I was impressed with our drive out from the 1/2 yard line; 14 plays, 65 yards, 7 minutes; half run and half pass. That's nice work. Fournette's second fumble was the key play that gave State life. They were dead meat that came to life.
Ask yourself why they had any life left...... I would venture to say that at the start of the second half I wondered that for 30 minutes of game time.
Then you need to look a little closer at how that second half really played out....and I kind of hate doing this, because I don't want to be labelled a Sunshine Pumper. 0 points in the second half was maddening, but here's how it happened..... Opening drive of the 3rd started on our own 13. We completed a pass for decent yardage that was negated on 2nd down by a false start, then DE threw two bad passes - missed a wide open WR on 3rd and we had to punt. But it was an aggressively called series, execution wasn't there. 2nd drive started at the 29, best field position of the half. Two carries by LF gained 18 yards but he fumbled the second. Why get mad at Miles for that? 3rd drive started at the 7. Two LF runs got us a little space, then Etling hit a nice completion for a first that was brought back for holding. Tried to throw again on third, but Etling had to run and come up short. Nothing wrong with the play selection; the holding (on Pocic, on the first play he moved from C to LT due to Malone's injury) prevented the drive from extending. Next...backed up on the 1 yard line. 13 play, 65 yard drive, good mix of run and pass. Fumble on 4th and 1 ended it. A good 7:00 drive with a 17-point lead, unfortunately; we needed 99 yards for a 6. 14 straight points without the offense touching the ball followed. And finally, a no-doubt bad offensive series, 3 and out with a telegraphed reverse play when a first down might have ended it. Again, I get it, 0 points in the second half is bad, bad, bad. But it wasn't same old Miles football. They didn't go into a shell, even though it would have been understandable considering average 14 yard line starts. The play calling wasn't appreciably different from the first half, but the overall circumstances changed significantly
I disagree, the lack of focus for this team over the last 5 years is clear. Same thing. We get a lead and act like little shits. You can deny that IMO. Some call it execution, but when we play Bama, guess who doesn't stand for that shit.
Why do you run a reverse or end around 3 times when it didn't work on the first or 2nd? Why do you feel the need to run a play where the receiver throws the ball to the quarterback? What the actual fuck is that? Is that supposed to be creativity? How about you just get the ball to your playmakers in space by spreading the field out? What the hell is this shit?
I would say their punter (downed at the 13, 7, and 1 yard lines) and our two fumbles kept this from being a 20 + point victory. But I fully expect people to vehemently disagree.
I am at a loss of words for people not understanding just how bad MSU is. Like, quite possibly the worst team in the West.
