EAST LANSING, Mich. – This is what you feared, Spartans fans.
Michigan State’s offense – as witnessed in Friday night’s 26-13 win over Western Michigan -- could very well be worse than it was last year.
First, Le’Veon Bell, who rushed for 1,793 yards and 92 percent of the ground game, passed on his senior season and moved on to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Second, the rest of the offense remains mediocre at best.
The score of this game was actually MSU defense 14, WMU 13 and MSU offense 12. The Spartans, who did not score a defensive touchdown last year, got two with free safety Kurtis Drummond and defensive end Shilique Calhoun running for scores off turnovers.
Without the defensive scoring output, this game would’ve gone down to the final possession of the fourth quarter.
Punter Mike Sadler went to work 11 times and could end up as the offensive MVP. The one-hour delay caused by lightning can’t be blamed because the offense couldn’t move before or after that happened early in the second quarter.
And so, after finishing 10th in Big Ten scoring offense in 2012, the Spartans will need to show vast improvement in the next two games against South Florida and Youngstown State to have any chance against Notre Dame.
“It was very disappointing for us,” said Spartans co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner, after his first game calling the plays. “We put a big emphasis on not making mistakes.”
And they made plenty with dropped passes, bad reads and penalties.
Keep in mind that MSU – favored to win by four touchdowns –was playing a team that went 4-8 last year. The Broncos went most of the game with redshirt freshman quarterback Zach Terrell, who fired a touchdown pass on his first play after replacing injured starter Tyler Van Tubbergen and added another TD pass late.
Terrell passed for 120 yards against a vaunted defense, while Spartans quarterbacks Andrew Maxwell and Connor Cook combined for 116 yards with nary a scoring pass. Spartans coach Mark Dantonio said there was nothing scripted about their use, adding that he simply went to the next guy when one didn’t move the team.
So, he kept rotating them, with starter Maxwell getting more playing time.
The defense not only outscored the offense, but put the offense 12 yards away from the end zone with outside linebacker Jairus Jones’ second pickoff. But the Spartans got only one yard closer as the passing game malfunctioned. They had to settle for a field goal.
Maxwell and Cook look about the same as last year in terms of strengths and flaws. The receivers dropped passes with regularity.
Maxwell completed 11 of 21 for 74 yards, but could only spark the offense to its lone touchdown in the two-minute drill at the end of first half. He also threw deep to Macgarrett Kings Jr., who cut the route short. And his long completion against a Mid-American Conference defense was for 26 yards.
“I feel like a broken record,” Maxwell said. “It’s all correctable mistakes.”
Cook completed six of 16 for 42 yards and ran for 35 yards, but was terribly erratic in the passing game. He got away with throwing across his body and directly into the hands of cornerback Ronald Zamort, who dropped it. Cook also missed a wide open tight end Andrew Gleichert for a blown third-down opportunity.
Warner said the passing game was the biggest disappointment.
“They were packing the box and there was a lot of man coverage,” said Warner, pointing to the reality that it was actually worse than it looked.
Nobody exceeded 34 yards receiving. And Bennie Fowler, Aaron Burbridge (who also had an inexplicable unsportsmanlike penality) and Keith Mumphrey dropped passes. Fowler dropped three and Mumphrey’s bobble could’ve been a touchdown pass for Cook.
Long snapper Taybor Pepper also took a point off the scoreboard with a very high snap on an extra-point attempt.
“The thing you worry about in the first game is unforced errors,” Dantonio said, “and we had them. You always worry when you don’t see things come to fruition.”
Doesn’t this game remind you a lot of last year’s 23-7 win over Eastern Michigan? The Spartans kept EMU in the game until the fourth quarter because the offense could not dominate another MAC team from the state.
Perhaps freshman Damion Terry, who has a strong arm and can run, will get a shot to spark this unit if Maxwell and Cook can’t. Terry will surely make mistakes if given the chance, but also could truly be something by the end of the season. Perhaps third-string quarterback Tyler O’Connor, who looked good in pre-season practices, gets a shot.
After the game, O’Connor (@TylerOConnor7) tweeted, “Patience.”
Terry (@DamionTerry) tweeted, “Welp.”
Who will be the QB?
“The plan is to go with the quarterback who is going to get us in the end zone,” said Warner. “And we failed at that today.”
There are question marks aplenty to answer for an offense that could be one of the worst in East Lansing in years.
