Photo by: Ryan Kuttler / NUSports.com

The Skip Report: Looking Back on MSU

9/22/2019 3:13:00 PM | Football

By: Skip Myslenski

By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor

THE OPENING ACT
Michigan State took the opening kickoff Saturday at Ryan Field and cut through the 'Cat defense like a threshing machine. It gained a dozen yards on its first play, a completed pass, and seven on its second, a sweep right. On its third, a play-action pass, it picked up 29 more, and soon enough it would complete a nine-play, 75-yard drive to go up 7-0 with just 3:18 gone.

"That first drive," 'Cat defensive end Joe Gaziano later said, "we're still trying to get settled. They executed really well and it was tough for us to catch our breath and stop them."

THE RESPONSE
The 'Cats ran three plays and punted, but here they caught a break when MSU return man Cody White fumbled and safety Travis Whillock covered the ball at the Michigan State 27. A pass interference penalty gave the 'Cats one first down and, on a 10-yard scamper after getting flushed, quarterback Hunter Johnson gave them another at the Spartan seven. Now Isaiah Bowser took a straight handoff into the end zone for an apparent tying touchdown, but a review confirmed that his knee had hit short of the goal line and so here the 'Cats faced second-and-a-foot.

Bowser did not get it on his first attempt or on his second either and now, on fourth down, the 'Cats called an option left that Spartan tackle Mike Panasiuk blew up, dropping Johnson for a two-yard loss. "They were root hogging inside and we felt we could capture the edge," Pat Fitzgerald would say, explaining that call. "Obviously we had a missed assignment on the edge. We had two guys go on the outside."

"Earlier in the week (offensive line) Coach (Kurt) Anderson said he had a sneaky suspicion there would be a pivotal time for us to execute on the goal line," center Jared Thomas would add. "That time came for us and we didn't (execute)."

"That," Fitzgerald would conclude, "was a pretty big turning point in early momentum."

TURNING POINT II
But the 'Cat defense, singed earlier, now flexed, and doused any momentum the Spartans may have generated with that goal line stand. It here simply smothered the Spartans, shut down the Spartans, limited the Spartans to four possessions and 14 plays and 23 net yards over the next 19 minutes and 20 seconds.

"We settled down and were playing together as a defense," Gaziano would say, explaining that metamorphosis.

Their offense, in turn, drove to a Charlie Kuhbander field goal on the possession that followed their futility on the goal line and then, down 7-3 with 5:52 remaining in the half, it took over again at its own 17. Now Johnson got three on a keeper, and found Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman for six, and picked up five for a first down on a play-action keep. He would complete 15 passes on this day, but only one went for more than nine yards, and here that dump-and-dink approach was on full display. There was a six-yard completion to Riley Lees, and then another for seven to Lees, and finally one of nine-yards to Malik Washington that set the 'Cats up with a first at the Spartan 42 with 2:02 remaining until the half. Here Michigan State called time out.

"I was thinking about trying to score," Fitzgerald would say of his mindset at this moment. "We'd kinda finally started to make them play defense. They'd taken a time out, so we felt we had them reeling a little bit. Then obviously, again, you get yourself behind the chains against this defense, you make it really hard."

The 'Cats got behind the chains when, on the first play after that time out, tackle Gunnar Vogel was called for a hold. Now, after a pair of incompletions, they faced a third-and-20 from their own 48, and Johnson dropped and got no pressure from the Spartans three-man rush. Finally he threw toward Lees on the right boundary, but he was blanketed by a pair of Spartans and one of them, Josiah Scott, made the pick with 1:39 left until half.

"We don't need the interception," Fitzgerald later said. "We've got a check down right in front of us. Check it down. It ends up being fourth-and-12. I may just go for it. What he hell. I've done it before. Or we're going to punt and play field position. Make them go the long field. So. I really liked the call. We had someone right in our face we could dump the ball to in order to get yards. We don't get it, we punt and play. But we're young in some positions."

A CRACK IN THE WALL
This time, after so much good work over so many minutes, the 'Cats defense blinked and the Spartans struck, quickly driving to the 'Cat 35. There, on a third-and-one with 1:15 remaining until half, they picked up nine on a Connor Heyward burst up the middle, and now it was 30 seconds later and they were facing a third-and-16 from the 'Cat 32. This time they picked up 21 on a shallow cross from quarterback Brian Lewerke to wide out Darrell Stewart, and three plays later they were staring at a third-and-10 from the 'Cat 11.

Here Fitzgerald used his last two time outs, hoping to glimpse the Spartan intentions, but nothing he did could hide the inexperience of A.J. Hampton, the redshirt freshman who was playing right corner in place of injured senior Trae Williams. "They ran a double move and scored," Fitzgerald would say, parsing the touchdown pass Lewerke now threw to Cody White with just 24 seconds remaining.

"Nice play by Cody. Good for them. We expected double post from the bunch. They ran double post. We put Greg (Newsome II, the other corner) on 25 (Stewart) and A.J. on seven (White). They won their one-on-one. Good for them. They made a play."

"They're going out and doing the best they can," Gaziano would say of both Hampton and the sophomore corner Cameron Ruiz. "It's not a great situation, having a starter senior captain out. But you've got to roll with the punches. It's Big Ten play. There's going to be injuries."

"A little baptism under fire," Fitzgerald finally said of that pair. "They better get ready. That's what's going to happen. It happened to Greg last year (when Newsome was a freshman). Usually when you end up giving up plays— football works this way. If you give something up, you're going to see it until you stop it. Those guys better have a short memory. They better wake up and get ready to get back on the horse. It's not like Wisconsin (next Saturday's opponent) is not going to look at things. That's the way the football gods work."

THE CLIMAX
The 'Cats would receive the second half kickoff, but would be working into a 14 mph wind that was clearly effecting kicks. "I said it's going to be critical that we sustain drives and win field position," Fitzgerald would say, recalling his halftime message. "We had to win the first five to 10 minutes of the second half and obviously we lost it."

This, quickly, is what happened instead. The 'Cats gained eight yards on three plays, punted into the wind and the Spartans drove to the 22 before missing a 37-yard field goal attempt. The 'Cats now gained five yards on three plays, again punted into the wind and here the Spartans drove 53 yards for the touchdown that put them up 21-3 at 4:41 of the third. Here the 'Cats gained six yards on three plays, once more punted into the wind, and this time the Spartans drove 46 yards to set up the field goal that put them up 24-3 with three seconds left in the third.

THE DENOUEMENT
Aidan Smith now replaced Johnson as the 'Cat quarterback and, on the first play of the fourth quarter, he hit superback Charlie Mangieri for eight yards and their team's first first down of the second half. But two plays later he threw a pick, which led to the final Spartan touchdown, and now the last 12:34 of this one would be played out merely to fulfill contractual obligations.

"We were sputtering a little big," Fitzgerald would say when asked about Smith's appearance. "Kind of like going to the bullpen. Let's see if we can get a little bit of a spark in this game. Then also thinking big picture, we've got to get some experience. But was hoping for a spark. Get some momentum, make it a two-score game and let's go."

THE LAST WORD
"There was nothing we hadn't prepared for. That's what's really frustrating to me right now," Pat Fitzgerald finally said. "There were a lot of plays that I saw Michigan State run today that we expected to see. For us not to execute on those plays is a credit first of all to Michigan State. They executed cleaner that we did. Then we've got to look at why we're not doing it. That's where you start.

"You start with us first."