 | 26 |  | 20 | OT |
First off a few important things that stood out to me. 1) With 4:50 remaining in the first half Tate Forcier faced a pass rush from up the middle and bounced a pass that was called for a intentional grounding penalty. Besides the point that Forcier needs to take a sack, the offensive line royally mis-read the defense on this play. Michigan State sent three defenders on the right side, C David Moosman picked up one, RG Mark Huyge picked up another and RT Perry Dorrestein stood by with no-one in his area, meanwhile the MSU defender that pressured Forcier blasted between Moosman and Huyge. 2) I dislike watching games on the Big Ten Network due to the poor camera angles, replays going into the next play, and poor announcing … but … is it really that hard to have the first down line actually line up with the first down marker, watching the game in slow motion, the line would be 1/2 yard to a yard off, really? 3) I kept waiting for Michigan to go to Minor and let him run between the tackles in the second half, but it didn’t come to pass. The latter half of last season, Minor was the offensive MVP, and he earned that status running up the middle. 4) On Glenn Winston’s run around the right end for 18 yards that put MSU up 20-6 at the beginning of the 4th quarter Michigan State exploited a mismatch. They had three WR’s on the wide side of the field and none on the short side. Obi Ezeh covered the WR in the slot while Donovan Warren slid in to a OLB spot on the short side. State ran a power play to the short side, Warren was drove 8 yards off the line of scrimmage and Winston was sprung down the sideline to put State up 14.
Football is often a game that comes down to one or two plays or even a mental mistake. I tracked every play in the game searching for the intangible plays that make all the difference in a close game. Examples of negative plays I charted were missed blocks, blown assignments, mis-reads, being driven out of the play or simply showing poor tackling form. Examples of positive plays would be the shedding of a block, beating a double team, staying in a proper lane or successfully reaching the second level on a block. Ideally a great game by a player would result in no negative plays and a few positive plays. On most plays there isn’t a mis-read or an extraordinary effort by a player. Keep in mind that a negative play in the future could result in a QB being blindsided or a simple toss play turning into a 80 yard touchdown.
Defensively, these players beat double teams, shed a block or mis-read a play. Brandon Graham played like an All-American. Jordan Kovacs was effective in stopping the running game. Mike Martin and Ryan Van Bergen were solid in both run and pass defense. Craig Roh still has work to do on his rushing defense but showed his athleticism covering a TE 25 yards down the field. Obi Ezeh often was a step out of place, either over-pursuing or taking wrong angles. Jonas Mouton continues to avoid contact, he tries to go around a block, rather than plug the gap, often resulting in gaping cutback holes. Players begin with a 5 and their rating goes up or down based on their game day performance.
Defensive Intangible Leaders
| Brandon Graham 9 (++++++—) | Stevie Brown 6 (++-) |
| Jordan Kovacs 9 (++++++--) | J.T. Floyd 6 (++-) |
| Mike Martin 8 (+++) | Troy Woolfolk 4 (-) |
| Ryan Van Bergen 8 (+++) | Mike Williams 4 (-) |
| Craig Roh 8 (++++-) | Obi Ezeh 4 (++---) |
| Donovan Warren 7 (++) | Brandon Herron 3 (—) |
| Will Heininger 7 (++) | Jonas Mouton 3 (+---) |
Now here’s where it gets really interesting. I tracked every single offensive play to see the linemen’s point-of-attack percentage. So every play that called for a lineman to take on a defender one on one, did they succeed or fail? At the pro level, an average between 85-90% often results in a Pro Bowl. While under 75% puts someone on the bench. Against a ranked team should result in 85% performances. When you notice that a player has more chances then another that means he is depended upon. The players with lower chances participate in double teams more often. Perry Dorrestein was absolutely destroyed in the first half of the game, but had a strong second half to get his game to a respectable 70.4%
| LT Mark Ortmann | 24/26 | 92.3% |
| C David Moosman | 15/17 | 88.2% |
| LG Stephen Schilling | 14/16 | 87.5% |
| RG Mark Huyge | 12/14 | 85.7% |
| RT Perry Dorrestein | 19/27 | 70.4% |
Drumroll please….
| Offensive MVP | Defensive MVP | O-Lineman of the Game |
| X |  |  |
| None | CB Donovan Warren | LT Mark Ortmann |
I struggled with the offensive MVP of the game. Darryl Stonum had a big play on his 60 yard TD reception but also fumbled away a red zone possession. (I predicted if U of M converted every single red zone opportunity they would win!) Tate Forcier was magnificent for most of the games, take away the dropped passes and the game would have had a different outcome. But he also threw the interception in OT. U of M had no running game, so no chance for Brandon Minor or Carlos Brown to take the honor. Defensively, Brandon Graham is the difference maker that makes the defense tick. Jordan Kovacs also received a 9, but most of his impact plays were unblocked tackles in the backfield (Mike Williams, ahhh.) The lineman didn’t get nearly as many opportunities as in other games. Michigan State controlled the ball, so the offense had less plays. At the same time, the Spartans had a three man rush and blitzed LB’s on many occasions, so there would be double-teams at the point-of-attack, then lineman would shed and pick up the ‘backers, so on those plays there weren’t true one-on-one situations.