Be following is a presentation of play fly sports properties. My guys, they're trying to turn the goal line. But then, you know, Pat Shappo, up here comes the button, now the sideline show that spot like right now, I'm a horseship football coach right now. That's that's honestly, it's how I think about it. Oh, Jay you interesting comments from head coach Mel Tucker. They're taking a lot of blame on himself. This is SPARTA. I'm your host, Jason Strayhorn, and here's my co host, Jayu
Choo Chu cal Crip in the house. How you doing, Jay you, I'm good. How are you doing? Strey? I'm doing all right. Just lifting wounds a little bit. After the disappointing loss this past weekend from Michigan State, traveling out west to Washington to face the Huskies twenty three hundred miles away from home and they come up short thirty nine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It definitely was a disappointing loss, a disappointing game all around.
And we heard the comments by coach Tucker. It starts at the top. You know, he takes responsibility for it. He should have his guys ready to go the guys should be ready to go. So we'll see what's in store for this week in practice. Yeah, probably going to be a very very tough week of practice those Spartans, and rightfully so, you know, Spartans now dropped the two and one overall, and it doesn't get any
easier because he had big ten play coming up. But let's break down this game a little bit with it was the Michael Penix Junior Show, wasn't it. Oh, it definitely was. The guy was you know one, he was untouchable. Uh. Back there, he had his he had time.
At the beginning of the game. You know, I could tell that Washington was uneasy, weren't sure about Michigan State's pass rush, so they did a lot of things to get the ball out of Penis his hands quicker, uh, and then once they got their foot in, then he stood back there. It seemed like he had all day to throw the ball. Yeah,
it did. I mean, he was seemed like he, like you said, he was reading a book back there, camping out eating hot dogs while he surveyed the field and found his open recon twenty four or for forty three hundred and ninety seven yards through the air. With four touchdowns and it was a stellar performance for Michael Pennings junior. And it's just like you said, it just seemed to be a very lack of pass rush for some reason for the Mischigan State defense. Yeah, it was. The pass rush did not
seem to be there. I don't know that, you know, I don't know where exactly it went off. I don't know if Washington's old line's that good. But you have to also we have to take a step back and give credit to Washington, give credit to their fans because being there on the sidelines, it was loud in that stadium, and when we get into the offense and the offensive line play, we can talk more about the crowd noise
and what effect they had on them. But you know, going forth from that, you know, back to the defense there, you know, we just couldn't get anything going from the pass rush standpoint of things. Jacob Slade didn't make the road trip. He's the all star high regarded defensive tackle in the middle. Do you think that had any effect on the pass rush being
a coordinated attempt for all four guys that are rushing the passer. Yeah, yeah, it definitely did, because you know, if you have that that caliber of a player stopping up the middle there, what it's gonna do is it's gonna draw, you know, double teams to him, and that's gonna free up someone. It's gonna allow Winman to have an opportunity to be one on one at times. And so that just wasn't the case. I think that had a big effect on the fact that he wasn't there with the team.
Well, we're going to right now get into the MSU gamed Ay statistical breakdown presented by I Hop I hop the two by two by two breakfast combo equals one delicious meal, enjoy two pancakes, two eggs your way, and two pieces of bacon for only five dollars only, and I am hurry in and enjoy this deal for a limited time, dying and only participation made. Very restrictions do apply. So Peyton Thorn was the story for Michigan State.
A very tough, gritty performance. Thirty three yards, three touchdowns and one pitch at you. Yeah, you know, on on a normal day you would say those are damn good stats. You know, that's pretty good. But you know, with the with the outcome of the game, you know, that just wasn't it. We're putting a lot of tough positions offensively, you know, slow starts, and there was a lot of pressure on Thorn. You know, at the beginning of the game, we really couldn't get
going offensively. And a lot of that, like we talked about earlier, had to do with the crowd noise that was coming in because that stadium was loud, and from what I was looking at with the offensive line, and you know, this communication is the biggest thing as an offensive lineman, you have to be able to communicate. So by the time the play got in,
Thorn staying up, they're talking, communicating with the line. Then they're standing up looking at each other, communicating, Hey, the MIC's fifty two, this guy over here, this over there, and and then you look up there's four seconds on the play clock. Then you have to go. So the entire process is rushed as a whole due to the crowd noise, and I think that's where Michigan State struggled a little bit. Let's talk about that crowd noise. When you've been in a lot of stadiums, both college
and professional, where does Washington Husky Stadium, where does that rank? In your mind. As far as crowd noise, they had those overhangs and they were piping in noise electronically into the overhang, causing that acoustic bounce down to them. Yellow. So you know, what would you rank that. I mean, you played for the Buffalo Bills cried out loud. Yeah, you know, I said, that's probably the top four loudest stadium I've been in. Uh, you know, and just from and it wasn't even to capacity
at you know, it's a seventy five thousand seat stadium. There was about sixty sixty five thousand there. You know, it's right up there with the Penn States up the world, the Ohio States, Seattle. It's that whole Seattle vibe. You know, the Seahawks have to twelfth I know you said this on a broadcast, so I'm stealing this from you a little bit. You know, the Seahawks have the twelfth Man. You know, that stadium's loud, and I think the Huskies immulate that. And it was it was,
it was really it was definitely down there at times. You know, that's an underrated area when you think about that fan base and how they get things going out on the Pacific Northwest. I think about my times playing against Oregon at Altson Stadium way back in the day in ninety eight, extremely loud, only like forty seven thousand at the time. Now I think they've expanded
to a healthy fifty seven thousand. We went back there, I believe it was in twenty fifteen for a ball game on broadcast, and they've added overhangs an Oltson Stadium and it was extremely It was louder than them, so powerful power. I mean, the Pacific Northwest does not get the credited that serves as far as football fandom goes, in my opinion. You know, everybody thinks about you know, the dog pounds and Raider Nation and all the things
like Ohio State, as you said, Penn State. But you gotta take your hat off to those folks out there in the Pacific Northwest. They know how to cheer and cause intimidation and disrupt the flow of the offense. As you said. You know, Peyton Thorn has a pretty gritty performance. He's giving up his body and in one of the touchdowns he finds your boy Trade Moseley. Yeah, you know, a great job, you know, great job by Thorn, Great job by Mosley and you know, nice pitch and
catch there when you look at how like the receiving totals. We're gonna talk about that A Keon Coleman was something spectacular, wasn't he? Keyok Coleman had a day, you know, that was his coming up party. He did a lot of you know, the thing that the highlight will pop on, you know, pop off is you know, his catches, his touchdowns and everything. But he did a good job blocking on the outside the times we did try to run the football, and when other guys had the ball,
he did a good job blocking as well, you know. And that's that's very That's something that's tough for a receiver, especially a collegiate receiver, playing
without the ball in your hands and being effective. I think that goes right to his coach and under study is Courtney Hawkins, a former Spartan dog who played a lot of long time in the NFL, who talks continuously about no block, no rock, and it's ingrained in those guys' mind that they got to get downfield and block for their teammates, which springs the long runs,
if you will. Key On Coleman nine catches, one hundred and sixteen yards two touchdowns, and the receiving corps along with Peyton Thorn, had to do it without Jadeen Reed, the number one guy. Yeah, you know, that was a big blow for the Spartans, Reed not being there, just being that guy to draw extra attention to him to free things up a little bit. That was a big blow for him. But you know, rather miss him in a non conference game and get him ready for big ten play
like we're having opening up this week. Yeah, I think that was a wise move. You had no Jade Reed, you had no Jacob Slade on the trip. Michigan State did find other receivers, other weapons. Daniel Barker, standing tall, seven catches for sixty nine yards for a tight end transfer out of Illinois. Yeah, you know, he played, He played well. He's a big kid, he's you know, a fast, physical He's definitely going to be a force out there. And that's what you're taught.
You know, it's always that next man up mentality. If you if you know your star guy's not there, you know you have to be the next guy up. You have to be the one to step up and make a play for your team. And I think our receiving corps are doing that. You know, it's a tough It's tough because any of those guys can go off at any game. Yeah that's true. I mean they have so many weapons along that receiving corps and you know, it's just something that really is
something that you want Peyton Thorn to be able to. You know, he's looking at his chops. He's wanting to expose the other defenses. But if he doesn't have the time to throw ju what is he going to be able to do? And that's talking about the offensive line. And the offensive line woes were exposed this time against Washington. Not much time, a lot of pressure, especially in the first half, and there was no room to run for the running backs. The Killer Bees weren't able to get off worthy.
No, they were not. And you know, if you want to have success in the past game or that, you got to run the football. You got to have that, and we did not. We were I was really disappointed in the way that we ran the football last last week, you know, due to the fact of nobody stepped up in the backfield. Really there was I don't think right now we have exactly an alpha dog in the backfield. It is true running back by committee in the backfield there, and
it's true you get a series. You get a series. When I talk about that alpha dog, it's that person that you know, that hotthand who's gonna be the guy that's gonna be like, Hey, this is my game. I'm taking over this game and it's running back by committee. But you're gonna come in and spell me when I need it, because I'm taking this game over and we do not have that right now, and I think there's a possibility that we can't get there. But somebody needs to step up and
be that guy. Yeah, you've seen that before where guys are demanding the ball in tough times. And then you've also seen it where guys kind of fade to the back of the line when the game's on the line. They don't want to take that chance. Which is a season low forty two yards rushing on the ground, Jalen Berger thirteen carries twenty seven yards. That's it's just a two point one yards per carry average. Jared Pissard four carries three
yards for a point eight k per carry average. That's just not going to get it done. It is not going to get it done in any football pee wee high school college that is not going to get it done. We need, you know, that big play guy to step up to be that. And you know, let's talk a little bit about that safety. You know the hat. You know, the defense goes, makes a terrific goal line stands and we get the ball and we you know, end up getting
a safety on the first play. And my gripe about that, Jason is, as a running back, you do not have the time if you when you're six seven yards deep in your own end zone to make any cuts. You don't have an opportunity to jump cut and do anything. You get the ball, you know where you're going, you know your landmark, your line. It doesn't matter what the line does. You you go full speed ahead. You don't jump cut and dance around in the backfield. And I think
that's what happened. And he, you know, tripped over the lineman's foot because he was making that jump cut. So I just think you just need it, and I think he will learn. You know, that's a great learning experience. It's a great time to learn as opposed to being in big ten play. But you know, you just got to be able to put
your nose down and get that tough yard. Look as a former running back, you know, I do trust what you're saying, and yeah, I think you do need to put your head down and just grind it out and get those tough yards. But for me, as an offensive lineman, it's totally unacceptable to get stood up and driven backwards on a goal line situation as that, if you're going into the goal line, if it's it's you know, fourth and inches going in, or if you're on the goal line trying
to come out. We all know as an offensive defensive lineman, who wins, it's always the low man. The low man wins. So in those scenarios you will see guys on in a four point stands that's both hands on the ground and basically submarine diving. Just to re establish that line of scrimmage, you have to be that intense down there. There should be no possible there should be no physical way in and on earth that someone can get under your pads, stand you up and drive you back into the running back slap
forcing the cut, because I think that's the thing. Now, if you're if you're if you're chu Chuo, you know, and I'm getting driven back. He's gonna just take you know, he's gonna roll right up on the back of my leg. So you learn not to ever do that again. But you know, this guy, you know, Jered, you know, being more of a scatback, he has some power, decided to try to make the cut and he slipped and upon video review, it did show that
the ball did not break that plane coming out of the end zone. Yeah, and uh, you know, maybe you know, you can only play money money Monday, Monday morning quarterback. But something that you know, I'm starting to see as you know, you look more at these backs, and I said earlier, you know, there is no alpha dog between the two. Burger has, you know, tremendous talent. You know, he's gonna be good. He's gonna be special. Broussard's gonna be good. He's gonna
be special. But I think that that X factor in the backfield is Elijah Collins. I think so, you know, I think, you know, the week previous he had a little bit of a coming out party. Again, another sight in of him. And yet last game against Washington, he was in there when we were throwing the ball out. He's been you know, kind of like boxed in now as that blocking back. But I think between the three of them, he's the one that's gonna get you those tough
yards. Maybe he should have been the one in to get you out of that situation and then you can put your backs, your more flashy backs in and running back by committee. You got to know your role. If your role is being the bruiser, the go get a tough yard guy, you embrace that and you go after that. So I think he, you know, he could be the X factor in the backfield. Great point there. Elijah Collins got in only one carriage for one yard look for one touchdown.
That's right, you could do in that scenario. Right, Elijah Collins, a guy who has experience, almost had a thousand yards two years ago for the Spartans, now finds himself in a role where he's trying to compete for more carriages. Jay, you but my thing is this, now, my thought process is this. You're on the one yard line going in for a touchdown, and you have faith that Elijah Collins will be the one to push
and get that. When you're in your own one yard going out, you should have faith Elijah Collins would be the one to get you out of that as well. That's that logic makes sense, It really does. And I bet when they look at this tape they break it down. Offensive coordinator Jay Johnson, we'll see that along with Mel Tucker, the head coach. He talked about it when they reviewed the film as a team that it was death
by inchies. There was a lot of guys, you know, it's a you know, a misalignment here, you know, one offensive linement there. You know, it didn't run the correct route. There was a lot of things that they would see that made them sick to their stomach because it was always one or two guys away from making the play actually work. And that's all it takes to you for a whole player to break down and for you to get down. As they were twenty two to nothing early on in the
ball game. Yeah, and you know you just said one or two guys that you know, all sports, you know, you have you have kids playing basketball, you know, in football, volleyball, everything like that. Basketball, you know, you go in and one guy doesn't do something to point guard, can just pull it out and reset the play. You know, volleyball you have three hits to get it over the net. Football, it takes eleven guys to do their specific assignment for five seconds for one play
to work. There is no reset, there is no you know, second chance on a play. So that's the thing. You know, you have to get all eleven guys working in unisons to get to achieve a play. So that's why football is the ultimate team game. That's why football is the game that it takes every single person on the team to be successful. So if one guy's not doing it, you know that that's that's not gonna work for the team. So you got to find the person that's gonna be able
to do it. And that's why I say consistency, consistency, consistency in the game of football. That's why we love the game of football because it's a lot like life. You can't reset it, you know, once the day starts. I mean, you can't get that time back right. You have to have exactly you have to be where your feet are at. That's something that Cosadan always used to say, still says it be where your feet are at, be in the moment, that's what that means, and execut
you to your utmost ability. You know, when we look at what happened on the defensive side of the ball. Here what coach Maul Tucker said in the opening press conference comments. You know they sat as a team, Jay, you right after the ball game on Monday morning and watch the game on film in continual mode. Not they didn't break, they didn't take a couple of clips out. They watched it as it played out as a team.
How do you think that modes for them being able to absorb what's going on and do you think they're going to be able to rebound from what they saw? You know, I think the biggest thing is of watching it as a team as opposed to because you know, traditionally, you break up, you go to your position group to watch the film and you don't really see that and you can have that oh man, it's okay, man, you know this person didn't do that. You know that little talk in your position group
because you want to lift each other up. But when you watch its a team, there's that sense of accountability that comes into play, that sense of where you can stand up and that I call it man in the mirror reflection, where you can look up and be like, oh, that's on me, that's my bad. I will fix that. But you know what, with this game, everything, like Trey Moseley said in the press in the
post game, all the goals are still ahead of them. You can still have one loss and still be you know, in contention for the college football playoffs, you can have you know, you can still win the Big Ten. All those things are still ahead of them. It's better to lose it now than it is when it really counts in Big Ten play. You know. So maybe we could be sitting back and looking at this game and saying that may be the defining moment in Spartan football for this season. That loss
maybe the defining game from Michigan State. That's when they said, Okay, this is where we need to work on. We were exposed here, here, and here. Now let's be able to pick it up and make those changes and get going. Speaking of that, you're absolutely spot on there,
Jayu. When you talk about their exposure and a year ago being ranked one hundred and thirtieth in the nation and past defense, it looked like things were fixed against Western Michigan and Akron. But when you go against a formidal opponent, I know they weren't ranked watching Huskies, but we know they should have been ranked. That's a very good football team. But when you go against a team that's a Power five team and a very well coached team with talent,
ye're exposed. And that defensive secondary. Okay, this is an area of concern that Mel Tucker took upon himself when he lost cornerbacks coach to Georgia Tech. To now say, hey, I'm not hiring a cornerbacks coach. I'm going to step into this role. He's taking the blame right now because he's saying that that's my position, that's my position of authority and expertise, and they weren't able to perform well. And he talked about personnel changes coming.
What say you to that, Jau, Yeah, you know that's at times like this where when there's tough times where you have to, you know, look yourself in the mirror, like I said, and evaluate yourself as a coach, your players as players. And the biggest thing is we have to remember these are eighteen, nineteen twenty year old kids, all right, and these coaches they're in it. They've been in it around the game for a long time, and their roles as coaches and personnel and everything is to
see are you in the best position to be successful? You know if a corner is not the right person for it, because these coaches are not putting that kid in the right position to be successful being a cornerback, you have to have that that swag a by. Look, you got a guy like Dion Sanders, he's flamboyant, over the top, but you have to have that if you play that position, because it's one of the most loneliest positions on the field because you're really on an island. So we were exposed defensively
on that. It will just see if we can bounce back. We can make the changes, fix that and bounce back because you will all be at first to admit it. The loss of snow and X really hurt. And you've started to see that now, Yeah, you start to see it definitely on the road, the communication breakdowns. When you look at Washington in the way they decided to attack. You have a coach and Kaylin de Boor, who was the offensive coordinator at Indiana. Michael Pennix Junior was the quarterback in
Indiana when he exposed Michigan State beat Michigan State in years past. Now they look at this similar defense and they find ways to attack it by flot switching side, training the receivers from right to left, left to right, and coming out in four wide five wide sets, taking the running back out of the backfield, you know, getting the one on one with the middle linebacker and Cal Halliday which we will show here, and coming up with touchdowns and
huge chop explosive plays that put the Spartans against the wall and in bad positions the whole game. Yeah, you know, it was a great, great offensive game plan by Washington, great job of putting their guys in better position to be successful over ours, picking out the mismatches, you know, picking out a scat back against our linebackers, picking out slot receivers and putting them outside to go against you know, the corners, the more shifty guys.
So it was a good job on that. And I just think a lot of the things to momentum. You know, football is a game of momentum, and I think it really killed us. You know that drive at the end of the second half of the first half, you know that with fifty seconds left they marched down and scored. That was a momentum killer in a way too, because Spartan's we scored, we stopped, and we're going to
get the we're gonna be down fourteen going into the half. You get the ball to start the second half, and that could have changed the landscape of
the game. But that score really affected it coming right after the safety, after the big goal line stands and as you know on that sideline, I mean you were there, you know, you know, how was the morale between the defensive side of the ball and the offense when the defense is playing their tails off at that point getting the goal line stands, expending a lot of energy, didn't have to go right back on the field with a short field because the free kick was kicked out. Bounce. Yeah, Well,
the whole thing with that is it the morale. You can't you can't have that because as we are one, you know, it's us we are And the defense showed that. The defense was, you know, bouncing around, they were ready to get back out there. Good sign. Yeah, it definitely was. And you know there's the thing is sudden change. Defenses practiced for that. They practice for being out there for a long drive and the offense and they make a stop feeling good about themselves, come off, trying
to get a get regroup, communicate, get some water. The offense goes out, throws a pick, or something unfortunate happens, they have to be right back out there. That's called sudden change. So they practice for that, so they understand that. So I don't think, you know, it's anything that's like brand new to you know, a defense talking about a lot
about sleep, banking, going into this ball game and going out. You had talked a little bit of last week about hey, look in the NFL teams travel a day two days before kickoff to get acclimated when you're going west or a far trip to these whichever way you're going. Do you think that the time change and be a little late to the stadium because the bus ride
had an effect on the Spartans. I definitely think so. I definitely think it was a mistake, you know, to go out just one day previous, because you can do all the things you want to do back here. You can say, you know, get an extra hour of sleep. You know, these are, like I said, these are eighteen, nineteen twenty year old kids. They're gonna be up, they're gonna be on their phones,
they're gonna be on social media. But and then I think you need to get out there on if you're playing on a Saturday, get out there on a Thursday evening. Get your body adjusted a little bit to the time you get. You get there, you do a walk through, stretching, stride, anything you want to do that way, get the blood flowing. Friday, it's a day. You're there the entire day getting adjusted at everything. Then by game time on Saturday, hopefully you feel a little bit acclimated.
And I think that contributed to the slow start that the Spartans had. Yeah, being down twenty two to nothing early in that ballgame, as you said, finding a way to score and keeping that ball game close, but then giving up the late touchdown in the first half was all too much. Because at the very end of the ball game, Jau well five six to
five minutes left in that game, Missus State starts to come back. You saw a lot of signs of life, and you thought for a moment, with those two alongside kick attempts, that Missis State had an opportunity to get back in that ball game and possibly tie it up or even win. Yeah, you definitely did. They started to get their foot in under them.
They started to communicate. They started to understand what was going on, and I just I attribute some of that slow start to the travel the time that we got We got out there and you know, it just seemed like nothing could go right. And you were on the team bus coming to the stadium, right, you guys were delayed, Yeah a little bit. Yeah. So yeah, it's a very tight highway getting two American Alaska Airlines Arena or
Field slash Husky Stadium. There was accidents going the opposite direction, like a car pile up. It was really slow getting into the stadium. But as you said, the slow start just was a little much. Michigan State now drops to zero and fourteen on the road to Pack twelve and Hawaii teams in the regular season from Michigan State. It's nineteen fifty seven. H Jayson. I'm gonna throw something out there, since you're talking to you, just remind
me when you said Michigan State drops too. Am I like crazy here? Or did the committee get some overreaction? How can you go ranked eleventh in the country too? Not ranked? Let's let's just face the facts. In any time Michigan State does anything a little out of bounds, they get slammed for it. That's body slam for it, you know, off the top road with I don't know how many ladders. You know how they do it in the stuff in the w w E, right, you know, they
they kill them for the slightest slip ups. They do it in recruiting, and they do it in games with rankings, and it's just one of those things. It's like, oh, we shouldn't have thought so highly of you, so now you're out. I mean, how do you go from eleven to an out when you're facing a team like the Washington Huskies. Yes, they were unranked, but that's in the first four weeks of the football season. The rankings don't really mean much. But you can't penalize a team for
losing to a team like that. This isn't Appalachian State, you know. Yeah, you lose, that's that's two and zero and you have to travel out there to them. Yes, you know. So it's not a school, you know, this is a This is a Pac twelve program that is loaded with talent and has a quarterback. I mean, they were favored in the game. For crying out loud that right there. They were favored. The bets they were favor and we drop out of the top twenty five.
Unbelievable, man, totally unbelievable. You're right. I don't want to get too emotional litt about it, but come on, writers, come on, ain'tp We gotta do better than that. Coach Walla got a still of the twenty in the twenties, right, you're speaking of doing better. I think you're going to see a better Michigan State team this week coming up big ten opener against Minnesota in the Woodshed. I expect the woodshed to be rocking.
I expect practice to be crazy and tough. I think Coach Tucker's going to challenge the team to be comfortable being uncomfortable this week, and I think it's going to translate to the game this week. Defense gotta show up. As you've seen a week ago on the road, Spartans traveled well. They traveled well, But all those fans that were there at the stadium and watched it on television, I don't know if you've got the same sense the noise level
and how it disrupted our offense on the road. The deep end and the rest of Spartan nations got to do the same thing against PJ. Fleck and his Minnesota Golden Gophers. And then they come in trying to row that boat in Spartan Stadium. We can't have that into which you had cambrag you. No, they can't row that boat. We got to burn the damn boat, burn and sink it against Martin Stadium. That's us talking, not the players, and we're former players. That's us talking. But that's what's gonna
have to happen. We gotta have a collective effort. It's gotta be complimentary football all the way around the ball, offense, defense, and special teams. This is what we did not see a wee could go right in Washington. Yeah, we got to play a complete game. And I think, you know, with the changes, the you know, the self reflection, I think, and hopefully the addition of Slade, the addition of Red, hopefully we're back in contention and playing like we know how we can play.
All right, break that game down on another episode of This is Sparta. But for now, that is a rapping for Jayu Culprit. I'm Jason Strayhorn. This is Sparta. Have a good night, God bless and go green and go white.