The Michigan State offense is terrible right now. There is not one consistent aspect of its attack. The playcalling is boring and ineffective. The passing game is maddeningly uninteresting, an easy train to knock off its tracks as Andrew Maxwell prematurely throws in the face of even minor pressure. Wide receivers aren’t trusted by the coaches – it shows in the non-existent downfield passing game. One wonders – How do you fix this malfunctioning mechanism?
In the third quarter, as the rain momentarily stopped falling on Spartan Stadium, a friend turned to me and said, "Now we’ll see what the passing game can do." After a cadre of incompletions and two yard first down runs, he said, "Nevermind guy, Tressel-ball has returned."
On a day of horrific weather in East Lansing, you might sit at home and blame the weather. I tell you that the weather wasn’t an issue. The field, which I believe is very well kept up natural grass, didn’t stop players from making cuts or holding blocks. The rain fell, but not hard enough to affect Maxwell’s grip on the ball. So the weather was terrible for fans and the quarter full student section, but that had little effect on the Spartan attack.
Where does Michigan State go from here? 16 points against OSU, 16 points against Iowa, 17 points against Boise, 3 points against Notre Dame…There are so many questions we have to ask. Do you change playcalling responsibilities? Do you pull a "Treadwell v. TTU in the Alamo Bowl" and just throw your conventional offense out the window? Do you add a tight end or running back to give Maxwell added protection? Do you maybe playaction on first down once in a while to keep the D honest? Could we maybe dump the ball to an RB or set up a screen pass?…Or do you just accept that the lack of o-line depth and wide receiver talent is going to doom the Spartans?
And do you fire Roushar?