V-Cast: Michigan State puts itself ahead of schedule with Big Ten road win at Maryland

and welcome to the SPM mag.com vcast Jim compy Paul kedik at what they used to call Bird Stadium I don't know what it's called now but today man it was Michigan State's field um 27-24 coming back from a seven-point deficit three times Jonathan Kim end of the first half field goal to go up 1714 end of the game 1 second left the pressure packed field goal made it looked like no problem and Michigan State it's it's a win 2 and 0 uh new team New Year New Era Jonathan Smith this team's reflecting him and his staff in a big way Michigan State far from perfect a lot of screws to screw in but just kept fighting back a well coached football team flashing some Talent with Charles and Marsh defense coming up when it needed to changing pictures on defense bringing that safety Blitz on Third and one to get a stop Michigan State football is building a winning brand again Paul I whether they would have won this game or not it it was going to take some time at some point but that was a well- coached football team today Paul yeah and guys did make mistakes you know Aiden Charles had a huge monster game statistically he needed a lot of good things but he you know two of his interceptions were completely unnecessary Jonathan Smith said that they were footwork issues the the one where he overthrew um was it was it Marsh or Foster I can't remember what it was but that set up Maryland's first score and then obviously the one where munis was wide open in the endzone and and uh you know he threw it so like inaccurate that it almost looked like munis ran the wrong route and uh or he thought the other guy was just the wrong teammate right and they were all wearing white helmet so so who knows but but you know every lots of people made mistakes akes but everybody contributed and you know like for years throughout the M Tucker area we heard All Phases of the game non-stop you know they got to make plays and in this game like All Phases of the game did did make plays and it was really impressive and um you know we saw Mark Antonio when we were walking in the press conference and he had a big smile on his face as he should uh you know because he's been around this program quite a bit with Jonathan Smith but this is a kind of this is a kind of win that um you know the de Antonio had several times for while he was building that thing during uh during his tenure I think some of those close games against evenly matched teams at Northwestern um you know where guys like Benny Fowler had to make a play like late in the game um and or a trick play here there had to work and uh it kind of Might one of these these games but the thing that's different between those years and this year is De Antonio didn't have to play a big 10 team in the second game of the season this was a game in 2008 like at Cal that that they played so yeah and they lost that game but you talk about mistakes that were made but you're playing a big 10 team that knows you know that's well coached and you look at that you look at LX loxley's coaching staff and there's some good coaches on there and it's impressive and they've got some good personnel and for Michigan State to do this in this game uh you know for defense to make plays at the end you know you look at a guy like Chuck Brantley coming up with a huge interception you look at Michigan State getting the ball back with two minutes left I mean it was it was pretty amazing that they were even able to score to tie the ball game up but getting it back with enough time to March down the field burn clock and kick a field goal it's it's impressive and I I kind of wondered to myself if some of the adversity that they faced in week one at home wasn't such a bad thing because it has a galvanizing effect you're not in that situation for the first time in Michigan State un especially for the defense you know Maryland unlike Michigan State they had no issue with Yukon um they rolled them and they haven't experienced uh you know Sudden Change they haven't experienced uh you know the adversity that Michigan state did in week one in Michigan State on both sides of the ball came came up and made plays but the defense did when it needed to the offense did and special teams as well I tell you you know Maryland's the team the program that's won eight games in the last two years which is not easy to do in the old Big 10 East won bowl games the last two years against North Carolina State against Auburn had beaten Michigan State handily the last two years but in this game Michigan state had just as much belief as Maryland did now maybe part of that's because you got all the new players 61 new players not all of them traveled today 43 new scholarship players not all of them were here today but Cal Halliday was talking about we got all these new players but it seems like we've been together a long time the comaraderie is better than it's been the last couple years with all the new players talk about a new beginning um tough task for the coaching staff to get it all to mix together but they have mixed it together and a part of that is the the the the transfers they brought in are are plus personalities as Mark dantonio used to say it seems like there are a lot of givers that they've brought in not not takers and Michigan State down 7even nothing came back answered early you know a real nice drive down 147 came back took a 174 lead that pass you're talking about when Munos was open 31 yards out could have should have been a touchdown and a 10-point lead in Michigan State could have taken control at that point but that got away and you know Maryland's got a lot of players I mean the quarterback's good Ty Felton is an ex he can fly and Michigan State was having trouble matching up with him and trying to find ways to hide some things here and there and uh you know just kind of just kind of got through you know Felton 11 catches 152 yards but just kind of kept enough of a lid on him not all the time but was unable to deliver the back breaker and Michigan State on defense you know bringing that safety Blitz on 31 to get the Stop Force a field goal which missed which left the door open kept it a one- score game very next play deep to Nick Nick cha nick uh Nick Marsh it what 73 yard tou 77 yard touchdown 77 yards and the same play that they had run early in the game for 57 yards and two receiver route you know maximum protection off of you know under Center wide Zone threatening play action cuz Michigan State's Run game with was not great but good enough that to make him honored a little bit and to think you go you go deep with explosives with old-fashioned under Center you know it's like like Jonathan Smith says they like to do um common things in an uncommon way a lot of that's old school throwback stuff but gosh they were explosive and it's just the beginning with Charles and Marsh Charles was better than he was last week Charles interestingly and very candidly said last week I was scared which is understandable 18-year-old kid first ever start at home a lot of EX expectation and hope around him he can probably feel that did not play his best last week didn't play his best this week but played well enough came up big the coaches were excited about the resiliency but Charles admitting he was scared last week but not this week still mad with himself about about the interceptions like you said Jonathan Smith said those two were just simple footwork leading to inaccuracy so he's still a work in progress and if childes ever gets it all screwed in and tighten together he's dangerous and the offense will be building throughout the years but the Big 10 better hope he doesn't get it all together cuz he'll be a scary guy yeah I mean he's he's going to get he's going to clean it up but he is 18 years old and you saw like the one play that where he showed he was 18 years old more than any other play was at third and 10 he has a scramble he has the ability to make that play get and that would have been a huge play too you know if he gets up picks up that if he picks up that first down they're still tied 17 17 at that time if I'm not if I'm not mistaken you know he doesn't he steps out of bounds he tried to reach the ball over and thought he was there he knew he was close but if you get there if you like a veteran quarterback's not going to reach for in that situation they're going to do what they need to do to get you know and he showed some physicality and picking up a couple short yardage place but you're going to do what you got to do like he needed to get that first down there he would have had to takeen a hit to get it yeah but he's got to that's what you got to do in that situation he didn't and then Maryland to their credit marches down the field and that's when they score their you know I believe that's when they score their go-ahead touchdown uh to go up 247 and I'm not saying that that was I'm not saying that was an easy play necessarily but that's a play that you've got to make if you want to want to win football football games at at a high level against conference opponents and and uh there were there were other plays in this game like that but to to his credit he bounced back and I want to go back to something that you were talking about a minute ago what Cal hallay said and I think it's it's important because Jonathan Smith and the staff have did a whole lot starting in the spring and try to Foster team chemistry having players over to their houses um and then trying to get players to do the same thing and so why does that matter it matters in a situation like this when you go on the road and you've got 61 new players but you grow as a family and and that's kind of this is a huge Victory early not necessarily for the wind and the wind wind column that's huge um you know Michigan State's overall bulll picture at some point but it's more important because it it it creates the family type atmosphere because you guys grow you go together and work toward something together on the road and that's it has a galvanizing effect and it all goes back to like some of those team building um things that they did in the spring and and they weren't lip service team building things it wasn't like here here's what you need to do to be to build a team at the player level but as coach is we're just not going to do we're not going to take part in it so I think this has a chance to be to be a big deal and I think right now it's probably time for you to plug shoe pandum was well said good good points there interestingly you know the Michigan State players are fired up I saw Nick seak out here talking with Jonathan Smith giving him a hug you know seac plays for the Ravens right he's in town was at the game he was hugging a lot of former teammates and hugging the new coach who he's never played for right but seac you can tell he was excited about what's going on but he's a guy that has ownership in the program right I mean that guy's you know you know I think it's some of the guys that wish they could have played for de Antonio they played for for John El Smith and you know like it didn't it didn't work out but um you know he's a guy that wanted to be here there was a bunch of Michigan State fans here and uh you look across look look across the way and this is a pretty apathetic football fan base you know and you and I know it's tough to get around in the DMV area because traffic and whatnot but this is a good football team coming off three straight eight or winning seasons three straight Bowl wins and you'd expect a more than a half filled stadium and this isn't one of the bigger stadiums in the Big 10 but there was a good amount of Michigan State fans out here to the point where when they had some some momentum going in the second half you could hear the go green go white chant through the glass in the Press Box and don't think for a second that didn't have an impact on those guys and it was cool to see them celebrating with Michigan State fans their family that was out here because there's a lot more fans out here than you'd see it if they went to Iowa or if they went to Nebraska so Michigan State fans showed out and I think it did help them gave him a boost on the sideline yeah a lot of Michigan State fans on the Eastern Seaboard and uh when the players were singing the fight song in front of the crowd I'm not sure how many players know the fight song yet fans there but the fans were there to help him along right right hey just a few years ago the state of Michigan ranked first in the nation for deposit container recycling 90% of all purchased bottles and cans were being redeemed for the deposits today only 73% are being redeemed in the state of Michigan that means michiganders are forfeiting $105 million every year in bottle and can deposits that are not being redeemed this deficit is having a negative impact on our environment when Michigan's recycling rate drops it hurts the environment it hurts industry and it hurts all of us help the environment help your state help yourself take them back take those bottles and cans back they're your Lakes your roads your beaches and it's your dime so take them back it's worth your time and it's and everyone will benefit take them back a message from chupan a great Michigan company dedicated to recycling dedicated to the Michigan State Spartans speaking of dedication today Michigan State the Run game they tried to hammer it out and uh they were they did enough on the ground 130 yards rushing 4.3 per enough to make the defense respected a little bit but Jonathan Smith he said hey man we got there's a lot more we can get there his quote is there's a lot more meat left on the bone unquote he's a run oriented guy he wants to get that established that's what they that was the staple of the Oregon State thing and it's been a below average last week maybe average today um but doing it today without Christian Phillips at Right Guard and Jonathan Smith said after the game that we probably won't see Phillips again the rest of the season man I didn't see that coming I thought that that young man had a nice game last week in his first start really the first time he's ever played extended plays I thought big duy looked like a guy that was throwing his weight around in a positive way hate to hear that he's gone broches played today Fincher played at Right Guard also they split it up there at Right Guard uh Michigan State's thin on that offensive line is much uh positivity that comes out of this and much belief that they can make something nice in the season it's still thin on that offensive line and scary yeah I think one of the reasons they couldn't do as much as they wanted to do in the Run Run game and they did have some good runs you know like you look at their two running backs both those tail backs average healthy yardage I think uh Carter had a 30 yard and Lynch had a 2 I me like in terms of per carry average both of those guys were up over six yards one of them had 7.9 I believe and the other one had had six something but some of the penalties there was a lot of uh there was a lot of offensive line penalties the right side of that offensive line struggled today and there was a lot of moving Parts you had Fincher over there as you mentioned you had broches but then you also had Stanton R over there uh with with leppo and then Baldwin was over there a little bit so it's kind of tough on the road in the Big 10 to be like moving guys around and even that even that second or the um was the the second driver the third the one that was like uh the one that was Child's first interception um I I believe that was Stanton R and Dallas Fincher were on the field at the same time in that drive and that was like you know it was a long field uh because I believe it was like one of those where they to come out but it's different it Fincher um broches it would have helped them if they had played last week and uh but yeah they've got to be better on the offensive line and I think one of the more impressive things with Charles today is he overcame like some of the 15 yarders like that you didn't need didn't need to have yeah one of those 15 yarders um they came back on a second and 23 for the touchdown um D Glover's touchdown right right 30 34 y skinny post I think to to Glover uh yeah you know childes came back on that one for sure go ahead I'm sorry yeah I mean and there was there was other ones as well you know there those are kind of things that you can get better at and I think you can can rep your way out of but Michigan state has got Ro just had an illegal block illegal Blind Side block that was one of those which is kind of a area I believe leppo was like uh lined up not on the line not on the line of scrimmage he was he was he was you know you got to be within the the uh the ba what how do they term it the base of the center and the center basically his butt you got to be on the plane you have to be on the plane of the center he might have been a little bit back and there's a tight end outside of him that was up I I've seen worse allowed to go especially in the Pack 12 by the way exactly so um I've seen Smith mentioned we Smith mentioned his quote you know we had penalties we weren't lined up so he's he's not saying it was a bad call or whatever I guess you learn from that or whatever but Leo's a new starter in game two and he's had some good moments and some shaky moments he's got the potential to come around but um he's got to come around you know and he's getting the getting some pressure there from Stanton ril doing some good things as a second string left tackle can ril swing over to the right side or you just keep going bald tried today and you know bald one over there a little bit so that's a work in progress a continued competition there as well um but yeah some of those penalties Michigan State overcame a few talking to Mark de Antonio down here in the end zone after the game he was talking about Charles he said what' he say he said that guy he he extends plays yeah and he said that as an old defensive coach he knows that's difficult to play defense against he also intimated that he didn't have a guy during his his career and I thought that was the most impressive thing he said he said maybe leri a little bit but he didn't have a guy that had the combination of wheels and arm that Charles has and Dan Antonio's eyes lit up when he was talking about him because as a defensive coach he knows how difficult it can be to defend against that guy one of the things that Charles does a really good job at is he's able to throw on the Run uh you know for a young guy that's not always easy but he's able to throw a tight pass with a lot of velocity on the run and that is really hard to defend against and I still think he's trying to figure out because he hasn't played a lot but he's still trying to figure out how to use his legs how to you know when a play breaks down in the construct of a game at the college level and it's not it's not easy uh but I think as he learns how to run um he's going to be pretty dang impressive and as dangerous he's dangerous man he is well you talk about the depth on the offensive line there's other positions that you really look at Michigan State had a great win today but they one injury away from being in real trouble um you know even a wide receiver you got monor Foster Nick Glover or Nick Marsh out there making making plays but Ron Glover's on the on the sideline and then you had I'm not sure what that injury was did you see it or hear what it was no but he was on the bench it was like I don't know if he get is Bel rung or or what that was but he didn't come back in Antonio Gates Jr who hasn't gotten frankly hasn't gotten any traction um in training camp and frankly I thought was in a in a place where he was on a downward uh downward slope now he came in and he made one he made shallow cross check down game-winning drive but before that I thought um you know he didn't fight enough to stay in bounds on a play that was on the sideline I thought he got pushed out of bounds way too easy and he didn't care on a on a reception of his not on a reception but like on a route where Charles was looking his way and I I felt like he got pushed out of bound he didn't he didn't fight that enough and uh to me that's an I'm not saying he could have made the play I'm not saying he would would have but to me that's kind of a a body it's one of those negative body language type of things that you know you look for guys to have competitive fire and and maybe that maybe the reception he gets maybe the opportunity is going to going to like springboard him ahead yeah but they need him because Michigan State's really got four receivers right now and Isaiah Johnson played a little bit last week maybe he comes along but he didn't have a good game today uh he he made a couple questionable decisions on the goal line as far as kick returns and um and KRON Lynch Adams was back there um after a after Isaiah Johnson got them backed up for their second uh kickoff return but so you look at the the depth chart in the offensive line you look at the depth chart at wide receiver and there's you know there's not a lot of guys out there monor Foster had to make plays Nick Marsh had to make plays who who's after that yeah there's not many Antonio Gates is a guy with with ability it's a question whether that pilot light is completely lit and it's always been a question for him even back in high school and he's a kid who who loves life and loves people um how much does he love football you know that's what we're trying to find out that's what the coach is trying to find out out and he's got ability and at the end he was thrown in there and he caught a pass and made a play but the one thing that you know you look at what you see for Michigan State you see guys playing for each other that's what I want to see from Antonio Gates because this is his third year he can he can help this team he can but he's got to play for his teammates he can't worry about I'm not getting wed so I'm not going to I'm not going to you know go as hard as I can in practice and I don't know if that's the case listen we've seen enough practice to see where where he's been get where the coaches have been getting on him for Courtney Hawkins has been getting on him for effort related things I know that Courtney Hawkins Trust him enough last year to have him in the rotation and that that that Antonio Gates could block pretty decently he graded out pretty well at that I so the effort stuff you've got to have that to play uh for this program and I feel like so much of kind of the me attitude has been washed out of the program so hopefully that continues and and Antonio Gates is a guy that can get on the Lord's bus and has correct change all right yeah and what I something I was impressed with about Michigan State today is the just the brand of football on offense there were a lot of openings like last week they had trouble getting receivers open and I mentioned in the pre- snap read that Maryland's weakness was was their defensive backfield Michigan State's receivers last week got locked up by Florida Atlantic and today you know even on the two interceptions those guys were open you know even and there were some other ones where where where got there the offense was was getting people open maybe not wide open but you know half a step open um on a regular basis Run game did some good things you know that first long run that Carter had was an outside Zone and I mentioned the pr snap readed that Maryland they dominated Yukon but Yukon clipped off a couple nice plays on outside zones and I mentioned the pre- snap readed I don't know what that means and I'm sure that Maryland will be working on it but keep an eye on that because that's a that's a Lynch pin staple the Michigan State offense is the outside Zone and Maryland better get it solved and the first time Michigan state ran it broke out for about 30 yards ran at the very next play gain of six you know Michigan State has some things on offense that make you defend the entire field deep and the entire width of the field and they do it with a lot of oldfashioned stuff with some new you know with some Modern twists to it and they were springing openings and if I'm someone who hates Michigan State and I'm watching the game today I'm like crap man they got a they got a pretty good outfit putting together there I'm not saying there's a great team this year but you can just see that um I like the brand Paul conik good brand of football Lynch Adams on a third and I think it was a third and four on one of those scoring drives early in the first half he had a really decisive run where he made a nice cut in the hole was really firm and it was well blocked up and that's something that you know you we've seen Michigan State try to run the ball in years past in something like that in the last couple years they would have never picked that up in that that instance and it just was like it was one of those things where you know coaches talk all the time defensive coaches talk all the time about how it's hard it's really hard to defend a team when you don't know if they're going to run or pass on on third down or they have the ability to pick up either uh you know whether they're running or or passing and there's times where you can see Michigan State develop the potential for them to develop into that now a lot of it's going to have come down to injuries how guys how guys develop uh we know that Mahal Chu is a really good coach he does a nice job on the offensive line so guys that struggled this week I you know the jury's still out on them but I wouldn't be surprised to see them take steps in in the in the coming weeks um but I really like a lot of what what I'm seeing and I think the defense you know even though they didn't statistically have the game that they had last week in some ways they played just as impressive because they were still uh salty um you know they even on that first scoring drive it took Maryland 11 plays to go down the field and uh you know Michigan State put him in a situation where they had they had to convert three third and8 you know like it wasn't easy and then you you know like the question that you asked to Jonathan Smith was about the zone defense switching to that and uh you know Ross is a guy that will switch things up based on if it's not working he's not going to bang his head against the wall he's going to do what he needs to do he said that earlier this week I'm going to put the coverages in that I need to win the game and he did do that and Michigan State responded on defense yeah Michigan state began with a lot of press manto man early going and Maryland went deep four times in an opening drive three were wide open and the guy overthrew them three times fourth one I consider it deep it's a 15 yard slot fade it's kind of a deep pass and got it for the touchdown to Fel was a perfect throw too so four times they did it and he's a good quarterback Edwards so four times they were deep but the rest of the the game Michigan State's like okay we're not doing press well at least the rest of the half no more press it was Zone a lot of cover four kept it in front and uh you know like like Smith said make them earn it give them a long field make them go eight 12 10 play drives so Michigan State changed it then in the second half they mixed it up a little bit there a couple times when they showed press and then walked it back at the snap and might have played cover two behind it and then a couple times they stayed in it but like at that time maybe Maryland was thinking they're not going to stay in man but a few times Michigan state did some combination stuff with two deep Zone and manto man underneath when Felton was getting open one time against nikai Martinez on a third down you know Michigan State's like well you know we're going to give him a combination um and uh see if we can we can match up with that guy but he's a tough matchup Felton can fly mentioned that in the pre-nap readed that he's a good one and pray there's a good one too and they prayther kind of quiet but Michigan State changing the look just enough they you know Michigan state had one miscommunication on the touchdown on the wheel route U that was a combination coverage um you know there was some Zone at the linebacker level and Zone in the in the two deep or I think two deep but it was manto man with Brantley on a corner you know the corner against wide receiver clearing it out and that's what cleared up all that space on the sideline so it's combination coverage you got manto man there leak out of a wheel and um Turner hesitated and finally went with him and it was too late at that point so one time uh there's a miscommunication last week there were two you know Michigan State played some different players too Jeremiah Hughes the transfer from LSU did not play last week he was not in pads he was in a jersey on the sideline he was in pads today and he played in the second half at corner Michigan state was having a little trouble with you know and Rucker got dinged up a little bit so he went in and uh didn't look like uh I I saw any negativity out of him negative plays from him second string safeties today you know today it was it was nikai Martinez and Malik Spencer the entire game with Angel gross playing mostly nickel but he played a little bit of of safety also uh in in pregame warm-up Denson true freshman was repping as a second string safety along with Legend kassos to transfer from North Carolina they didn't get in the game that I saw uh but that safety situation that's kind of thin too it was a position position of depth coming into the year but with Dylan Tatum out and amarian Smith not ready yet Smith was asked about him and he said he's coming along uh he was in pads today was not in pads last week and of course khil Majid being injured as well is a position of of depth but it's thin there as as well but if they can if they can avoid the turnover the the the the injury bug which is almost impossible in college football but this Michigan State team right now that's going to get better if they keep everybody together um they're they're going to they're going to play some competitive football this year Paul yeah and I I think some more competitive football the other thing that c h was talking about and I think this helps when you're plugging in guys in is that there's not a lot of finger pointing everyone's pulling for each other and uh you know for like when arm Marian Smith does come back because I think he's probably getting closer I mean it's just a matter of like how how much can you go through the week and have on your plate that's what it comes down to the fact that he was on the sideline today was was a big deal in my opinion um you know that they trusted him with the travel spot and then uh you know so look for him to come back soon but it helps when everyone wants you to make everyone wants you you know you to be successful and you see that at linebacker you got guys coming in and everybody's making plays Wayne Matthews I mean Darius snow today making plays that was impressive and uh just everyone's kind of pulling for each other so I think when plugging in you guys into a system where there's opportunity for people to make plays and and everyone's got your back I think it makes it easier but that's always an issue for a first year program and going all the way back to you know we mentioned Antonio earlier but you think of what back in 2007 they didn't have a whole lot of depth and as injuries they got a couple injuries here and there it really changes kind of the metrics for what you can do as a football team um but right now Michigan State's in a really good place and uh I'm not saying they're they're ahead of schedule but I did not expect them to win this game um this is one of those games like for the last three years we've been talking about like Michigan State winning games against teams in their peer group and and you know prior to you know since that peach bow year in 2021 Michigan state has not been able to win these games they moved the football in Maryland each of the last two years but Maryland ended up dominating them dominating them statistically on the scoreboard because they couldn't get the plays that Michigan State got today in the second half they couldn't get the stops on defense they couldn't get special teams plays so so maybe Michigan state is a a little bit ahead of schedule I I don't know but they're competitive and uh it kind of feels like what it felt like in year one for for Mark Antonio you know like where they I think they started off really fast now Michigan State's got a brutal schedule this year um but these guys got to keep on chipping away at the rock face but this was really satisfying if you're a Michigan State fan because there hasn't been a lot of meaningful games uh for Michigan State fans when Big 10 play starts there it hasn't been a meaningful game like in Big 10 play it feels like since the each Bowl year because everything has been oh we get our butts kicked by this non-conference opponent maybe we can bounce back but don't and then it feels like you're kind of climbing uphill the rest of the season so to get a win like this early is huge um you know not just for the team and the chemistry but also for Michigan State fans psyche and I think uh it'll be cool to see those guys respond fans respond when games return to Spartan Stadium play design and play selection so much better than what we've seen the last few years just a different level of checkers and chess it really is you know we got a text from a good friend correspondent back in East Lancing Ricardo Cooney he was mentioning along those lines uh this this outfit a lot a lot of the stuff they do on offense looks oldfashioned but it's a there's there's a modern West Coast Bent to a lot of it it's it's Pro style it's NFL stuff and It's Tricky and it's good it's some of it's not unlike some of the stuff Harbaugh did the last few years and it's a it's a it's an interesting way to play and Michigan State played well today and the Victory puts them you know ahead of schedules a touchdown Underdog and a win like this puts you on schedule I think they are ahead of schedule for now it it it it makes a bowl game more realistic at the end of the year a win like this I know it's just two games and a long way to go um this reminds me of sabin's first year when they won at Illinois Illinois had Simeon rice back then they were a very good team they were preseason top 20 team and Michigan State went on the road and got a big win on the road Illinois did not end up being that great that year but this and that was more in the middle of the year maybe game four or five something like that but a win like that puts you ahead of schedule in terms of trying to get to six or seven wins to get into a bowl game that's what that did for that year in year one of Sabin and if Michigan state gets to a bowl game this year there'll be more wins to come but this one not only goes in the win column but it's a it's a sign it's a barometer that they're going to show up and slug with a lot of teams this year it helps you so you don't have to be where Michigan state was the last two years where you've got maybe three winnable games and your last five and you have to win every single one of them when you're beat beat to heck after playing like the Ohio States the michigans and those type of teams and then you know you come up just short uh because there's other teams in the conference that look at you as a winnable game as well and uh so that that that helps out because there's going to there's going to come a point this season where Michigan State loses a game that they probably should win you know whether it's maybe but depthwise whatever from whatever reason is out there do you mean like you're looking at a winnable game right now or do you mean like they go toe to- Toe with with Oregon and then they they lose no I'm talking about like later in the season when they play a team like you know like Illinois Indiana Purdue yeah something like that because that that's those aren't those aren't gimmies you know I'm not talking about the next two Boston College is no gimme either you know so that helps out with you know if you lose to if you lose to the this this outfit and you lose to Boston College then you're in a situation like Michigan State's been the last few years where you are looking at okay these are the only teams that we can be to get to a bowl game and so that's it's a good thing but Michigan State's growing and you know like Smith is a program Builder but he said from day one that he wants to be competitive and I think they will be competitive but he also wants to go to a bowl game and so does Allen haer so if that's possible um you know that's great but they took a big step in that direction big picture-wise but as far as they're concerned it's all all about the process yeah I I feel like this is a really big win not only for the season but just for the window of the future and for the program Michigan St fans for the program overall man like CU we I mean Michigan State fans haven't had much to celebrate this is the second game of the year you're playing a big 10 opponent and you're not you know you're not buried under 500 so I mean psychologically this is a huge Victory and it could play could play into you know bigger themes down the road but and that brand too they tackled well changing up on defense a little bit doing some good things they didn't luck into anything today I mean yeah I mean they're fortunate in a way to make some make some plays but they deserve to win this football game because they outplayed Maryland in all three phases Maryland had trouble stopping Michigan State Michigan State stopped them with those two interceptions and so forth I don't think Maryland walks off this field thinking that man you know we were the better team they might have thought we could have should have won but I don't think they walk off thinking clearly that they were the better team they weren't Michigan state was good did a great job um there was some you know um with with the pray riew game coming up when the schedule first came out with Michigan State starting a new season new Team New Era all that it at one point I thought it would have been better to play Prairie View first and then ease into FAU and then Maryland but as it turns out now you play prair view which is probably going to be kind of like a scrimmage but it gives you a chance to work on brocha some more at Right Guard get leppo together right tackle hey man you settle down it's going to be all right get child's in the groove a little bit more is Gates going to be a part of it is is give you like if I don't know what was wrong with Glover today but if he's like a week to we thing let him sit out and you know you get Legend cavaso in there second string safety you bring Jeremiah Hughes together at corner I'm not sure what's going on with Rucker but it's a scrimmage but you can also work on some individuals so whereas I thought it would have been more advantageous back in August to think playing them first coming in in game three I think it's good for for this team he also got to work on like getting Jack Belling involved that's a guy that he had three catches today it was a good step in the right direction I think Michigan state did a nice job of trying to get Playmakers involved you know they went to monor Foster right away they tried to go to to to Belling and and whatnot they got I mean I think they did a really nice job with you know Brian lindin is a good offensive coordinator he is a good play play caller and he I like that don't you like that stuff the way yeah and you know why our guy Rico Cooney is so excited about this is because half the plays are running are like updated cool versions of the crap that he used to run at ufd Jesuit that's right you know so shout out to Rico and U Jesuit but uh you know Michigan state with a zone They had a lot of third and shorts right and you know like in the Hazelton defenses and whatnot those third and shorts were almost guaranteed you know to turn into first downs you know Maryland will be like hey we got to you know and Maryland's a good team on Third and short like with their passing game and whatnot I think Michigan City did a really really nice job in the second half of you know keeping those guys down before the sticks and that's kind of reminded me what de Antonio defenses were um you know good tackling in space guys rallying to the football um you know no one standing around to see what was going to happen I thought that was impressive to me that third and three lots of times turning into uh you know fourth and punt I thought Charles did a good job on some of those play action boot rollouts looking at the second level a little bit more than you know uh you know thrown in completions deep I thought he was there you know Michigan State off was presenting him with some open layers on some wide receiver drags and things like that he wasn't always connecting with them but it just seemed to me like he was he was looking at that second level which is open if once you establish a run game yeah child took some steps Michigan State football is playing some real football lebrand football that'll be fun to cover and fun for Michigan State fans to watch uh we we appreciate everybody checking oh I should say hey give us a like here on the channel subscribe to the channel subscribe to spart mag.com we' love to have you over there it's going to be an interesting season and I think a lot of good more more good moments to come as the season progresses Michigan State got a big one today workmanlike fashion resiliency believed and represented Michigan State football well today so congratulations to the Spartans getting it done today anything else Paul for Paul con my name is Jim compron you've been watching the vcast from College Park Maryland with the Spartans for spartanmag.com