Insider: Michigan State football gets better final test in Holiday Bowl
EAST LANSING – One by one, they admitted not going to Florida stunned them, and that being leaped by Michigan stung them.
But Michigan State players also said they quickly came to a few realizations after receiving a bid to the Holiday Bowl last week. Linebacker Chris Frey listed off the reasons, from getting to go to San Diego to facing another ranked opponent in Washington State to playing in a bowl a year after finishing 3-9.
“At first we were a little disappointed, shocked honestly, that we weren’t playing in the Outback Bowl,” Frey said Friday night after the 19th-ranked Spartans resumed practice for the bowl. “But as we sat back and thought about it, we’re in a better place.”
They are. And not just for a chance at Mark Dantonio’s sixth 10-win season in 11 years at MSU.
The recovery year from a 3-9 to 9-3 has been impressive, especially defensively. However, No. 21 Washington State presents a final exam for the Spartans in their weakest area, pass defense.
MSU’s linebackers have struggled against short and intermediate routes all season, most noticeably in the triple-overtime loss to Northwestern. That is the specialty of the Cougars (9-3), who run coach Mike Leach’s “Air Raid” offense to high-tempo precision with quarterback Luke Falk.
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“Mike Leach is an excellent football coach,” Dantonio said. “Their football team I think very much like us … one game out of playing in a championship-type game for the conference. I think they beat USC. I think they beat Oregon and Stanford this year, so they're a quality football team.”
If the Spartans can iron out their issues in pass coverage, it will be perhaps the biggest lesson. Outside of Frey, all of MSU’s linebackers and defensive backs will return next season. Against Washington State, they will face the best quarterback they have seen this season.
Leach’s offense runs out of the shotgun with four wide receivers and is similar to the run-and-shoot. It ranks second in the nation and led the Pac-12 at 374.8 yards per game, and Falk ranks 13th in the nation with 3,593 passing yards this season. He has thrown for 30 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
Tavares Martin Jr. is fourth in the Pac-12 at 75.5 yards per game and leads WSU with 70 catches and nine TDs, but he is one of nine receivers with 24 or more receptions this season. The Cougars ranked last in the Pac-12 at 71.7 rushing yards per game, but they are scoring 31.4 points a game and led their conference in time of possession at 33:11.
If MSU can show against another quality opponent that its defense is still improving, then the Spartans will regain their lost status as a preseason favorite to win the Big Ten next year.
“They throw the ball a lot, especially down the field,” sophomore safety David Dowell said. “It definitely puts something on the defensive backfield. We gotta come to play and make plays on the ball when it’s in the air.
“Whatever you do last always builds momentum into the next season.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari.