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Published Sep 1, 2023
Instant analysis on Michigan State's scheme in victory over CMU
Chase Glasser  â€¢  Spartans Illustrated
Staff Writer

With a substantially more comfortable second half behind us, my thoughts from eight stories above the MSU sideline are as follows:

Noah Kim is very comfortable outside the tackles on rollouts. At times he left clean pockets when he shouldn't have, but other times I thought offensive coordinator Jay Johnson deftly used multiple waggles for easy rhythm throws when CMU went man.

The waggles forced a field stretch laterally from the defense, and give an easy read for Noah Kim. On the Jalen Berger touchdown in the third quarter, MSU ran windback, a zone play with a designed cutback to the backside. MSU ran that a lot with Kenneth Walker III - he was very good at it with his unique vision.

The out and up to Christian Fitzpatrick to set up the Tyrell Henry one-hander was notable in that it's a route concept that was well executed, and was not something I saw last year. On that drive, I thought Kim generally gave his receivers a chance against defensive backs that I thought were downright putrid.

Not fearing CMU's downfield passing game at all, MSU was using their safeties to check the quarterback on mesh point reads, which further hampered the CMU offense. The Maliq Carr touchdown (nice catch) was a result of Kim FINALLY taking advantage of Carr getting a linebacker (who I am told is a real, honest-to-God person named "Jordan Kwiatowski") assigned to him in coverage.

Against the top three teams in the Big Ten East, MSU will have a tight-end eraser like Michigan's Makari Page assigned to Carr, and that is where his money will be made or lost. MSU walked safety Malik Spencer down to linebacker depth at times and used his physicality, which was interesting.

My general take on the team without a rewatch is that they are probably going to be fine, though I have questions about the ambulatory nature of the linebackers. Dillon Tatum is a physical upgrade at cornerback, but wasn't really tested. I think the best teams in the league will still be able to run on MSU's defensive front.

Offensively, Kim will be fine, but I have questions about his ability to handle the league's best defenses. The wide receivers are certainly plus athletes, and it will be fascinating to see them against better secondaries. I am continually underwhelmed by the tight ends, and think the running back room is above replacement level.

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MichiganState
FOOTBALL
Scores / Schedule
footballfootball
8 - 2
Overall Record
2 - 0
Conference Record
Finished
Michigan St.
89
Arrow
Michigan St.
Nebraska
52
Nebraska
Minnesota
72
Minnesota
Michigan St.
90
Arrow
Michigan St.
N. Carolina
91
N. Carolina
Michigan St.
94
Arrow
Michigan St.
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