![]() ![]() Jarek Broussard averages 40.3 yards per game and 4.6 per carry. Jalen Berger is averaging 66.8 yards per game and 5.3 per carry. Walker’s fairly ordinary replacements are highlighting just how special he was. Walker led the Big Ten and ranked second in the country with 136.3 yards per game. And those strengths began with the nation’s best running back, Kenneth Walker III. Shoddy pass defense only hurt the Spartans against quarterbacks able to fully exploit it in 2021 - Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell and Ohio State’s CJ Stroud.įor the most part, Michigan State had enough strengths to gloss over its weakness. Michigan State’s pass defense could be treading back into those murky waters if it cannot create pressure. And at the moment, only 2 defenses in the country are giving up 10.1 or more yards per attempt for the season. The Huskies and Gophers averaged 10.1 yards per attempt against the Spartans. Windmon led the nation with 5.5 sacks, and Michigan State allowed just 5.6 yards per pass attempt.īut with Windmon and every other Spartan contained by Washington and Minnesota’s rock-solid offensive lines, Michigan State’s back end was back to its old ways. The first 2 games were a rousing success. And along with Jordan came one of his training pupils - Windmon, who transferred from UNLV. ![]() Tucker hired Brandon Jordan out of the private sector as a full-time pass rushing coach. This wasn’t about the defensive backs, but quarterbacks having too much time to find their receivers. No team since Pitt in 2016 surrendered more passing yards in a season.Ī defensive coordinator by nature, Tucker wasn’t going to take those results lying down. It was the nation’s worst pass defense in a half-decade. Michigan State wasn’t just the nation’s worst pass defense by a wide margin. The Spartans allowed more passing yardage than any team in the country in 2021 - 4,222 yards. Michigan State’s biggest weakness coming into the season was no mystery. Quarterbacks Michael Penix and Tanner Morgan used their plentiful time to eviscerate Michigan State’s already questionable pass defense. After racking up 12 sacks against overmatched Western Michigan and Akron, Michigan State didn’t get any against the Huskies or Gophers. Slade and Henderson have been out with injuries, and their absences were glaring against Washington and Minnesota. Having all 3 on the field makes the Spartans sound enough to unleash their most talented defensive player, outside linebacker Jacoby Windmon. The most important players on Michigan State’s defense are defensive tackle Jacob Slade, middle linebacker Cal Haladay and safety Xavier Henderson. And that’s where Michigan State is getting clobbered right now. But for the most part, it sums up how defense is played in the Big Ten. It’s perhaps less of a truism today than it was for decades as football becomes more perimeter-oriented. In football, it means defensive tackle, middle linebacker and safety. In baseball, that’s a shortstop, second baseman and center fielder. The injury bugĪs has already been noted in this space, injuries have plagued the Spartans this year.įootball is no different than baseball in one regard - the strength of a defense runs through the middle. And it’s fair to wonder whether this season’s ship can be righted. Michigan State’s 2022 class rated fourth in the B1G according to 247Sports, and his verbal commits from the 2023 class rate third.īut the promising future outlook does nothing to alter Michigan State’s current state. “Tuck Comin'” became the MSU catchphrase as Tucker seemed to have the Spartans on the rise on the field and on the recruiting trail. ![]() 9 nationally in 2021 after winning the Peach Bowl. With a real offseason to prepare for a full season, Tucker led Michigan State to No. Everyone on the planet was just trying to make it day-to-day, and Tucker had the challenges of being a first-year coach at a major football program on top of that. But Michigan State’s 2-game losing streak still counts as his first mini-crisis since taking the job. His seat is about as warm as Iron Mountain on New Year’s morning. It’s not as if Tucker is under any real pressure right now. Or even to Tucker’s competitive nature, which produces very visible results. But that’s of little comfort to Michigan State fans. The good news for Tucker is that a guaranteed $95 million over the next decade can buy many towels of the finest Turkish cotton to address the issue. ![]()
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