MSU-Wisconsin Film Review: Round One, Quarter One

And It Begins....

This is going to be a set of picture pages of things that both MSU and Wisconsin did well in the first match-up of this game. I wanted to do a UFR  a la MGoBlog, but honestly I don't make a dime off this site and it would mean turning away paying work at my day job. So picture pages it is.

Cutback Runs

In the first quarter, Wisconsin killed us to death on the cutback runs. They did this by moving the line one way while having Ball run the other.

 Pre-Play

 The entire Offensive Line slides right except the Tight End who stays up to deal with Marcus Rush.

 Ball takes the handoff, and the tight end blocks Rush out of the play. Ball doesn't go for the homerun he just runs slightly off the Left Tackle.

This gives Norman a difficult choice to make. Does he try to stop the coming cutback run and risk bouncing Ball to the outside or does he step up and fill the grand canyon size hole in front of him and let Ball cut it back inside. He elects to stop the bounce to the outside and ends up tackling Ball for about four yards.

Cousins Ballin' Out
Cousins down 14-0 on the second play of the game and the first play after the fumble completes a zinger of a 15 yard out.

As much as I have been a bit guilty of ragging on Cousins, this throw is perfect. A foot behind and the DB knocks it away, two feet ahead and Martin goes out of bounds before coming down with the ball. First down.

Bell Does The Little Things

In this instance, number 26 has a great angle to tackle Bell at the MSU 47.

Bell stuttersteps freezing 26.

26 misses the tackle at the MSU 48 which is where he was aiming to hit Bell.

Bell slips past and eventually gets brought down at the Wisconsin 45.  He buys himself an extra 7-8 yards on that stutterstep.


A Few Other Narrative Observations from the First Quarter

- I'm not going to picture snap the Baker fumble. It was sloppy ball security for Baker. Cromartie was out of bounds when he jumped back on the ball, but I don't see how they could overturn that. It's simple, that kind of mistake can't occur on Saturday. Wisconsin is too good for that kind of stuff to happen.

- Montee Ball is VERY slippery. He does a really nice job greasing himself through tiny creases. If there's a gap occupied only by arm tackles there's a great chance he's going to get through there.

- MSU came out using the pass to set up the run after the Baker fumble. The first three plays were pass plays that were Keshawn +14 yards, Cousins Sack - 8, Cunningham + 20. After that MSU ran left, then right for a total of -4. Since this game LeVeon Bell has taken over as the starting running back and I firmly believe that in these two plays Bell would have picked up a few yards. Baker was looking for the homerun, not to get 2-3 yards. So it's 3rd and 14 instead of 3rd and 7. Cousins goes on to throw only 3 yards to Keshawn Martin, but 3rd and 14 is rough.

- James White is a significant the drop off from Montee Ball. I mean very VERY significant. Ball's combination of vision and slipperiness is what was making those cutback runs work. White just doesn't have that same vision. If MSU can force Wisconsin to start rotating White in, they can divert a significant amount of attention to Russell Wilson.

- After the first two series Wisconsin kind of got away from the Offensive Line sliding they were doing. I'm not really sure why. I'd think by forcing people into a position to side tackle that ball security becomes a bit of an issue? This was working well for them.

- On the Robinson interception, Nick Toon didn't look for the ball as he should have. This wasn't on Wilson at least not completely.

End of the 1st, Wisconsin 14 MSU 0.