Michigan State Football Zeroing in On Technique & Fundamentals
East Lansing, MI – Michigan State's performance against Iowa at Kinnick Stadium was abysmal; there's no getting around it.
Mel Tucker couldn't wait to go over what happened following a big loss on the road and was intent on fixing mistakes quickly.
"I can't wait to watch the tape," said Tucker during the postgame presser. "I'm probably going to watch the tape … watch it on the bus, watch it on the plane. The sooner we can watch the tape, the sooner we can find out what happened, the sooner we can get the corrections."
Since then, he's reviewed everything he possibly could, and his conclusion wasn't surprising, nor should it be.
"Offense, defense, and special teams, we had a hard time finding guys that played well. It was hard to find anyone that we felt like played at a high level in that game," Tucker said Tuesday afternoon. "And from a coaching standpoint, we need to coach better."
He's certainly not wrong; Michigan State's issues stemmed from everywhere on Saturday, whether it was Rocky Lombardi throwing three interceptions, the defense missing tackles and their assignments, or special teams surrendering a touchdown while not being able to pin Iowa deep in its territory.
But it all starts with the very basics of the game itself.
"Technique and fundamentals, that's how you get consistency in performance. That's the main thing I took from the Iowa tape – offense, defense, and special teams; we need to improve in the areas of technique and fundamentals," Tucker said. "You can never get bored with the fundamentals."
Tucker added an extra period to Michigan State's practice on Monday to focus on such things.
"That's where I go; that's exactly where I go. I go to technique and fundamentals … what happens is, is when you watch the film, when players watch the film, sometimes it makes you sick because it is something that is a basic fundamental," said Tucker. "We need to get to where we are fundamentally sound."
However, the first-year head coach isn't here to harp on the negatives; as he did when the Spartans lost to Rutgers, Tucker intends to build off the positives within the game – even if there weren't many.
"We've got a lot of work to do, at quarterback, at every position," he said. "We've got to roll our sleeves up and dig in."
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