Michigan State football’s defense looked as dominant as it did last season. There’s some things it has to work on offensively, but it’s a win.
It wasn’t pretty, but Michigan State took care of Tulsa on Friday night to kick off its 2019 season with a 1-0 record. Mark Dantonio may have been displeased with his offense, but the fans were even more sick to their stomachs.
Was the season-opening win a sign of things to come or just a bump in the road early?
3. Offense was far from crisp
The Michigan State Spartans won convincingly tonight, but the offense wasn’t crisp. Head coach Mike Dantonio and his offensive staff have a lot to work on as it concerns the offense.
The offensive line did not exert their size and strength dominance at all in this one. The Golden Hurricane limited the Spartans to 303 total yards and a meager 3.9 yards per play. Connor Heyward ran for only 43 yards at 2.9 yards per carry and he didn’t have a single run over 10 yards.
Brian Lewerke looked good, not great tonight. He moved well and looked like he had his speed back on his throws, but the accuracy (57 percent completion rate) is a concern. He missed receivers high all night but in his defense, his wide outs didn’t help him out at all, leaving too many receptions on the turf.
The announcers said the play-calling was conservative because the coaching staff knew they didn’t have to unload the playbook to defeat Tulsa, and that might be true. However, the plays they ran weren’t executed very well.