MSU vs WMU last night

Submitted by UMProud on

So Sparty beat the Broncos (as expected) by 13 points last night...but they definitely did not dominate our MAC neighbor.  Connor Cook was very inefficient and they just looked sorta bad coming out of the gate.

I'm sort of scratching my head wondering if this is a one off or something else.  We'll know next week when Sparty hosts Oregon in East Landfill I suppose?


UM Fan in Nashville

September 5th, 2015 at 9:37 AM ^

How soon before PJ Fleck is at a Power 5 Conference team?  Personally, I'd love to see him take over Vanderbilt, but you can make an argument that WMU is a better job right now.   

I'm stil having a hard time figuring out if WMU really is that much improved or if MSU is overhyped.   Cook looked mediocre.  Their defense was not very dominant.  They did not look very confident, just frustrated all night.   

First game caveats apply, I guess.  

rob f

September 5th, 2015 at 9:20 PM ^

 for MGoUsers regarding WMU's schedule:

The Broncos have only 5 more home games this season, but 3 of them are on days that Michigan doesn't play (making it MUCH easier to justify a trip to Kalamazoo and Waldo Stadium:

Saturday, Oct. 24th 2pm vs Miami [NTM]  (Michigan has a bye that day)

Thursday, Nov. 5th, 7:30 pm vs. Ball State

Wednesday, Nov. 11th, 8pm vs. Bowling Green

Being only a 40-minute drive for me, I plan on taking in at least a couple of those games.  Why not?

Jayvandy23

September 5th, 2015 at 9:38 AM ^

This was probably the biggest game in Western's history.  They have a great coach, with an infectious personality (the anti-Dantonio).  State played on the road, and will improve when they are at home.  I expect the same from Michigan.  

HarbaughorBust

September 5th, 2015 at 9:40 AM ^

Msu has national championship hopes and has Oregon coming into town next week.

Msu probably spent All of 2 days game planning for western. The rest of spring and fall, game planning for Oregon. They played like it.

I also can't wrap my head around how Western Michigan can have a better qb than us. How does that happen? That kid can spin it effortlessly.

alum96

September 5th, 2015 at 9:47 AM ^

WMU had a great rb too but MSU played their normal ridiculous rush D -18 carries for 23 yards. 

MSU's front 7 was fine, it was their back 4 - which started 2 brand new corners.  They got 7 sacks and harassed WMU's QB all day.  Dude played well for the type of pressure he got.

WMU's QB is probably the 4th best MSU will face all year.  The way you beat MSU D is thru the air - so really only 3 other teams will bring better QBs IMO (OSU, Oregon, and PSU).   They dont have much to worry about with the bulk of the Big 10 schedule in terms of QBs exploiting that defense's weak spots.  

Cook was mediocre but he usually rises up in big moments.  MSU dominated the trenches as expected - WMU has nice skill players at Wr, QB, and rb.  Oregon has better skill players and won't be dominated in the trenches so MSU definiately will need to improve to pull that out.

Willhouse

September 5th, 2015 at 9:40 AM ^

WMU has some legit talent on the team. Two of the past three MAC Frosh of the Year, I think. Plus that kick returner was electric.

That being said, MSU did look a little flat on D. They gave up 345 in the air (I know WMU was playing from behind and passing more) and WMU had several missed opportunities to put points on the board and keep drives alive.

mGrowOld

September 5th, 2015 at 9:41 AM ^

Why do we insist on doing this EVERY year?  Every year Sparty wins ugly early in the season and somebody starts a thread talking about how they really didnt look that good and boy-howdy they might not be any good this year!

Can we just stop it - please?

Number one - they won.  On the road, in a home opener.  They are 1-0.  

Number two - we did not.  One the road, in a home opener.  We are 0-1

Yes I know Utah is a far tougher team than Western but at this point WHO GIVES A SHIT?  The less said about thoes guys the better and especially after they win.

And "East Landfill"?  Common dude......

Leonhall

September 5th, 2015 at 9:44 AM ^

I think posts like this are happening because we just want to believe that we will finally beat them. I know, it's almost like posting stuff like this will give some an affirmation that we can beat them. I mean  I wonder each season if this is finally going to be the year where we beat them, I want to believe it, until we do though, I couldn't care less about how State looked against any other team. They have embarassed us many times recently, I want to be told that it is going to be okay, but nobody knows...so posts like this cannot and will not affirm anything until we take the field against them on October 17.

alum96

September 5th, 2015 at 9:50 AM ^

Agreed.   Sad thing is WMU right now is better at all the skill positions than UM. Corey Davis is better than all but 5-6 Big 10 Wrs,  most teams in the country have a better rb until Johnson gets back, and their QB as I wrote above would be 4th best in the Big 10 IMO.

We dont match up well with MSU right now - we wont be able to run on them; almost no one does.  So you will see rudock tossing the ball up 45x that game.  And MSU has a QB who can exploit the edges with passing vs our slowish LBs.  Our main strength (DL) will have a difficult time with their offense's main strength (OL).

Leonhall

September 5th, 2015 at 9:57 AM ^

i'm just hoping that by October 17 our o-line has improved, Drake Johnson is healthy..and can take some hits...or Ty Isaac is the man by then. One thing I am confident about this time around is it seems as if our staff will try to exploit State's weaknesses better. MSU will need to turn it over at least 3-4 times for us to win...that means we will need to pressure Cook big time.

jsquigg

September 5th, 2015 at 10:52 AM ^

a Michigan win at this point, but if the team improves you'd be crazy to think Harbaugh won't come up with ways to exploit the MSU secondary.  I was pleasantly surprised by Chesson and Darboh, and our Butt is a beast.  I disagree that WMU is more talented than Michigan, but they are very good for the MAC.  Also, Western's rushing numbers were distorted greatly by sacks.  I'm not saying they were doing well in the run game, but they broke off a few nice runs.  As everyone else has been saying, trying to predict Sparty's season from this game is pointless.

Leonhall

September 5th, 2015 at 9:53 AM ^

had 7 sacks. They are weakest in the DB position but they pressure the QB so much that it is hard to take advantage of their weakness. I think quick passes, slants, bubbles, attacking the edge is the way to go. They are tough up front again.

Bronco Joe

September 5th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^

Utah had a very good front 7, and didn't they some amazzing number of sacks last year? I know they lost a first round pick, but they still have a pretty good DL. With Rudock's quick release and a few games to mature, we can hope we don't give up 7 sacks to MSU. If that is the case and the secondary at MSU potentially has holes, we have a shot. By that time Rudock has to be clicking with someone.

Dawkins

September 5th, 2015 at 12:32 PM ^

Theyve always been weak (maybe vulnerable is the right word) in the secondary since they stack the box. The ONLY (literally) teams that beat them are the ones that realize this and exploit it.

HAIL-YEA

September 5th, 2015 at 8:51 PM ^

have had some great college corners and safety's the last few years, they are all gone. Stacking the box is ok when you have Dennard and Waynes as corners and Drummond playing safety. Now their safety's are hot garbage and their corners are about average, this is not the same MSU defense. 

unWavering

September 5th, 2015 at 10:25 AM ^

While I agree with you, you can't tell me that if Michigan were ranked in the top 5 and put up that performance vs a MAC team (even if they are a good MAC team) you would be happy. MSU clearly has some issues to sort out. They will probably be fine, but they did not look like a top 5 team last night. The Oregon game looms around the corner, and I think they get stomped, based on what I saw.

mrkid

September 5th, 2015 at 9:53 AM ^

I agree. I tried to do what some of these knuckleheads are doing and convince myself that MSU looked bad but in reality they didn't. Connor Cook was less efficient than I thought he would be but the run game was solid and Cook hit some good throws.

The biggest weakness was the defense losing focus late in the 3rd/4th when they had a big lead. Its the same thing they did against Nebraska last year. I can't see that happening in a big game.

Their defense only gave up two TDs since one TD was an awesome kick return. When we take the maize tinted glasses, MSU was in control the whole way.

At the end of the day, MSU won and their CFB Playoff hopes are still alive.

PS - I hate MSU more than any other team right now because of the aholes at my office, so no, I'm not a closet MSU fan. I HATE THEM.




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Mortimer

September 5th, 2015 at 10:07 AM ^

Nothing you say is wrong, but watching the game it did seem like this may be the worst version of MSU's defense in some time. You can put it on a loss of focus, or maybe WMU is pretty good, but their defense looks like a far cry from the 2013 unit. After one game, I don't think it's as good as the 2014 unit.

I do find the criticism of their offense funny, though. That unit rolled.

Dawkins

September 5th, 2015 at 9:49 AM ^

Cook had a 49% completion rate, which isnt surprising considering he's never thrown for more that 57% in a season. He also threw for much less than 49% when MSU played WMU 2 years ago. I've never seen such an over-rated QB. He's not even as good as Cousins, much less the 1st round draft pick that people are making him out to be. Take away MSU's dominant defense and his career win percentage falls to around .500

UMProud

September 5th, 2015 at 10:12 AM ^

There's always a group (usually the same ones) who will neg any thread that is not a glowing rara feel good Michigan-only topic.  That's unfortunate because all B1G games/teams are on topic.  This makes for many navel gazing discussions on MGo due to people not wanting to be negged for discussing anything not Michigan.

mGrowOld

September 5th, 2015 at 11:06 AM ^

There's a group (and based on the current voting on your thread I'd say it was the majority) who dislike threads about MSU in general and certainly dislike threads about how, even though they won, they're really not looking good this so maybe THIS will be the year we turn things back around.  I know I'm tired as shit of them as they first appeared here in about 2009 following a close MSU WIN and have run unabated right up until they play us and then they stop cold.

I want to beat MSU as much as anybody here and I, unlike many of you, actually remember DECADES where Sparty was lucky to win three games - much less dominate the series but jesus can we just stop with the postings about their games already?

You got a new "Sparty No" story - post away and I'll upvote the Hell out of it.  Sparty loses and same story - LOVE to read all about it.  But after they win? 

Save it for RCMB.