| 2012.09.03 |
I don't mean to be down on the Spartans. It was the first game of the 2012 season, after
all — but I'm not entirely happy with Sparty's win on Friday night.
For starters, MSU appears to have a history of relying on one guy to carry the whole
team. When I was attending, that guy was Tico Duckett. Duckett could always be counted
on to take the handoff and plow ahead for a few yards — each and every play. Today's
Duckett is Le'Veon Bell, who shares the honor of Big Ten Player of the Week with Nebraska
QB Taylor Martinez. To his credit, he put on a clinic — two touchdowns, six receptions,
and 265 total yards. Bell absolutely deserves to be congratulated on his amazing
performance. The problem with that? The rest of the offense didn't even bother to
show up. Tony Lippett couldn't even catch a cold — though it was nice of Sims to stop by
and make a play or two in the fourth quarter.
Photo credit: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Quarterback Maxwell concerns me. I'm hopeful his performance was simply suffering from
first-game jitters, but he certainly looked like a green Kirk Cousins in this outing —
and that's not a compliment. Cousins wasn't fantastic. The Spartan Nation lived through
season after season of Cousins' poor decision making. Maxwell looked just like him on
Friday night — especially when he got picked off in the red zone, which Cousins did
*all* the time.
Yes, I'm bashing Maxwell. Andrew Henk notes: "After his shaky start in the
first half completing 11-of-22 while throwing three interceptions, Maxwell was 11-of-16
for 145 yards in the second half with no interceptions." It's hard to get intercepted
when your running back is doing all of the heavy lifting.
Links:
"Michigan State Football: Analyzing their miscues in win over Boise State", isportsweb.com
"Le'Veon Bell rushes for 205 yards, scores late touchdown to lead No. 13 Michigan St. over
No. 24 Boise St.", Associated Press
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