenses in the nation, and ND.  They played fairly well against ND, but not spectacularly.  Let's just see how the rest of the season plays out, I'm guessing they'll move down to 30 or so.

da3mite

October 2nd, 2011 at 10:36 AM ^

However, just realize that those other teams may have such terrible offenses statistically BECAUSE they were basically shut down for one game against MSU.
<br>
<br>Not saying that MSU is indeed #1 worthy in defense but just something to consider when looking at the numbers for argumentative purposes.

FreddieMercuryHayes

October 2nd, 2011 at 10:44 AM ^

True, but we have a sample size of 5 games now.  So MSU should comprise only 20% of their stats.  You don't get ranked 119 in the country because one team held you to like 50 total yards.  You do that because you absolutely suck.

Gatekeeper

October 2nd, 2011 at 11:05 AM ^

Scoring defense is points

I know, that's obvious

Yards didn't count last year for the offense. I'd rather have a good scoring D.

 

ND scored at will against MSU. The only reason they didn't score more is that they didn't need to. The rest of the teams they have played are horrible at offense. OH* has looked like total crap offensively against both Miami, Fla and Toledo, as well as, MSU. The offensive statistics of their opponents are NOT just a result of them playing MSU. Western shut down Central. I could go on, but there isn't really a point. We'll find out first hand how MSU's d is in 2 weeks.

Don

October 2nd, 2011 at 10:23 AM ^

Last year through five games, we gave up 127 points for a 25.4 ppg average.

This year through five games, we've given up 51 points for a 10.25 average.

Statistically, there's no meaningful difference in PPG between us and MSU.

Zone Left

October 2nd, 2011 at 10:33 AM ^

That's actually 10.2 PPG, which is identical to MSU's average.

Next week will be a huge, huge test if Persa plays. He just carved Illinois up yesterday and won't turn it over like Notre Dame/Tommy Rees did. Fortunately, Northwestern won't play defense as well as Notre Dame either. I'm bracing for a shootout.

m1jjb00

October 2nd, 2011 at 11:06 AM ^

Don't think I would say carved up for a game of 10-14 for 123 yards. The 4 TDs are a little weird given the rest of the line. He was also -3 on 9 "carries". Fwiw Colter went 2-2 for 40 yards. The bigger story is the offensive efficiency, 5 TDs on 32 yards.

My worries for next week are in order:
1. Road game
2. Spread passing team
3. Persa (3rd, not 1st)

GRFS11

October 2nd, 2011 at 10:53 AM ^

The game in two weeks is a toss-up...if we come out and execute, we should win, based on talent (and MSU's porous O-line).  If not, we could have a lot of turnovers and be in for a long day.

 

First, let's get through NW.  You know they are coached well, and we haven't seen a road game yet.  Luckily, the Big Ten schedule sets up so well for us, with the last three games of the year seemingly the hardest, after we've had almost a whole season to get into Hoke/Borges/Mattison efficiency.

LSAClassOf2000

October 2nd, 2011 at 11:06 AM ^

Five games into a new  scheme is not a lot of data, of course, but it shows that we are certainly on  the right track to having a consistently serviceable defense in years to come, that the adjustments that Mattison so deftly makes work more often than not, and we can play in such a way that we mitigate known weakness. I'll take that. For how long the new staff has been  here, that's fantastic progress. 

neoavatara

October 2nd, 2011 at 11:15 AM ^

We are improving.  That is good enough for  me.  We look like a REAL defense.  Are we elite?  No, I think not.  Are we competent?  Hell yes.  More than we could say the past few years. 

BlueGoM

October 2nd, 2011 at 11:24 AM ^

 The D is clearly playing much better than last year, and all you can ask at this point is that the defense be an average B10 defense, considering how awful they were last year (108th of 120 in scoring D).

2 of the last 3 opponents were turrible.  EMU and Minnesota are probably the two worst teams on our schedule.  I don't think the previous staff would have shut them down like the current one has, however.

With the exceptions of Purdue and possibly Northwestern, there's no guaranteed wins over the remaining schedule, IMO.   We're getting into the meat of the B10 conference and it's going to be tough going from now on.