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Published Sep 19, 2022
Continuous copy film session aimed at team accountability
Jake Lyskawa  •  Spartans Illustrated
Staff Writer

East Lansing, Mich. — In evaluating Michigan State's week-three loss to Washington and preparing for an upcoming matchup with Minnesota, Spartan head coach Mel Tucker said his football team tried something new on Monday.

“We actually watched the film with the players today, the entire football team, this morning at 7:05,” Tucker said. “We watched the continuous copy, which is not something that we normally do, but sometimes it’s good to do that so everyone can see what happens in the game.”

The team watched the first half of the Washington game together using the coach’s copy of the film. The film went through every play, in succession, including special teams, with no sound. Afterward, Tucker said he and the team might watch the television copy to catch what wasn’t shown on his.

Tucker said the coordinators and position coaches broke things down while he ran the film.

“The coaches are making the comments as I’m running the clicker,” Tucker said. “So Scottie [Hazelton] will say the main point of the play, ‘hey, we’re misaligned here.’ Then the defensive line coach will make a coaching point, the linebacker coach makes a coaching point, the defensive backs coach makes a coaching point, I may throw in my two cents, then we go to the next play. We go through it like that, same thing on offense and then on special teams.”

The process is long, which is why the team doesn’t do it very often. But, after a disappointing 39-28 loss to Washington in which quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. totaled 397 yards and four touchdowns, Tucker felt this kind of film breakdown was needed.

“We were able to adjust our schedule to make that happen this morning,” Tucker said. “I thought it was very effective.”

For as often as Tucker and his staff emphasize playing complimentary football, in which the offense, defense and special teams play off each other, this kind of whole-team, successive film breakdown aligns well with his values as a coach.

“It helps with guys understanding when we have success and when we don’t have success,” Tucker said. “And it helps with accountability. It also helps with the understanding of complimentary football and little details and discipline, things like that. How they play into having successful plays or unsuccessful plays.”

Michigan State struggled the most against Washington in the first half, so it makes sense why the team viewed that portion of the game together. Washington led Michigan State 29-8 as the second quarter came to a close, and Penix, Jr. had put up 278 yards and three touchdowns against the Spartan defense.

It was a game in which Michigan State looked lost at times, attempting to cover the sophisticated Washington passing attack while trying to get its own offense rolling at the same time.

Tucker hopes that this kind of film breakdown will give players and coaches a more holistic outlook on future games - the schemes each unit runs and why, and how they can all provide for each other.

“You’d be surprised that sometimes, even on the coaching staff, the offensive coach is not sure what exactly is going on on defense, vice-versa,” Tucker said. “Same with the players. It could be a defensive player. He just gets off the field, he’s going over adjustments, next thing you know they say, ‘sudden change.’ He runs on the field. After the game, showers up, gets on the bus, goes back, checks his phone. Coming in the next day, he watches the defensive film. He doesn’t know what happened [on offense or special teams]."

Michigan State has its work cut out for them against a physical Minnesota team Saturday in East Lansing. While the Golden Gophers attack defenses differently than Washington in that they are more run-heavy, Tucker and his team will look to respond and adjust just the same, in a team-oriented fashion.

“We’re expecting them to come in here and be great and be prepared and be ready to go,” Tucker said of Minnesota.

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