Michigan St needs late pick to finish off Utah St.... AT HOME!

Submitted by SkyPanther on

Play that finally put it away in a very close game, AT EAST LANSING:

 

 

https://twitter.com/Thele10/status/1035716171528634368/photo/1

RobM_24

August 31st, 2018 at 11:07 PM ^

Maybe I'm crazy, but I thought Utah State looked like a decent team. Their offense was pretty good and their tempo messed with MSU. They we're clearly outmatched on the defensive side of the ball, but they made some really nice tackles in the open field. They smacked Scott hard a few times.

rice4114

August 31st, 2018 at 11:10 PM ^

They are in the top half of their conference and will average 30+ a game. The fact that option pitch was a killer shows you the defensive talent they have. They should told the guy to contain but dont tackle the QB. Let him get his 3-4 inside. You cant sell out on the QB like that if you are the only one out there. 

Double-D

August 31st, 2018 at 11:15 PM ^

I have seen these now for several years.   MSU sucks dog to start the season but continues to grow.   Utah State had several opportunities to put this away. 

MSU  is not a great team.  In fact they are very flawed but will be very tough to beat.  

Ty Butterfield

August 31st, 2018 at 11:26 PM ^

Dantini is incredibly lucky and I feel like this happens every season. They play like dogshit in one or two early games but seem to get it figured out somehow. I see Staee winning 10 or 11 games this season and Michigan will struggle to get to 8-4. That is why I hate all those damn fancy stats. A win is a win. Far too often Michigan finds a way to lose. 

jsquigg

August 31st, 2018 at 11:39 PM ^

Meh.  One thing this did show (again) is that Big 10 officiating is complete dog shit and the reliability of replay is also dog shit.  It really is depressing the utter lack of responsibility, ethics and accountability of the Big 10 and NCAA.  I can't wait to get screwed in a close game again...

Blueblood80

August 31st, 2018 at 11:40 PM ^

Unfortunately, this is no indication on the future. It would have been fun to watch them fuck it up against USU but it didn’t happen. Time to take care of business tomorrow and stop hanging hope on those dirt bags to blow it.  Reality is, there is going to be a strong B1G East and it’s go time.  Get it done tomorrow and move to the next.  Long season ahead. LETS FUCKIN GO!!

Ok, Time to try and sleep now. 

DownriverAlum

August 31st, 2018 at 11:42 PM ^

Defense was clearly not able to keep up with the tempo.  I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped to the cats again this year before our game.  I was also a bit surprised they weren't able to establish a run game against the 3rd best team in Utah.  Sparty was down one offensive tackle, but Utah St was terrible against the run last year.

denardogasm

August 31st, 2018 at 11:43 PM ^

The Wisconsin game may actually be more significant in terms of the team not being as good as expected.  MSU always does this.  The last few years Wisconsin has won these games be 50.  Doesn't look like the number 4 team in the country, not that the AP poll means anything.

dundun44

August 31st, 2018 at 11:47 PM ^

MSU plays this way the 1st game every year I feel like.   If you think this game and the way they played is any indication of how they will play against Michigan, your wrong.  I still think Meechigan will beat stinky state though 

Mike Damone

September 1st, 2018 at 12:10 AM ^

Bullshit on most of these comments above.  It is one thing to have a close early game against a huge underdog because offense is not clicking.  It is another to let up 31 points to Utah State.

The Spartans suck ass!  They will be 7-5 this year, and we will crush them!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Marvin

September 1st, 2018 at 12:12 AM ^

Something about this thread seems wrong. Why bring it up with such fanfare? My preference would be to leave comments in the night games thread and say no more about it. It seems lame to act all celebratory about a Sparty win over a lesser opponent. 

Mgoczar

September 1st, 2018 at 12:13 AM ^

To coaches on here:

 

How come MSU look like this every year and still beat us? If they improve then why the hell cant we through the season? How the hell they find these QBs that pretty much are the only thing winning them these games ? Whje the hell are we going to crush them (like OSU did last year)? Why the hell do refs not call holding penalties on their O line when facing our D line ?

 

I'm sick of MSU. Let's beat those imbeciles and abuse enablers 

Tyler1495

September 1st, 2018 at 12:30 AM ^

MSU's linebackers look really slow in open space. Michigan needs to spread it out instead of trying to run it up the gut. 

umchicago

September 1st, 2018 at 12:31 AM ^

My biggest takeaway is that lewerke was sacked 3 times and pressured several other times.  And Utah state was only sacked 2 times with 44 pass attempts.  Both facts push to big advantage for UM.

ryanlester89

September 1st, 2018 at 12:53 AM ^

I was at the game rocking a Utah State shirt. Student section chanted Fuck you Harbaugh atleast three times, including the beginning of the national anthem. The fans were pretty angry after the game, witnessed about 5 fans yelling losers and eat that L to the Utah State team. Pretty much what you would expect. 

4th phase

September 1st, 2018 at 1:26 AM ^

Their plan was clearly to just plow forward with LJ Scott and that didn't work at all. Had to get a little more fancy with Heyward and the option plays. I think it may be time to realize LJ Scott just isn't good. 

Seemed like Utah States best defense was to blitz all the time. 

MSUs receivers and particularly Felton Davis are really good. Lewerke is going to continue to be super annoying to play against.

The MSU defense did not look good. Utah State didn't exactly have great athletes at WR and TE and they were still able to move the ball through the air. QB had a lot of poise but he wasn't a great arm talent. 

Last year was obviously a disappointing season for us but did we perform that bad against a bad team? Air Force was close but at least we werent losing in the 4th quarter and still won by 16.

GarMoe

September 1st, 2018 at 1:28 AM ^

One begins to feel after a while that these near on-field defecations are intentional.   Spartany adores the woe-is-us, the underdog feel, the was-in-doubt-but-then-we-finished-em-off, so as to create that same stale “we wear work shirts” image in their own minds.   The “we win the old fashioned way....we eaaaaaaaaarn it.”   Cue smug seriously serious face yo.  Inversely, msu- specifically Dantoniao, abhors confidence.   In fact, most of E. Lansing breaks out in hives when they’re picked to win over a decent team.   Dantoniao’s “oh-shit” face just before the kickoff  vs Bama last time was classic and is now the permanent dictionary image of the program’s confidence moving forward.   2018 begins the stretch of domination by UM in the series to last a loooooong time.

uminks

September 1st, 2018 at 2:03 AM ^

I can understand Spary's offense looking a bit rusty and not wanting to show plays that they will save for later. But their D looks to be more like a middling B1G D. Michigan should be able to score some points on this team and Shea should burn them if they bring their secondary up to the line to stop the run, like they often do when they play us.

Willy Wonka

September 1st, 2018 at 7:12 AM ^

They were fortunate Justin Layne wasn’t ejected early on after throwing a punch. 

 

Dantonio’s deal with the devil seemingly doesn’t have an expiration date. 

Perkis-Size Me

September 1st, 2018 at 7:25 AM ^

They do this every year. In their first game they always look awful and barely squeak by some lowly G5 team. The year they won the Rose Bowl, they barely beat Western in their first game. Then they get to the tougher teams on their schedule, bring those teams down to their level, and win in ugly slopfests.

What I’m saying is this doesn’t really have any bearing on how they’ll be for the rest of the season. When Utah State scored that go ahead I had no doubt in my mind that MSU would come back and win it.

Athena666

September 1st, 2018 at 7:34 AM ^

A Sparty here.

This was an abysmal performance by the MSU defence and offensive line. Dare I say Dantonio was out-coached? Or perhaps he had the team ill-prepared? Nevertheless, I wish I shared some of the cynical optimism some of the posters on this forum have about the Spartans' long-term outlook. This very well could be a 7-5 team by year's end.

You can take solace in knowing there are many ego-deflated Sparty fans out there right now. I am one of them.     

Go for two

September 1st, 2018 at 7:35 AM ^

MSU looked more like the 3-9 crew than last years team last night. Lewerke takes a lot of hits and was sacked several times. Their tackles are turnstile gates, the secondary is weak and Scott is highly overrated. Scott was holding on the long pass play on the winning TD drive right in front of the ref. MSU will lose 4-5 this year

SpartyJon

September 1st, 2018 at 8:16 AM ^

Yes, that was holding but the refs were a total mess.  I could see your point if they didn't overrule an obvious catch by FD3, call an incomplete pass that hit the receiver a fumble, miss an obvious late hit call on USU, and generally make asses of themselves.  

The refs did mess up both ways, but I don't think you can say the refs helped MSU more than they helped USU.  

bacon

September 1st, 2018 at 7:52 AM ^

Good. They won, but now they are a little more rattled. Nothing matters this year outside Michigan winning their games. No one is going to give us any breaks if we don’t. 

Eye of the Tiger

September 1st, 2018 at 10:43 AM ^

They often start the season a bit iffy and then pick it up in conference play. Something about how Dantonio coaches makes them relatively more vulnerable early than late. Was the same with Carr for most of his tenure. 

That said, almost losing to a team that’s far overmatched on paper should be a bit worrisome to Sparty fans. I’ve long felt that their 2016 team underachieved and their 2017 team overachieved, and that the 2018 team would regress to the mean. Decent, and a tough opponent for us, but won’t be as highly ranked by the end of the year as they are now. 

mdog11

September 1st, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^

This is what happens every year. I did not watch the game, and wont, but i'm guessing this game looks exactly like game #1 of 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014....... They get up for Michigan, they don't get up for anyone else