EAST LANSING – A third of Michigan State’s regular season is over and the results are uneven.
Two double-digit wins, two double-digit losses.
The Spartans (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) come home from a 34-7 loss to Minnesota last week and play in Maryland (3-1, 0-1) on Saturday.
Michigan State coach Mel Tucker had his weekly press conference on Monday and here are notable quotes:
“I see a smile there. Are you licking your chops or something?’
– Tucker opens his press conference with a joke after consecutive defeats.
“Offensively, ball security is critical. The turnover margin is the biggest indicator of winning and losing and at the current time we are on the negative side of the turnover margin for the season. That also reflects our record. We need to play more explosively on offense, we need to hold drifts and we need to score points. We are very close in the run game. Defensively our pre snap alignments need to be improved. We need to do much better to stop the run on a consistent basis “And our approach has to be improved. We have to be tighter in coverage, man and zone. We have to put pressure on the quarterback on all the downs. We have to come third off the field and we have to take the ball.”
— Tucker about his takeaways after watching the movie of the loss to Minnesota.
Mel Tucker ‘determined and optimistic’ Michigan State can make much-needed changes
“I am excited about the opportunity. I am very optimistic and determined is how I feel right now.”
– Tucker on the challenges ahead for the Spartans.
“We have plans for that. Exactly the details of how we’re going to do that, I wouldn’t share at this point. That is what we are doing now.”
– Tucker on how the team will make improvements.
“We need to make some adjustments to the schedule. We always evaluate the staff and we will do so if necessary. We’ll have to see what that looks like once we get there.”
– Tucker on if scheduling or staffing issues.
“We have room to run in some cases and we have to make sure we hit the gap. We need more push and more tension on the line, more movement and then also with the tight ends and receivers to stay tense because it takes the line and the tight ends, the receivers and the backs and makes us come in and out the right play.”
— Tucker on the running game after Michigan State carries 43 for just 80 yards in the last two games combined.
Michigan State must make drastic improvements soon to prevent the season from falling apart
“If we go down early and it becomes a scoring situation and it becomes a race against time and the ball running, there are really limited options there because of the time in the game and the score difference. … It will be a two minute situation for the rest of the game.”
– Tucker on challenges playing the ball when facing major deficits at the start of each of the last two games.
“Berger was a bit confused when he came out of the last game, so it took us a while to get him ready for the game during the week.”
— Tucker on the running back of Jalen Berger, who rushed 100 yards in each of the first two games this season, but had 17 carries for just 40 yards in the last two games. He was limited to four rushes for 13 yards against Minnesota.
“He is a high-level competitor who wants to do things right, perform and win. He needs to do better in some areas, in some situations in the game, and we need to play better around him – offense, defense and special teams. I’m determined to help this team get better and I know he is.”
– Tucker on quarterback Payton Thorne, who has struggled at times this season. He went 17-for-24 and passed 132 yards, zero touchdowns, two interceptions and a fumble against Minnesota.
“The job of the defense is to get the ball back to the attack as quickly as possible and score as much as possible or set up a score. We don’t do that, we didn’t do that.”
– Tucker in defense who won’t stop the last two games. Minnesota went 10-for-12 on conversions in third.
Michigan State Offense Turns Anemia Into A Blowout Loss To Minnesota
“High.”
– Tucker when asked about his confidence in his staff.
“We have a defensive player who had all the defensive players on their day off yesterday to watch the game all together, go through every game, go through the calls and communications, the orders, that sort of thing. That was something that wasn’t.” was directed by the coaches. The same also happens in attack.”
– Tucker on players coming up to lead.
“He can get more involved now because he’s more mobile. He walked there on crutches for a minute, so he had to keep his distance just for safety reasons, but now that he’s more mobile he can get a little closer to the action and that’s what you see.”
– Tucker on fifth-year senior safety Xavier Henderson remains involved with the team despite missing the last three games due to a right leg injury and it is unclear when he will return. He was on the field during the loss to Minnesota.
“It’s not difficult for me to shut out the noise. I think it’s more difficult for the players because of the experience. We talk about it. We talked about it right after the game in the locker room and then we talked about it again today and we’ll keep talking about that. What we say exactly how to do that, I just have to keep it at home.”
– Tucker on handling criticism after consecutive losses.
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