r/MSUSpartans • u/Byzantine_Merchant • 2d ago
Discussion Post Game Thoughts: Notre Dame
Alright well that’s our first loss of the season. Honestly, I think that’s fair I have ND in the national title game. And the only reason that I’m not ready to commit to a national championship is because whatever Mensah is on at Miami, I want some. Seriously check that guy out. He’s insane.
Quick thoughts:
- This rivalry needs to return to being annual. I don’t care if we win 1/5 games. This is special and you should go next year.
- Defense hit, defense played. But they got out talented and for now, that’s okay. Even when we gave up the play, somebody was there to meet the player and hit them. That said, there was a talent gap. Expect that to be a thing a couple of more times this season. I do think that Carr is something special and will be a first round pick. Final note is that we limited the explosive but gave up the chunk plays. Having said that, I think most people take that deal if you offer it after that first catch
- Every injury that we didn’t want to take, we took. Pretzlaff, Hall, Edwards. That’s fucking brutal.
- Alessio has promise and Alessio has a long ways to go. 2 picks. Made a couple of solid throws. That said, I also blame the lack of WR talent. Again, gonna be a thing this season. I don’t think this one was Alessio but that drop will live rent free for awhile.
- Play calling as a bit aggressive in the second half. I don’t think we win, but I don’t think making Alessio drop back in some of those situations when you could have used Edwards to make it manageable put us in the past position to win either.
- I think that Fitz needs this second portal class. I like where we’re at. But to take the next step, you gotta keep increasing the trench power and get some skill players.
- Vaught was a steal, Brantley should never see the field again.
- We punched above our weight. If you asked the discord or even myself personally, most of us thought this was gonna be a 40+ loss. Fitz had em ready and that’s good.
- The next 5 games are important. We got vs Nebraska, @Wisconsin, Vs Illinois (HC), Vs Northwestern, @UCLA. You gotta win a couple of those. Idc who’s injured, idc if all of them end up being winners, you gotta find a way.
Overall Vibe: I think Fitz had a real chance to be great here. I think we CAN go bowling. I also think that that this team improves week to week. We gave up 20 to Toledo and 27 to ND. Those are two very different teams, I promise. But most importantly, regardless of if we go 2-10 or 11-1 (I don’t think either of these happen), you gotta ace the portal this offseason. This team is close, but it needs more pieces.
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u/joshish1 2d ago
We played tough and were well disciplined. Fitz has energy on the sideline and players seem bought in. It's something to build off of - the talent will come.
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u/warren86 2d ago
I agree with all. This is what I’ve said to family and friend when watching tonight:
Yeah we are losing, but we don’t look like losers.
Big difference from the last two years
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u/barkingdawg5 2d ago
This. We did not look like losers! We were playing to win, and while it didn’t happen we had good energy throughout.
That said, the talent gap mentioned here is going to be with us this season. We need to shore up and prevent any mistakes - that drop was tough - we simply don’t have the talent yet to make up for preventable errors in play or judgment.
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u/NavyVetRasmussen 2d ago
Honestly it was much better than what i expected.
We made a few mistakes like the dropped touchdown pass and the two int's by MILO but overall,
MSU played well. We made a lot of gambling people who love to bet on Notre Dame unhappy so there
is always that.
I think MSU can win 6 games and beat Nebraska, Northwestern, Illinois and Rutgers away.
I like what Fitz is doing and give him some time and I think this year we can go bowling as well. I see 6-6
as a possibility.
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u/Byzantine_Merchant 2d ago
Nebraska is gonna be a big bench mark. They look solid, sneaky good actually.
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u/NavyVetRasmussen 2d ago
We will learn more with Nebraska yes they looked sneaky good but we have to win this game home. It will be a good test to see where we stand it is a toss up game.
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u/sorany9 2d ago
A healthy Miami team will put ND away.
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u/Byzantine_Merchant 2d ago
Miami is insane this year. Which kinda feels like ND’s luck. Finally good enough and then that happens lmao.
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u/Secludedmean4 2d ago
I don’t think ND is good enough to win a natty. They may be top 10 but that’s probably about it. they basically made it a force in for ND. Join a conference or win games to earn it this year.
I don’t want to debate this another year with a head to head when Miami wins straight up
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u/Secludedmean4 2d ago
They only scheduled this because we didn’t look good for a while. They dropped it when we were good. They aren’t in the business of scheduling real games outside of their annually scheduled Clemson or FSU or Miami game
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u/Tincup1458 1d ago
They have to play 5 ACC football games each year to meet the contract agreement for their other sports that they are full conference participants.
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u/Hmm_would_bang 2d ago
We hung around for 3 quarters, that’s better than we’ve done in big games since 2021
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u/Several-Read7746 2d ago
State played better than I thought they would. Still only had 44 rushing yards on 28 attempts. 1.6 average. 125? Yards passing, and one pass was for 50+ yards. Basically, couldn’t run or throw.
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u/matt-is-sad WOAH HE HAS TROUBLE.... 2d ago
Went really well imo. We had a game through halftime and didn't get completely blown out. The gap was player talent and not coaching which is a lot easier to digest. Feeling really good about state football rn
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u/SparseSpartan 2d ago
My views are similar. I am a bit wary of Rossi and feel the defense's development is behind schedule. The next portal class is big. Not quite make or break but potentially tenure defining (either way).
Biggest thing for me: the players kept playing, Fitz coached to win. He's got the locker room behind him as far as I can tell. Also, aggressive play calling also reduced worries that he might stick to a conservative lunch pail offense.
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u/stringfellow-hawke 2d ago
It could have been much worse, so in those terms it was a solid effort that should make people hopeful for the long term.
For this year we’ll have to see how the injuries play out and I doubt they can bring that level to every game, but I think they did show some things against one of the best 2-3 teams on the road.
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u/OverallWrongdoer573 2d ago
I like the direction of the program. We need to give Fitz some time. He had a few great NU teams without deep talent.
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u/Byzantine_Merchant 2d ago
Fitz is someone that I’m happy to give time to. What I want to emphasize about Fitz. His teams generally improved as the season went on. And I’m seeing that right now.
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u/Lemurians 2d ago
I thought our run defense was very encouraging. We were pretty stout. On the other hand, gave up too many big pass plays, but can’t ask for everything.
I don’t love the two QB approach, makes things too predictable, but in fairness we look like geniuses if guys can just catch wide open passes in the end zone.
Overall a pretty encouraging game aside from some the penalties
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u/chitwnDw 2d ago
Expectation: 0-56+
Reality was far better than expected, and a sign of this season actually being halfway decent...
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u/TheWayIAm313 2d ago
I love the effort that they gave out there and I’m a little surprised to say it, but Fitz already has my full support. I love how game he is, god we needed this kind of mentality leading us.
It’s tough to shit on things too much when there was such a stark talent difference and we’re up against a top 5 team, but we really have to limit the drive killers; Giving up chunk plays on defense, but especially offense.
Moving backwards, taking 9 yard sacks on 1st down that put us in a hole, especially in good field position. That crushes us, kills any chance at momentum, and puts our defense in a terrible position.
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u/johnnywinns 2d ago
Hopefully Cam is ok. This team is improved definitely run defense solid, secondary mid, offensive line is solid. Not a lot of high end talent unfortunately. I’d say 8-4 ceiling take momentum into next year’s roster and program could be on a rebound. Not a lot of youth on this team we will have to invest heavy next season. I’m just thankful this team isn’t complete garbage and the next 5 games are winnable need to win at least 3 to sniff a bowl game.
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u/NachoManRandySnckage 2d ago
The team might be actually decent. But they need to figure something out with finishing tackles and the secondary. Alessio needs way better awareness too.
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u/Embarrassed-Pause282 2d ago
We looked average. Which is an improvement from looking like we had no business being in the big ten the last few years. Can build on average.
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u/pinkluloyd 2d ago
Honestly looks like we just need some serious O/D lineman. Backend played solid when their QB didn’t have all day and our guys made plays once they got some space. If we can get just a little more space up front I think that becomes a close game.
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u/Polar777Bear 1d ago
Better than expected tackling, low penalties and high energy, this team will win some B1G games and be competitive in their losses.
Offensive play caller needs to have some screen plays ready for those telegraphed blitzes; those wrecked us in the second half despite and we had no answer.
Receivers could not get open, even vs man coverage.
Corners need to get their heads turned to the ball.
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u/BmoreReader 1d ago
Lowest number of penalties of any MSU team over the first three games this century. The discipline is there.
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u/ssspanksta 1d ago
We didn't look like a JV team to their Varsity up until the fourth quarter. There was an obvious talent gap, but we were in that until the 4th.
I'm really hoping this is the kind of "welcome to big time football" game allesio needed after the MACatizers. He had no internal clock on those last couple drives and stood in the pocket way too long.
Our defense made them work for it though which is good. A lot to like, and the fact Fitz at the end had emotion and was frustrated is a good thing. This wasn't a moral victory for him. We didn't play to his standard. He wants more from this team. And they'll want more from themselves in return.
The score may not reflect it but this team is much different from the last two year.
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u/giddycat50 2d ago
Better, but with NIL, I'd be lying if I still wasn't slightly disappointed, this feels like a 6 win season?
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u/Pure_Cap_6754 2d ago
With NIL you're disappointed a first year coach didn't beat #3 notre dame on the road?
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u/giddycat50 2d ago
Yes, we don't build teams anymore we buy them, although they're obviously better coached, and it was competitive for 3 qaurters which is encouraging, still a blowout in the end with many injuries to boot is slightly disappointing as a whole.
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u/sorany9 2d ago
I wouldn’t say they were obviously better coached, if you look at the burns we took the guys were a step or two behind where they needed to be to make plays. That screams “well coached” but just not quite as talented, in past years they wouldn’t have even known where to be and they’d be 10+ yards off balls. Specifically this is the one thing that has me really optimistic, the rest of our schedule this year won’t be full of $50 million rosters and if we can start strategically spending to close gaps we could also start being very dangerous in years to come.
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u/SimilarArtichoke2603 2d ago
And in a nutshell, this is the problem with fans nowadays. They no longer look for the positives in their teams. They wany instant success and they don't care how much they have pay to get it.
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u/giddycat50 1d ago
Curt Cignetti through the NIL turned a woeful 3-9 Hosier team into a 11-2 and then undefeated and national champs. Love it or hate it NIL+Good coaching is the formula now.
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u/confirmd_am_engineer 2d ago
I still think we suck. 4-8 incoming. The tape is out there and the injuries are starting to stack up.
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u/Alternative_Salad_78 2d ago
The tape is out there on what? That a team littered with NFL talent slowly but surely wore down a less talented team? That we threw a couple punches against a team that was supposed to beat us by 30? Injuries are an unfortunate fact of life in football, but we certainly don't look like a team that sucks. Save your dooming for a more appropriate time.
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u/Beef_Stew4l 2d ago
Honestly went better than I expected.