In the possible penultimate film room of the year, we discuss a desultory, wet, dreary, underattended Friday night game against one of the worst teams in Power Four conference football.

Defensively, Michigan State was plagued by a depleted secondary but was successful in getting after Purdue's Hudson Card and stopping the run game. The defense did enough when it mattered most, but the unit was plagued by some coverage issues and busts.

Offensively, Illinois ran a lot of cover one, emphasizing man coverage. I was disappointed in the lack of production by Nick Marsh who I thought was primed for a big game. To beat cover one, you need a game-breaking wide receiver, which Marsh certainly is, and also a quarterback that can be consistently accurate, which is a work in progress with Aidan Chiles. Multiple third downs in the second half were not converted because of inaccurate throws.

However, I did think that MSU had some good answers for the man coverage in the first half, especially using the running backs as receiving threats. But the Spartans were not as consistent and they need to be to truly threaten top end teams.

MSU will be tested by a competent Rutgers team on Saturday as we wait with bated breath to see if a bowl is in play.

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