Spartans Ground Down the Owls, 30-17

Road Cookin The Spartans picked up their first road win of 2010 (road as in I-96) in a grinding fashion today as they wore out the Florida Atlantic Owls,

The Spartans start the 2010 campaign 2-0 with a win in the D against FAU. Photo courtesy of Mark Boomgaard

Road Cookin

The Spartans picked up their first road win of 2010 (road as in I-96) in a grinding fashion today as they wore out the Florida Atlantic Owls, 30-17. MSU simply had too much for the Owls to match up with. In what was a fairly “vanilla” looking attack, MSU appeared to take a page out of “Tressel Ball” playbook, and only did what was needed in order to win the game comfortably.

Though the final score was 30-17, the game was probably not quite as close as the final number indicates. And it shouldn’t have been. Mark Dantonio said immediately after the game that the Spartans should have put the Owls away earlier, and had even more of an opportunity to get other young players into the game (think Rs.-Fr. QB Andrew Maxwell).

MSU knew they had the talent and depth advantage, and were clearly counting on that to shine through in the end. Despite failing to pull three scores (> 24 point) ahead, the Spartans did get a chance to work in a number of backups and young players for some much needed “live game action.” That remains important to Spartan Football in 2010, because some of those players will be playing in big time ball games, beginning next week.

The Defense didn’t look remarkably dominant today, but that was probably more the result of playing primarily “base defense,” than anything else. Again, MSU had no real reason to roll out their best material. As a result of the Spartans playing so much “base,” FAU was able to sustain long drives and use a lot of clock. MSU gave the Owls plenty of room underneath for the dink and dunk type plays, and to the Owls credit they took what the MSU Defense gave them.

Owls’ Head Coach Howard Schnellenberger didn’t become a College Football legend (for better or worse) by accident. Credit his staff and the Owls for getting a lot out of what they have as an Offense, as a team, and as a fledgling Division 1 College Football program. But, Spartan fans should be attentive if not concerned that the Owls went 7 for 16 on 3rd down conversions.

When you combine the Spartans’ defensive scheme, the Owls’ attack, and a couple very quick Spartan Offensive drives (two TD drives each taking less than a minute), the time of possession skewed widely towards Florida Atlantic, 37:33 to 22:27. Though this is not a stat Mark Dantonio would like to see, Spartan Nation should consider the underlying circumstances.

Time of possession always matters, but it’s also relative to the opponent. Any game with a winning margin that is around two scores (16 points) or more, can only tell you so much about time of possession. There’s a good chance that a game with a wide final margin was a lopsided matchup to begin with, included a major special teams impact, and or also had a Defensive score or two. That’s not an excuse for the Spartans’ time of possession discrepancy today, but rather a partial explanation and perspective to consider.

Spartans in the D?

While the expected crowd in Ford Field Saturday was around 25,000, the actual number of humans occupying seats appeared somewhat less than that. Perhaps today was a bit of a lost opportunity for Florida Atlantic. Without knowing the exact details of the agreement they had with Ford Field, it appears from afar that the Owls didn’t do enough to incentivize the Spartan Nation or people of Detroit to show up for the game in person.

It’s one thing to come up and play a road game in MSU’s back yard, but it’s another to give people a good enough reason to leave their homes, come downtown and pay for parking, pay for tickets, pay for concessions, and enjoy the game live. The Owls seemed to miss that point somewhat, as they had many tickets originally priced from $ 39, and up. I’m sorry, that’s not near the incentive needed to fill more than half of Ford Field to come watch a Sun Belt team. And the last minute attempt to drop ticket prices was probably a couple months too late.

If Florida Atlantic, who again was primarily responsible for the marketing and sales of the tickets today, would have set prices between $ 5 and $ 20 per ticket, I think you would have seen a crowd much larger. Again, you have to really incentivize people to come out to see MSU-FAU. It’s not enough just to play the game in one of the best multi-purpose facilities in the nation. Though it’s mostly speculation on my part, it did appear FAU failed to take full advantage of the thousands of Spartans who live within an hour or so of Ford Field. Many apparently felt the overall cost of going down to Ford Field today was not worth the benefit of seeing their Spartans play again in the Motor City.

The Outlook Moving Forward

Offense

This team clearly wants to establish themselves on the ground first. Today, the Spartans ended up with a solid 225 yard effort. Again, if MSU can average somewhere around 250 yards rushing per (admittedly a very lofty goal), they’ll be in position to win 10 games. Today, the Spartans should’ve run over the Owls, and for the most part, they did.

So. Edwin “Rock” Baker came out to put on a show in his home town. Baker ran for 183 yards and 1 TD, including a Javon Ringer like, 80 yard dash to day light. Thanks to the production of Baker and Fr. Le’veon Bell, who had 49 yards and 1 TD today, MSU was able to rest So. Larry Caper without sacrificing much in production. That’s a pretty good position to be in as a program.

Bell had a solid first game follow up effort going, but made a significant mental error towards the end of the 4th quarter when he fumbled with about 5:45 left in the 4th. Bell must learn quickly that when you’re trying to close out a relatively comfortable win, it’s not time to dance around with the Defense. It’s a time to keep it simple, keep it “north and south,” and most importantly avoid turning the ball over. If that means you go down with a loss of a yard or two, that’s okay because you still have the ball. Like Spartan Basketball icon Tom Izzo would probably say, “Ahhhh…Freshmen!” Bell is a good one though, and he shows many signs of a quick learner.

The passing game looked sharp in spots, but also lacked a bit focus at times. Drops are part of the game, but there’s a difference between a drop on a ball that has a slight chance of being caught and a drop on a ball that absolutely should be caught 10 times out of 10 by a Big Ten pass catcher. Spartan receivers, especially the veterans out there, need to secure the ball at better rate as the season moves forward.

Rs.-Jr. Kirk Cousins threw a sloppy INT down by the Goal Line, and was only 9 of 17 for the day (1 TD). Cousins simply made a poor read on the INT, in a play that appeared to take entirely too long to develop. Red Zone turnovers are never good, no matter who they’re against. That’s the type of mental mistake Cousins will have to eliminate as the competition heats up this fall. He’ll need to get the most out of the Spartans’ trips to the Red Zone in order to beat the best teams on the 2010 schedule.

As we discussed at the top, it was hard to take away too much from the Spartan attack today. They knew they had the better team, and didn’t appear willing to showcase too much of their best material. It was more of a simplified and straight ahead attack than probably any we’ll see this year outside of Northern Colorado.

Defense

Playing time for the young guys cannot be undervalued. For new comers like Fr. Will Gohlston, Rs.-Fr. Denzel Drone, Fr. Isaiah Lewis, and even So. Chris Norman, every “game snap” is a significant help. Many of this Defense’s key players have relatively little experience. Therefore, what could appear an otherwise boring play against Florida Atlantic actually carries a hunk of weight to it as far as moving a young team’s experience needle forward.

Maybe the most exciting thing about the Defense, taking for granted the terrific LB duo of Sr. Eric Gordon and Sr. Greg Jones, is the size and skill of the young group. Will Gohlston looks like a raw giant running around the Defensive Line. If you’re looking for more size, you’ve got Rs.-So. Tyler Hoover at the same position, who isn’t that small either. On the back end, Rs.-So. Johnny Adams looks like a significant upgrade for the secondary, and will be counted on to help bring along other young guys like Fr. Darqueze Dennard and Fr. Mylan Hicks. There’s a lot of young talent on the Spartan D, but a lot of development and experience needed until their potential can be realized.

Communication will continue to be a major key to the MSU Defense playing at a much higher level in 2010. If the communication does not continue to improve significantly, MSU will have a hard time producing much more than an average defense in 2010. If you have an average Defense, it’s nearly impossible to compete successfully for Championships and BCS appearances.

Special Teams

The kicking game looked in decent shape Saturday for the Spartans. With the kick off and field goal roles firming into place, the Spartans can now look to develop consistency in what has traditionally been a strong point of Spartan Football. Nothing seems to help a kicker like playing a dome. So. Dan Conroy took advantage today, and had a very fine and confidence boosting 3 for 3 (44, 41, 50) game. One of the main reasons the Spartans won 9 games in 2008 was the reliability of PK Brett Swenson. Conroy and Rs.-Fr. Kevin Muma’s collective kicking performance today could be a springboard to the 2010 Spartan team’s prospects.

Jr. Keyshawn Martin remains a game changer, and took his opportunity today to put on a bit of a show in front of his hometown (yet road) crowd. Martin ended up with 151 returning yards today, and is clearly the type of top flight returner that should be a dominant force against a Sun Belt Conference team. Martin must continue to make the fundamentals priority, however, and let his instincts take over only after he has read the play and secured the ball. He only seems to have an issue, like many of the better college players, when he tries to force a play that isn’t there. Make no mistake though, Martin is a terrific weapon whose importance to the 2010 football team will only increase as the games become bigger.

Overall

The Spartans have a lot of work to do before Notre Dame next Saturday night, but that’s not a bad thing. The Notre Dame game is perhaps the biggest (on a national scale) on the Spartans’ schedule. College Football fans around the nation know the legend of the 1966, 10-10 tie. They know the Spartans have a better record at Notre Dame Stadium than any Irish opponent. They know there’s been many a memorable moment in the history of this long standing rivalry.

Many around College Football are quickly learning of the new angle to this rivalry, Brian Kelly v. Mark Dantonio. Perhaps the rivalry extends, from Kelly’s perspective, to Kelly v. all of Michigan State University. But that’s for Kelly to spell out over time. Get ready for a week of questions and comparisons between the two Coaches time at Cincinnati, who should get what amount of credit for the Bearcats’ recent success, and who will end up the better coach in “major” College Football. These two are already linked, and will be compared directly for the remainder of their careers.

Kelly v. Dantonio has the potential to become quite an appetizing and intense rivalry. It could elevate the Michigan St.-Notre Dame game back to a national importance not seen in about a decade. It’s always great when the Spartans and Irish renew their classic rivalry, but it might be even better in the future with a little direct history again between the two Head Coaches.

*Interact with Jonathan on Twitter @JPSpartan or inside the Phalanx Forum