MSU post game thoughts

[RealNinja]

First of all, wow what a win. That was the most exciting game I've watched Rutgers play in a long time. Greg Schiano immediately has made his mark and put his team in a position it has never been in the Big Ten, being a competitive team. Now let's get to some thoughts:

3 Positives Offensively:

1. Vedral is a good QB. He reads the field very well, makes good decisions with the ball, extends plays and can run with the ball. He is the best QB we have had in a while.
2. The offensive line did a good job, especially vs the pass. They put in a lot of different guys and had a good degree of success with all of them. Krimin ended up playing more center by the end of the game, with Hanson taking snaps there too. The only constant (I believe) were the two tackles in Sutton and O'Neal, and they had good games.
3. Red zone offense was able to get some good route combinations and Langan's size and athleticism makes a big difference there, when running.
4. Honorable Mention: Shameen Jones looked good. He was more burst than I am used to seeing from him and ran some good routes. Also was tough to bring down after the catch.

3 Negatives Offensively:

1. Vedral needs to improve on his touch on the long balls. He won't have the arm strength, so he needs to make up for it with more accuracy.
2. Too many drops. Receivers need to make the big catches.
3. Haskins had an inconsistent game. Missed some blocks and allowed some pressure, and I thought he should have caught that back of the endzone touchdown. He needs to step up as more of a weapon on this team in the redzone and as a hot route, dump off option.

3 Positives Defensively:

1. They are stunting and blitzing a lot more which is causing a lot of pressure. Tverdov was the best on the edge, while Lumor doesn't look as good as he was last year. Could be some rust there with Lumor and Onyechi did a good job of picking up the slack there.
2. When I saw Turner at 265 lbs, I immediately thought backup, but with his explosion off the line and ability to hold ground, he can still play NT with the cock nose technique. Two players will have to occupy him and he gets in at you in a hurry. Turner's got a great burst off the line and the staff is maximizing his talent. Another player that flashed was Mohammed Toure. He was able to play through the runningback and showed good ball recognition around the edge.
3. Max Melton looked good. He played a considerable amount and was in good position for most of the game. He looks physically mature and gives the team a third good corner.

3 Negatives Defensively:

1. Safety tackling is still a problem. The team blitzes a lot and the one on one tackles need to be made or there will be a lot of long touchdowns on WR screens.
2. Team needs to get the defense playcalling faster opposition is in hurry up. We were out of position a lot when they went hurry up.
3. No real big third negative. I guess you can say that we don't have any dominant one on one passrushers, but that's not a critique of this game.

3 Thoughts on Michigan State:

1. Mel Tucker is overrated. What has he done? His defenses in the NFL (in a large part) were some of the worst yards allowed defenses, he took a 5-7 team and made them... 5-7, and he didn't get this team ready to play.
2. Schematically MSU was outmatched. MSU under Mark Dantonio was always in position to make plays and take advantage. This staff is a clear downgrade from them.
3. Rocky Lombardi had a good statistic game and was plagued with drops, but is too inconsistent. He missed some big throws, threw it for interceptions or threw it in bad position for his receivers to make a catch. He is a good QB, but I expected a cleaner game out of him.

3 Thoughts on Rutgers:

1. Being a laughingstock is over. Even if we don't win too many more this year, this team will be competitive in the games it has a chance in.
2. The offensive and defensive schemes are much improved, especially on defense. It was evident that they had a defensive package for everything that MSU had. The only time they were caught in a bad position was when they didn't get a chance to substitute. We are still not there when it comes to players, having few complete players, but the staff has been able to learn and maximize their abilities in a short time.
3. The defensive line gave them fits all day and it wasn't just one or two guys, lots of players were shuffled in. Not being a starter on this d-line isn't important when guys get that much playing time. Explains why they are recruiting the dline so hard and taking so many players there.

This team will have it's ups and downs, and the lack of depth will probably catch up, but there is no doubt that we have the right coaching staff leading the ship. With better recruits coming in the next few years, I see no reason why this team cannot be a perennial bowl team, with the occasional great year. Looking forward to the future!