SeattIe - I think people are getting the wrong idea about Mel Tucker’s assertion that the problems on defense against Washington Saturday were a death by inches.

If I’m hearing him right, he doesn’t mean the Washington receivers were getting open by inches, and the Spartan defenders were merely an inch away from making the play. He means the inches were lost before the ball was even in the air.

“From my standpoint and what I was getting from the box, and in talking to the players, it was death by inches,” Tucker said following Saturday’s 39-28 loss at Washington. “I can give you a couple of examples: They ran a double move on a guy and we drove underneath the guy and not to his upfield shoulder and then we weren’t able to stay on top.”

The inch of error came with the defensive back’s angle of convergence on the receiver. I haven’t looked at the film enough to figure out which play it might have been or which player was at fault. But this was a case of a player not carrying out proper technique.

“There was another play when we had a chance to get off the field on third down and they had three wide receivers in a close proximity and we were all triple-pressed,” Tucker said. “We were supposed to be on different levels, and we got picked and we weren’t close enough to make the play. And we never line up triple press, ever. So you don’t even give yourself a chance by alignment.”

I know which play he’s talking about, and it was a killer. Michigan State had just scored to cut the lead to 22-8. Washington’s last drive of the first half, which resulted in a Huskies touchdown and a dagger into the Spartans’ hopes and momentum.

The second play of that drive, on second-and-10, Washington had three receivers to the right, in a tight bunch.

Michigan State was in two-deep/man-to-man (that’s two deep safeties, man-to-man underneath). Michigan State rarely plays this coverage, but they were changing it up, playing different cards, trying to find a winning combination, trying to slow down Michael Penix, trying anything.

Might have seemed like a solid play call from the coaches’ booth. But, as Tucker said, MSU’s three pass defenders in man-to-man were basically shoulder-to-shoulder, “on the same level,” as Tucker said. Tucker indicated that those players are supposed to be staggered a bit so that they can pass off receivers to one another, or “banjo” the coverage, like basketball defenders dealing with screens.

Instead, the switch release of Washington’s receivers caused Michigan State defenders to get picked. The result, on second-and-10 at the Washington 35-yard line, was a completion to Husky WR Ja’Lynn Polk for a gain of 16. And the Huskies had momentum back, and were off and driving again.

Six plays later, Washington scored on a 17-yard TD to make it 29-8 with :04 seconds left in the first half.

That drive by Washington was one of the turning points in the game. Michigan State showed signs of having weathered the Huskies’ early storm and maybe were in the process of turning the game around.

But give credit to Washington for finding the chalk to stay aggressive and deal a crucial blow before halftime.

Five plays after that switch release/rub route which capitalized on MSU’s technique error, Washington converted what turned out to be a mammoth fourth-and-five at the Michigan State 34-yard line with :30 seconds left in the half.

Michigan State went with cover-six zone on this play, which means cover-two on one half of the field and cover-four on the other half. Michigan State used this zone coverage on the opening snap of the drive, yielding a short pass attempt to the flat, which was dropped.

On this play, Washington seemingly went to its script card for its key fourth-and-medium, or crucial third-and-medium plays and smacked Michigan State with a neat little gimmick play which worked perfectly.

On this play, Michigan State showed press man-to-man before bailing to cover-six. So Michigan State wasn’t standing pat and telegraphing its coverages. Michigan State was going deep into its rolodex, looking for winning chess moves.

But Washington’s subtle yet creative play call would have matched up well against most coverages. Washington cleared the linebacker level of the zone with vertical routes and then leaked a tight end into the pass pattern late. The late release was wide open underneath. The tight end, Devin Culp, caught the pass at about 10 yards and churned out a gain of 17 yards to the Michigan State 17-yard line.

Hurtful.

One play later, Michigan State applied some pressure to Penix. But Penix kept his eyes downfield as he was flushed out of the pocket. Michigan State safety Angelo Grose failed to stay with his receiver in a scramble rules situation, and Polk worked free in the end zone for a 17-yard TD.

Tucker likes to compliment his players when they come through despite the heat of adversity. He points out when his troops didn’t flinch, which was the case so many times last year. But this time, on this drive, there was some flinches. Inches of flinches.

“There was another third down when we didn’t take the proper leverage on a guy and they hit us on a back shoulder,” Tucker said.

That was when Washington shifted to an empty backfield. Michigan State matched up in man-to-man. It’s hard to disguise man-to-man against an empty formation.

Washington had four wide outs plus a running back as part of a five-wide formation. Michigan State pressed four of the five with DBs. Michigan State had linebacker Cal Haladay on the running back.

Haladay’s feet were good enough to cover the running back, Wayne Taulapapa, but - according to Tucker - his leverage wasn’t perfect. Taulapapa caught a perfectly-thrown pass with Haladay late to become aware that the ball was coming.

“Those are the little details that make a big difference,” Tucker said. “And we will turn on the film and we’ll see it on offense, and special teams and in all areas because that’s what was happening in the game.

“But when we did do it right, we were able to get a stop, or we were able to move the ball.”

The death by inches were only part of the problem. At the outset of the game, Washington targeted slot nickel Chester Kimbrough for key plays:

- On second-and-four during Washington’s opening drive, Penix went deep to WR Jaelen McMillan for a gain of 47 on a deep route off another one of those switch releases. Kimbrough was flagged for holding midway through the route, but McMillan finished the reception anyway.

Three plays later, Washington made it 7-0 on a 7-yard slant route to Polk against Grose. Grose made a good break on the ball and arrived at the catching area somewhat on-time and with good force through the hands, but the ball was perfectly thrown, and Polk’s hands were strong. Grose maybe dropped a bit too deep into the end zone before breaking on the ball to try to make a play. Grose wasn’t bad on this play, but Washington was good.

- The second play of Washington’s next drive, the Huskies attacked Kimbrough on a deep wheel route for Polk and a gain of 22. Michigan State blitzed and was in cover-three zone. But all zones become man-to-man at some point if the QB has long enough to throw and the receivers get deep enough into their routes, which was the case with Polk and Kimbrough here.

- Four plays later, Washington targeted Kimbrough with a slot out route to McMillan on fourth-and-five. Michigan State was in cover-one/man-to-man. That’s a difficult cover for any cornerback. Washington targeted the player whom they obviously felt was the weakest link.

“We had a matchup issue that they took advantage of,” Tucker said. “It was obvious and it showed up early in the game.

“From a coverage standpoint, it wasn’t just one position or one guy. It was kind of across the board. They kind of poked around and found some things.”

That included the back shoulder route against Haladay. And even a 35-yard deep shot to Polk against Michigan State cornerback Ameer Speed. Michigan State came with a six-man blitz on that play. Penix had time despite the blitz, and was able to throw comfortably into a five-man coverage.

Pass rush was supposed to be one of MSU’s advantages in this game, but it didn’t turn out that way.

“We weren’t able to get the rush,” Tucker said. “There is only so much that you can do when you get in a situation where we’re not playing well in any phase.”

Tucker and the coaching staff replaced Kimbrough at slot nickel with speedy walk-on Justin White. White has been on the fringe of the playing group since midway through last season. Michigan State gave him some run against the Huskies.

White was generally unscathed in the second half, although he was involved in a coverage communication bust which left a receiver wide open. But Penix happened to be inaccurate on that play, or else that one would have resulted in another gain of at least 40 and maybe a score.

And the most painful bust of the day came after the Spartans had cut the lead to 29-14 with an Michigan State TD drive on the opening possession of the second half.

With Michigan State holding momentum, Washington faced a third-and-five at its own 32-yard line. Michigan State played a cover-four zone, challenging Penix to stay patient with conservative throws while guarding against deep-shot explosives.

Penix met the challenge with a little sit-down route to McMillan for 15 yards.

Next play came the big bust. Penix rolled to his right. Washington coaches schemed Polk to go deep on a sneak route to the left. MSU’s defenders took the cheese and left Polk wide open for a devastating 53-yard TD strike, and a 36-14 lead.

“That was an over route and it was a bust on the coverage,” Tucker said. “We had a guy in position that was free to be able to play the over route. That was his job on that play and he didn’t play it.”

Washington was clearly the better team, but one wonders if Michigan State could have taken this game deeper into the 15th round if the Spartans had gotten a stop on the Huskies’ final drive of the first half, when it was 22-8. And then MSU’s TD drive to open the second half, theoretically, would have cut the lead to 22-15.

Then maybe it’s a different ballgame, with different momentum.

Or maybe the Michigan State defensive backfield makes that bust on that 53-yarder anyway and the Huskies were destined to create those busts and big plays, however many were needed, in order to secure victory.

I asked Tucker about these coverage busts. They were a problem late in the season last year. Now, a season later, with more knowledge of the system, more veterans in the secondary, and some positional coaching changes, what were the head coach's thoughts on these miscues?

“You learn different things in these guys, you learn about your team,” Tucker said. “Guys have to learn from it.

“We run these plays in practice and we feel good about our preparation and then if it doesn’t go right in the game, we have to decide is it correctable, is it mental, is it physical? And is it scheme-wise? And then we go to fix it.

“If we can get it cleaned up with better technique and better fundamentals, we’ll do that. If it’s a scheme issue then we have to fix that. If it’s a personnel issue then we’ll make those changes, so we’ll just have to figure it out.”

As for Kimbrough, he’ll be back in a competitive situation in practice this week, with White in the picture and also Aaron Brulé, a linebacker by trade who gives Michigan State a bigger body candidate at slot nickel against heavier personnel, which the Spartans will encounter next week when Minnesota visits Spartan Stadium.

“We just tell him (Kimbrough) to rely on his technique and if he is doing something wrong you can get it corrected and if you can help him with some coverages, you try to do that,” Tucker said. “And sometimes we make changes.”