After last week's beat down of Washington - everybody was amped about the Hawks. This week, they suck, coaches suck and the sky is falling. To add to the negativity the same cast of characters piled on about firing Kirk, benching McNamara, record inflated because we play bad teams, etc.
Nobody wants to admit that it is tough to win on the road, especially at MSU. I was there for our last two wins in East Lansing, the crowd is loud and hostile. I'm willing to bet few of the board whiners have been there.
My honest take for this game. We were flat and they came out fresh and ready to go. The bye week really helped them. Our defense played way too conservative against Chiles. Instead of pinning our ears back and going after him, we held our blocks and let him pick us apart. They had well over 200 yards of offense on first down, we were always backing up. Once again we played one half of football.
Yes, our secondary is not good. Losing Castro is a huge loss for us. Then Entringer went down. DB depth wasn't good to start the year. Parker has been saying that since the start of the year. McNamara played one decent half, he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the first half. I thought Hill was playing.
Lester needs to open it up early. Our stubborness to run when they stack the box is not good. Getting stuffed on first and second down and having third and long, doesn't work. That is Bob Cummings football.
Bottom line, MSU played better. They have better team speed. RB's were elusive and strong runners. They beat us on the edge all day. They won both lines if scrimmage and moved the ball well.
MY 9-3 prediction now looks to be questionable. Wiscy looks very good, UCLA is getting better and it's a Friday night game out there, Maryland beat USC yesterday and Nebraska is much improved. I easily could see two losses.