| Peyton Ramsey has done an admirable job filling in as the Indiana starting quarterback, a job that had been his the previous two years. It would have been easy for Ramsey to stick his name in the transfer portal, as many do now when they lose a quarterback competition, but he stuck around, and the coaches rewarded it by having him, and not prized transfer recruit Jack Tuttle, fill in for injured starter Michael Penix. Ramsey is second in the Big Ten in completion percentage, improving on what Penix did. But if Ramsey is under center Saturday, it could be trouble for Indiana. Penix is able to stretch the field more, and is the bigger running threat, and that looks to be Indiana's only chance against a defense that currently ranks #1 in the nation in SP+. You want to fight the Spartans in a box, in your first game without your injured starting left tackle and captain Coy Cronk? Good luck. The dink and dunk offense has been what has given Michigan State problems in recent years, but that was when the strength of the Spartans' defense was the secondary, leaving guys on islands and blitzing linebackers, while teams like Northwestern and Indiana simply got the ball out quickly to where the linebackers had vacated. This defense is strongest up front, and is blitzing less, leaving less space to complete those throws underneath. It sort of feels right now like if Michigan State can reach 20 points against anyone except probably Ohio State, that might be enough. The problem is that's not a given, and even the reassurance that Arizona State's defense was really good is gone after seeing Colorado move the ball easily on them. Moving the ball has started to come easier for the Spartans, but the major mistakes, missed field goals, penalties, and turnovers, have prevented the scoreboard from reflecting that. The first team offense's last five drives against Northwestern resulted in 3 touchdowns, 1 field goal, and one missed field goal, so they need to keep that momentum rolling. I do think Indiana's offense has consistently given MSU's defense enough fits that they move the ball some between the 20s, but unless they hit some big plays, they don't have enough of a running game to finish off drives, and I think struggle to finish off drives in the red zone. |
