A Few Touchpoints Regarding MSU's Synergistic Excellence

Quick Note: I've been in San Diego knocking back some ice cold expense account ones at a conference for work. It's been a real challenging few days and I think my liver might not hold up. Plus, it's the bye week so there's not lots to post about.

There a few things I've wanted to address while I've been gone, consistent themes in the general MSU fan pulse. The first is William Gholston while I bet Saturday will be the day Gholston stopped being little Willie Gholston and became William Gholston, Slayer of Slow, Inattentive or Sometimes Fast Quarterbacks, we still have a way to go. Gholston's bread and butter is to bull rush everyone to death so if you have a tackle who is good at dealing with the bull rush, he will also be successful at slowing down Gholston. So buy stock now, he'll be better later, but he took advantage of some folks who were not ready for his raw speed.

Second, I will agree to a few things. 1.) Kirk Cousins struggles at key times in road games. 2.) Cousins throws some pretty boneheaded interceptions at times. 3.) He crawls inside his own head resulting in a manic crapfest. However, Cousins has still got us in second place in total Big Ten passing statistics. Since we're currently ranked tenth in the Big Ten in total rushing, we NEED Kirk Cousins to take us places this season. For us to close on our dream of playing in December in the Big 10 title game, Cousins has got to shore it up a bit, but make no mistake if we get there, he'll be a large piece of the reason why.

Third, is Baker a better running back than Bell? I guess I'd start with this, I'm not sure it's important. We have and need both. Next, I think it depends on who you ask. A pro scout would say Baker. A college coach might say Baker or Bell. Baker has the complete physical package but in a year where the O-Line is down(btw GOOD JOB O-LINE on Saturday!) I think it's natural that he struggles. What Le'Veon's gift is that he has the best vision of any back in recent MSU memory. He's patient about using his blockers. If the hole for him is supposed to be between the LG and C and it's not there, he'll look other places. He reminds me a lot of what you loved about Caulcrick, great vision and difficult to tackle. On a side note, I thought Caulcrick ran just fine at 235 his freshman year, getting him up to 255 was a mistake IMO. Baker just doesn't seem to have this vision, he runs to where his hole is supposed to be and if it isn't there doesn't tend to look for another hole. So is Baker better than Bell? Baker is more physically gifted, but I think Bell will have more success in a year like this. Bonus: I think Baker will be back next year. Bonus 2: I'd rather have this debate than why do all of our Running Back's suck like going to the dentist.

Finally, The Incredible Disappearing Act of Keshawn Martin. This one seems pretty simple to me. Keshawn Martin is a slot receiver being asked to basically play as our second most reliable receiver. Martin's natural position is the slot and more importantly he needs to be our third most reliable receiver. He is as talented as any member of our offense, but he needs to be the guy they bring in for end arounds, QB passes, you know, Keshawn Martin circus stuff. Nichol caught a couple or three passes on Saturday, but I don't think he's gonna be the guy. We need Bennie Fowler back and then on top of that, we need him to be a reliable second receiver. Part two of that is that if they could work something out with Nichol and Sims where they share the role of Y receiver, somehow. Anyway, the environment that would help Martin thrive is the one where he's the icing on the cake instead of part of the cake. Hopefully we can get someone else to be the cake in the next week or two.

Anyway, that's it for now. Be back next week for the gnashing of teeth over the Skunkbears.