Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith previews Maryland

okay good to go everybody um well just like uh what we do after a game we digest it and look at it from every angle uh couple things stood out obviously still police found a way to win the game thought it was competitive credit to Florida Atlantic that pushed us in a lot of different ways schematically physically had some good players um you know contested came down to the end and like I said we finished really really well I thought the crowd again was awesome impact the thing um really appreciate everyone's energy and coming out especially that student section you know on our end definitely looking to to clean some things up offensively I'll start there you know it's 11-man football and we had too many times where whether just missed assignment misidentification and so we're not iding the front correctly and we got too many you know free hitters in the Run game got to find ways to be more efficient there in the past game so much is about detail I did think the protection for the the most part showed up pretty well I thought you know we had time to make throws the pocket was clean a lot of the time not all but a lot of it so I was pleased with that part and then it comes down to you know taking care of the ball in Red Zone efficiency we just just wasn't wasn't where we need to be and we got to take a step there and excited about the opportunity to kind of dive in and and improve uh defensively a lot a lot to like you know we were on the same page communication throughout the game uh was solid thought they played with great great effort running the ball tackling for first game you know a lot of good tackling not a bunch of missed tackles uh guys playing with leverage it just comes down we have to be able to finish plays with greater awareness just smarter the penalty side just um and again it's first games and guys are flying around but we got to do it do it at a higher level I think we gave him six free first downs nine maybe nine penalties on defense which is it's going to get us beat uh special teams wise that pin punt changed the game you know eeky gets it down we cover it really well gets the ball on the One turns into a safety turns into a great field position so that was that was awesome to see in general though I think our coverage can get cleaned up I think we got exposed I know we had a long return that uh we got a penalty on but we're not in great Lanes we got to clean up our coverage we can get exposed there and so that'll be a point of emphasis kind of this week in practice I've told you guys on the injury side you know we're not going to day in and day out be talking about a ton but we did have a couple of guys go down that'll be longer term injuries elante Brown will be you know hopeful to maybe November uh coming back uh khil Majid doubtful to come back Dylan Tatum at least a couple of months if if not for the year so those three guys which is a blow I mean the all three of them contributing playing awesome feel really bad for them but they are longer term injuries and always want to just be up front with with that part you know transitioning into game two and starting Big 10 play we're excited about it got to go on the road and and play a really good opponent uh these guys been multiple bowl games the last few years they got talent on both sides of the ball they scored a bunch in week one and so coach locky got a bunch of respect this guy he knows how to coach football and that roster got a lot of good players and so we've got our work cut out for us um coming this Saturday with qu with that I'll take some questions hey Jonathan R here you know does it help at all when you you when you're game two is is a big 10 game on the road I mean versus staying at home playing like an sccs opponent as far as increasing the sense of urgency for that Improvement right you know it adds to the challenge I think it's uh you know the schedule is what it is I think from game one to game two we were going to have some serious uh sense of urgency to get better after game one we did learn a bunch about this team you know first experience of this team in all three phases individual players we learned a bunch and now kind of where they're at what they need to to take a step on so that approach I don't think would have would have changed at all it just does that you know you got a big time opponent um that's got a bunch of good players it's a real Challenge on the road staying with that um open up Big 10 play on the road can you share a little bit about the differences and the similarities in preparation even the nuances when you have to get a team and go on a road and also kind of come together as one yeah one the differences on the road obviously going to go through the travel part which will be the first time for us right so the day before is going to be different than it was last week um you know locker rooms crowd noise um kind of going on on our own we do expect to see some Spartans out there in that part of the country um but it's not going to be um like it was Friday night in a packed house with the energy you're getting from our Stadium Crow it's going to be different obviously those two injuries with Dylan and khil in the secondary uh you mentioned that being a big blow how do you kind of pro progress forward and kind of with Malik coming back too I mean obviously suspended how how much of a difference does he make uh excuse me not suspended he was ejected um but how much of a difference does he make and I mean keeping those guys healthy as yeah we're going to need to I mean because that's a that's a position that you need to have multiple bodies to play especially you think about DTS in the flexibility can play nickel he can play safety shoot he can play some Corner a little bit last year so he had some position flexibility that now we don't have so yeah getting Malik back huge n obviously had a nice game and we've got some you know answers um but it's always going to be the next man up this game's a physical game and different positions they're going to take a blow or two and we got to have the next guy to step in Jonathan the last two years I think your Oregon State teams averaged 5.6 penalties a game something like that less than 60 yards as you look back now having analyzed it what caused that and the late hits on some of the slides how do you coach that yeah we got to do a better job coaching it and again it's not just Michigan State I pulled a couple of clubs showed the team on Sunday that's across the country that this showed up in in game one and so we've got to be able to you know we're not going to slow down in how we play on defense but we got to have some awareness around the quarterback around the sideline understand the rule um and make some tweaks to maybe how we approach the quarterback in regards to low versus High um so that'll be some emphasis this week Jonathan over here you mentioned that you lik the protection I'm wondering what you saw from running LS created and your assessment of the two backs uh Run game wasn't good enough um just the efficiency of it you know we had the long run on on the one but we've got to identify it correctly to start more consistently correctly and then we got to get some movement and so we we've got to create some more space for those guys to go um I did think Kon KRON carried the ball pretty well uh did some good stuff Nate uh did some good stuff when there was uh more to more to run through and sometimes we're going we're going to have that you know our style of play they're going to load the box at times and you know there's going to be some two yard runs three yard runs we just had way too many of them uh we need to get more in the 68 and it starts with identification and some movement up front you had a number of guys on on defense that created pressure and I'm wondering anybody when when you watched it back that really stood out that you thought boy this was was nice Kint tally I mean this guy loved it and we said we were going to play a lot of guys but but he wasn't going to get a ton of snaps and the way the thing went he did end up impacting the game in the second half in particular that guy showed up in a huge way uh when it was critical times um you know they're moving the ball in the Red Zone he gets a huge sack on third down obviously ends the game on on the fourth down it was an incompletion he created the pressure so was pleased with him along with others up front Jonathan um I noticed uh your first walk to the stadium in your first run out of the tunnel you let the players Take the Lead you were a little further back in both of those settings I wonder if you could talk about the mindset behind that yeah we a little bit we want to be player Le around here I actually spoke to the team uh giving them the heads up that's how you know because we walk through all the pregame and how this takes place I also love the fact that the strength coach who spends the most time with them uh is up in front of that thing those guys have put the summer hours the sweat that goes into so that's the logic a little bit we're going to be player L let these guys go and running out me running first I'm the slowest one running out there and so I don't think helps helps things either obviously coach um Aiden was frustrated with his performance since Friday night have you what have you seen from him in terms of his attitude his mood uh has he flushed it has he moved on I think he uh he's a competitive kid and it was frustrating for him um and I thought you know we practiced lightly yesterday and he was he was bouncing around understands that uh we got to we got we got to grow we got to learn and he's all about doing that he's aware too it's not just all on him but he's got some plays that he can make I thought uh he got hit pretty good on one we got a Crosser wide open he gets hit we don't don't complete the ball he bounced back up and responded bounced back from that I expect him to bounce back uh this week just wondering what was your first experience running into that Stadium you talked about the energy in general but what do you remember about entering that Stadium for the first time anything strike you well I I've always liked thunder struck I mean even growing up so that thing playing and going smoke energy the band's right there um it was fun I'm also wondering I I know you can't change the rule of midseason and you got a coach for it but in your opinion does that rule in the off season need to be Revisited because defensive players are in midair and quarterbacks all over are sliding down and you can't stop yourself and your helmets are going to hit does that rule need to be Revisited in your mind I they could revisit it look at it again I'm not here to say it needs to get uh totally changed it's a tough play I mean to that immediate instance where he's going full speed to turning into defenseless it's tough and and the reality I do think proper way to tackling often times on ball carriers is to go low cut their motor we want to tackle their legs well when you're doing that and then all of a sudden immediately he goes down you're going to run into some of these things so it's a tough play um we got to continue to coach it and gain awareness from it and our guys will um but I'm not here to say flat out the rule needs to be changed tomorrow Jonathan you were talking before season about having depth at receiver and guys stepping up nobody was able to record even 30 yards receiving I don't know how often that happens in in games you've coached but I guess what do you need from what are you looking from that group game one to two to really establish yeah uh details um those guys you know they play a little bit more man coverage that we saw last week we got to be able to separate but details on where I split how far I go on my depth I got to be able to separate man coverage with some stair step techniques and things like that I'm confident in that group you know again week one to week two to week three we got to continually improve we've got got some talent in that room and we got to you know take a step in our pass game Maryland presents different challenges than FAU does um offensively especially with the way that they can move the ball you know through the air just what are you looking for from your defense to be able to I guess present this new challenge yeah it's a it is a challenge because they've got talent outside that can make you miss a quarterback with a strong arm who's a willing Runner uh I mean coach locky at a high level on that offensive side for a long time so it's a serious challenge different than week one right just in the passing game uh which is you know week in and week out of college football you're going to have some different challenges but they present a serious one on that side um getting on the road for the first time too uh I guess how do you approach it with the guys with the longer extended period here between games and just the impact that you guys need to make right now with a big 10 game uh right out of the shoot here yeah so you got to be able to start fast you know our routine on the week whether we're on home or away doesn't change a ton we'll be back to our practice um starting tomorrow those three practices will be very similar now we might pump in a little crowd noise for the offense versus the defense like we did when we playing at home our approach on Fridays before we travel we try to get some work done meetings wise and and things before we get on the airplane and then try to get a good night's rest and on the routine start Big 10 play again our approach can't totally change and it really won't Big 10 game or this opponent that type of thing we you know we're sticking to a process and and looking forward to getting getting another opportunity Jonathan I'm wondering um you talked about Maryland's offense a little bit they they didn't uh I don't know if it was a shut out maybe they allowed one but just defensively what did you notice from those guys they return a bunch of players that had played last year you know I think they're veteran defensive front uh they got a couple of safeties that can run and make plays uh the transfer at corner they they got some challenges there and they yeah they won won handily last week um I think they gave up seven and so that it's a it's a good outfit is it is it a deal where you have to prepare for both quarterbacks I know both played the one got hit though but is it a deal where this week you just have to be ready for both you got you got to kind of be ready you know for both again both of them have skill set to be able to to run the ball and do some things so um we're counting on on on seeing both of them just I was wondering like your your weekly prep I know we have got three Friday games this year but typically your off dat you come back on Saturday a Saturday game and you'll practice Sunday or and then Monday off I was just wondering just what your thought process is behind that is it something you picked up from another I've kind of always lik to you know really emphasis on we got to correct and improve and so taking the day on Sunday after the game to make an emphasis on getting things fixed uh right away I I'm a Believer in you know the off day for the player on Monday businesses are open school they can see a teacher uh get a haircut that kind of thing uh like the the full day allowed for the coaches on The Game planning side and so we've been doing that for a while just following up in a little bit more I guess on details of the injuries uh upper body lower body can you tell us what they suain yep uh so D Dylan and khed are lower body and alante is upper body else right thank you thanks