By Ricardo Cooney
EAST LANSING - On a day and in a game in which poor execution, ineffective play choice and injuries affected the outcome of Michigan State’s 29-19 loss to Northwestern, senior wideout Felton Davis III did his part and more to try and influence the outcome in MSU’s favor.
It didn’t work out for Davis and the Spartans on Saturday, but Michigan State will need continued excellence from Davis in order for the team to regain footing on the season.
Davis finished with a team-leading seven receptions for 96 yards and a touchdown, and led all rushers with 50 yards on two carries and touchdown.
Davis carried the team at times, but allowed a third touchdown to slip through his hands on a first-down red zone pass in the second quarter. Michigan State had to settle for a field goal, something Michigan State has done all too often in this increasingly-frustrating season.
“Felton had a nice game,” said head coach Mark Dantonio. “I thought initially he was targeted a couple times and they were good plays by the defender or whatever, but the ball bounced out, but he had some big plays in the game."
Davis played 70 of MSU's 81 offensive snaps, which is decidedly too many for a wide receiver. Coaches told him he needed to play through fatigue, and he tried. But the failed touchdown catch in the second quarter came after Davis had made two catches on the drive and had been targeted on a deep pass. He admitted after the game that fatigue was a factor in him failing to get his hands up in time for a short, well-thrown pass.
But Davis, overall, was the best offensive player for the Spartans, by a wide margin.
"No question he had some glances on the backside, some slants for big plays," Dantonio said. "He hit that reverse for a big play, so he executed.”
Both of Davis’ scores came in the third quarter when it looked like the Spartans might finally break the spell cast over them by a Northwestern team that has the Spartans’ number.
Davis’ first TD came on a reverse after catching a toss from fellow wide receiver and 5th-year senior Brandon Sowards.
THE ONLY THREAT
With Cody White out for several weeks due to a broken hand and Darrell Stewart’s availability limited as he comes off an injury, Davis is MSU’s only proven downfield threat.
Sowards, a senior walk-on who had not been a regular in the playing group prior to this year and missed last season with a knee injury, has become the second most-targeted wide receiver on the team, for better or worse.
Sowards had three catches for 59 yards against Northwestern, but in the first half he failed to hang onto a well-thrown ball in the end zone on third down. The defender was probably guilty of holding or pass interference, but there was no flag, and not TD for Michigan State on another trip into the red zone.
As for Davis’ 48-yard TD run, it marked the second time in three weeks that a run by a wide receiver beautified MSU’s otherwise terrible run game statistics. Three weeks ago, Jalen Nailor went 75 yards for a TD on a fly sweep to cement victory at Indiana. Nailor is hasn’t played since, presumably due to an injury.
Waith Nailor and Stewart out, Davis is MSU’s third-best choice at WR for reverses and sweeps, but he answered the call in this game with those two unavailable for that kind of duty.
“I scored like that the same way in practice we had on Tuesday,’’ said, Davis a psychology major from Richmond, Va. “The blocks happened the same way, so you know, I cut it back just the same way I did in practice and just took it up the seam.’’
His second trip to the endzone came on a nice fade route where he fought off a brief hold from NU senior cornerback Montre Hartage to pull down a three-yard pass in the back corner of the endzone.
That TD gave the Spartans there first lead of the game at 19-14 and made it look like MSU was destined to pull one off against Wildcats despite facing adversity before and during the game.
MSU’s offense faltered early and late in the game, but Davis carried the Spartans when things were going good in the middle quarters.
“That was the gameplan, that we wanted to get him going,’’ said junior quarterback Brian Lewerke. “I tried getting him passes even when No. 24 (Hartage), who was probably the best corner on their team, was following Felton around. The gameplan was that he was the main read on every (passing) play.’’
Davis, who entered Saturday’s loss second on the team in receiving with 16 catches for 278 yards and one TD, thought he should have and could have done more to affect the outcome of Saturday’s Homecoming loss.
“The first fade for the touchdown, you know that's just me trying to make a play on the ball,” he said. “Everybody depended on me today to make plays and for the most part, I did what I could. I know I left some plays still out there that I wish I could've made (but) for the most part, I just tried to make as many plays as I could.’’
While many shouldn’t have been surprised by Davis’ standout performance on Saturday, fellow wideout Cam Chambers said it’s Davis preparation and study habits every week that could make days like Saturday become commonplace.
“With Felton, basically, what I’ve noticed with him, is that he does a really good job with studying the opponent,’’ said Chambers, who earned his first start of the season and finished with five catches for 82 yards. “He does a really good job with film study and then knowing what’s going on when he gets out there. So, I would say it’s his work off the field and knowing what to do and being ready to go. He knows who the guy is who’s covering him and what he wants to do.’’
Senior safety and tri-captain Khari Willis said Davis’ attitude has a lot more to do with Davis success more than anything.
“Felton is relentless guy,’’ Willis said. “He hangs his hat on who is he is as a person and he brings it every day. I’m not surprised at any play he makes and moving forward, we’re going to need a lot more of him stepping up. He was fully locked in. He was coming to us between series and telling us it’s all or nothing, demanding greatness out of us and he’s just really responding (to the challenge) right now.’’
The question heading into the remainder of the season is whether Davis will get tangible help from other receivers. Sowards is a solid support guy, but not someone who can attract defenders away from Davis, or make a defense pay for skewing too much coverage onto Davis.
Stewart is a proven play-maker, but it remains unclear how much burst and effectiveness he has lost due to his undisclosed injury.
Chambers earned some trust on Saturday. Redshirt freshman CJ Hayes has some ability. For now, one or both of them needs to make quick progress if the Spartans are going to have a serviceable passing game in the second half of the 2018 season.
(Jim Comparoni contributed to this report.)
