1st Half/2nd Half Splits Against Maine

[VimSince03]

Basically a scrimmage between our 1s and 2s/3s against their 1s. Here is the defensive split:

1st Half

8 possessions for Maine

16 carries for 13 yards for .8 ypc (sacks count against the run in college)
8/16 passing for 111 yards for 6.9 ypa/13.9 ypc

3 Sacks/3 TFLs (they counted Danny U's 1 yard tfl as a sack on Maine's second possession)
2/9 on 3rd Down
1/1 on 4th Down

Yards Per Possession - 15.5 yards

Not a lot to say here. The 1st string is very dialed in right now. They play fast, physical, and loose. Had one bad possession where Peevy made some good plays. Run defense was suffocating. Had three sacks. They earned their rest.

2nd Half

5 possessions for Maine

18 carries for 136 yards for 7.6 ypc (this was the noticeable drop-off)
10/15 passing for 113 yards for 7.5 ypa/11.3 ypc

0 Sacks/2 TFLs
5/7 on 3rd Down
1 Forced Fumble
1 INT

Yards Per Possession - 49.8 yards

Maine had some good receivers specifically Randy Moss' son who had a sure-fire TD overthrown in the first half after a busted coverage between Powdrell and Ortt (Powdrell thought he had deep help). They connected on throws of 21, 25, and 27 in the 2nd half but our backup D allowed runs of 19, 12, 21, 15, and 22 in the 2nd half. We didn't get them off the field on 3rd down. I haven't watched the 2nd half yet but initial impressions show the run game suffered a lot after our 1s didn't play. I like our backup Dline so I'll be watching the LBs and the safeties for a 2nd half evaluation. Our 1st string has been exceptional against the run so far this year (and pretty good against the pass other than a few blips) so I'm going in expecting the drop off happened because of our backup LBs and safeties.

Overall, very happy 2/3s got live reps against a 1st string offense and there will likely be a lot of teaching tape on Sunday.

[TomCat88]

I thought it was a great move by MSU to go with the 2/3s. Even better that they didn’t make a bunch of flukey plays and got exposed. Better to find out what you cannot do in that situation. May work out well for them.

[VimSince03]

I thought it was a great move by MSU to go with the 2/3s. Even better that they didn’t make a bunch of flukey plays and got exposed. Better to find out what you cannot do in that situation. May work out well for them.

Oh absolutely. Also, Reed started with the 1st team offense on the 1st possession of the second half. Maine sent a free rusher off the edge and our blocking scheme didn't adjust to it. Lonergan was closest pass protector but his read was inside first or at least that's where his eyes went. Reed also failed to secure the football. Regardless, playing QB is hard but I think we need to realize how good Tommy is playing the position right now. This is the most he's consistently looked like an all-around QB since he took over the role. When its 3rd and 8, I don't have a sinking feeling that we can't pick up the first down anymore let's just put it that way.

[TomCat88]

I thought it was a great move by MSU to go with the 2/3s. Even better that they didn’t make a bunch of flukey plays and got exposed. Better to find out what you cannot do in that situation. May work out well for them.

Oh absolutely. Also, Reed started with the 1st team offense on the 1st possession of the second half. Maine sent a free rusher off the edge and our blocking scheme didn't adjust to it. Lonergan was closest pass protector but his read was inside first or at least that's where his eyes went. Reed also failed to secure the football. Regardless, playing QB is hard but I think we need to realize how good Tommy is playing the position right now. This is the most he's consistently looked like an all-around QB since he took over the role. When its 3rd and 8, I don't have a sinking feeling that we can't pick up the first down anymore let's just put it that way.

Huge game for Tommy’s confidence. He’s probably very confident with most things but to do what he did, which was outside of his box, is big.

[Montanabob]

Basically a scrimmage between our 1s and 2s/3s against their 1s. Here is the defensive split:

1st Half

8 possessions for Maine

16 carries for 13 yards for .8 ypc (sacks count against the run in college)
8/16 passing for 111 yards for 6.9 ypa/13.9 ypc

3 Sacks/3 TFLs (they counted Danny U's 1 yard tfl as a sack on Maine's second possession)
2/9 on 3rd Down
1/1 on 4th Down

Yards Per Possession - 15.5 yards

Not a lot to say here. The 1st string is very dialed in right now. They play fast, physical, and loose. Had one bad possession where Peevy made some good plays. Run defense was suffocating. Had three sacks. They earned their rest.

2nd Half

5 possessions for Maine

18 carries for 136 yards for 7.6 ypc (this was the noticeable drop-off)
10/15 passing for 113 yards for 7.5 ypa/11.3 ypc

0 Sacks/2 TFLs
5/7 on 3rd Down
1 Forced Fumble
1 INT

Yards Per Possession - 49.8 yards

Maine had some good receivers specifically Randy Moss' son who had a sure-fire TD overthrown in the first half after a busted coverage between Powdrell and Ortt (Powdrell thought he had deep help). They connected on throws of 21, 25, and 27 in the 2nd half but our backup D allowed runs of 19, 12, 21, 15, and 22 in the 2nd half. We didn't get them off the field on 3rd down. I haven't watched the 2nd half yet but initial impressions show the run game suffered a lot after our 1s didn't play. I like our backup Dline so I'll be watching the LBs and the safeties for a 2nd half evaluation. Our 1st string has been exceptional against the run so far this year (and pretty good against the pass other than a few blips) so I'm going in expecting the drop off happened because of our backup LBs and safeties.

Overall, very happy 2/3s got live reps against a 1st string offense and there will likely be a lot of teaching tape on Sunday.

I don't see Robbie's stats?

[lutecat]

I thought it was a great move by MSU to go with the 2/3s. Even better that they didn’t make a bunch of flukey plays and got exposed. Better to find out what you cannot do in that situation. May work out well for them.

Oh absolutely. Also, Reed started with the 1st team offense on the 1st possession of the second half. Maine sent a free rusher off the edge and our blocking scheme didn't adjust to it. Lonergan was closest pass protector but his read was inside first or at least that's where his eyes went. Reed also failed to secure the football. Regardless, playing QB is hard but I think we need to realize how good Tommy is playing the position right now. This is the most he's consistently looked like an all-around QB since he took over the role. When its 3rd and 8, I don't have a sinking feeling that we can't pick up the first down anymore let's just put it that way.

Also if we went 2/3's I doubt we put much of anything that wasn't just vanilla on either side if the ball inbtheb2nf half. No point in putting more tendencies on game film for future opponents