Answering your Michigan State Football Questions and Emails…

Answering your Michigan State Football Questions and Emails…  I don't know if you watched the MSU-Indiana game on TV but I have a question if you did. Which

Answering your Michigan State Football Questions and Emails…

 

I don't know if you watched the MSU-Indiana game on TV but I have a question if you did. Which team was worse - the officials or the announcers? The officiating was horrible with at least 5 blown or missed calls and Mike Patrick and team called runs made by players who weren't even in the game, interceptions that weren't made and had endless speculation as to why Indiana's second best player was playing and not watching. Short answer to the latter, of course, is that they wanted to win. That line official obviously was as in over his head as Patrick was. John Kent

I know far too many officials to think that they enter a game with a set of orders on who wins AT THE COLLEGIATE level. That said, I do think that we ask for perfection from people who are part time in an imperfect sport. I remember a few years back when there was a poor pass interference call against MSU that let Nebraska win and when you watch a game as a fan you see multiple mistakes on both teams and by the officials both ways. Although I did not think the officials of the MSU vs IU game were great, I do not think the poor calls favored one school over another.

Why is LJ Scott in the doghouse? He's the best-running RB by light-years right now, with London out of commission. Why are we saving him, or why are we benching him (and yes, I get that he's probably dinged up, but no one is talking about it and when he's in, he runs like a freight train)? I just don't get it, and would like some explanation of this anomaly. Jon Reed

He is not in any doghouse. It is the coaches’ decision on who plays and when. Your issue would be with the staff.

Dear Hondo: Your frustration with Michigan State's special team’s performance (except for the Rangers 4:10 play) was palpable in your recent column. Is a return to special teams excellence a simple matter of placing the responsibility for that key aspect of Michigan State's past success back in the hands (or direct responsibility) of Mike Tressel? Tressel was a special teams "horse whisperer." Glenn T. Marrichi

I think it is fair to say that in Mark Dantonio’s nine seasons as the head coach at MSU this is his worst at special teams and it isn’t close. He must diagnose why and fix it. He is the one that has said from day one that special teams is the most critical part of the game of football.

Hondo -I am writing this pre-IU. Enjoyed your scouting report for the Hoosiers. One thing I have yet to read about in your columns is the QB situation for next season. With the games as close as they have been, how do you think having a minimally experienced QB will affect next season? Secondly, is there a chance that an outside QB could come in and start, similar to what Russell Wilson did at Wisconsin? I am thinking potentially Cooper Rush.  John Martin

• I would suggest you go back and read the logs I have written about it to the point of getting tons of hate mail and it is a big issue.

• I was talking with a head coach recently who told me that with Dantonio making it so obvious (not one pass by a backup QB this season) that he feels Brian Lewerke or Messiah DeWeaver will lead the Spartans next year. There WILL NOT BE A transfer like Wilson UNLESS A PLAYER TRANSFERS and even then it is a long shot. Dantonio said that the Spartans “failed” to get Andrew Maxwell reps for Cousins last season and it hurt him. He is doing it again. That makes me agree that there is a major chance for Lewerke or DeWeaver (who told Spartan Nation last year he will enroll early in January) to win the job.

MSU seemed to FINALLY learn its lesson in the second half last Saturday. Through the first half the Spartans consistently ran into 8 and 9 man fronts with predictably bad results. In the second half they put the game in Connor Cook's hands and started to look much more like a competent offense. From what you're hearing inside the Duff, was the lesson learned that the Spartans need to show teams that they're willing to sling the ball around the field in order to open up the run game? A. Lehmann, Indianapolis

It isn’t Dave Warner the play calling OC. Dantonio made it clear it is his call. This team WILL NOT win a national title with their foot on the Connor Cook brake. I do not think they need to throw it 75 times either. They need to still commit to the run BUT they need to use the pass to set up the run or this will be a great year with a lost chance at magnificence.

Hondo, It's been widely publicized that the team will not be practicing on the bye week, only working out and running. We all love and respect Coach Mannie and so I was wondering what he might be doing with (or to) the team this week. Any insight you can offer into what should or might be a crazy week of physical conditioning would, I am sure, be interesting to many. Thanks. Randy

Some very intense lifting and running workouts for your Spartans were in order. I want to emphasize INTENSE is the word with the mad scientist Coach Ken Mannie. The lifts were more like the offseason because they had time to recover and were geared toward adding strength.

There you go everyone. That is your weekly MSU football questions and answers article. Make sure you send your questions to SpartanNationMail@yahoo.com and put in the subject line Football Q/A. Thank you.