Spartan Football enjoyed a remarkable run last season: it posted an 11-2 record, a season ending Peach Bowl victory and the season culminated with an impressive #9 ranking in the final AP Poll.
It was the Spartans first double-digit winning season since 2017 and it was Mel Tucker’s first winning season as a Head Football Coach. In fact, it was only the 8th double digit winning season in Spartan football history and only the 6th Top 10 ranking since 1966.
The Spartans started fast, compiling an 8-0 record through the month of October, including a 5-0 start in the Big Ten. They were creative and resourceful, beating Nebraska, Indiana and Michigan by narrow margins. And after beating Michigan, the Spartans soared to #3 in the land.
After all, a double digit winning season was totally unexpected so 2021 was a remarkable run.
A major problem rears its ugly head
Yet, a major problem had been festering and the first 8 games gave opposing Offensive Coordinators enough video to break down strengths and weaknesses and those coordinators found gaping holes in the Spartans Pass Defense.
Consequently, in the final 4 regular season games the Pass Defense got blitzed by an aerial assault for an astounding 1648 Yards, or an average of 412 Passing Yards per game. Problematically the Spartans finished the final 4 regular season games with a middling 2-2 record.
The aerial assault in November was relentless and here is a week by week recap:
- Nov 6: Purdue 536 Yards
- Nov 13: Maryland 350 Yards
- Nov 20: Ohio State 449 Yards
- Nov 27: Penn State 313 Yards
Of course, November is the month when champions are crowned, but sadly, the Spartans impressive 8-0 start was followed by an uninspiring 2-2 record in November and that meant aspirations for a B1G championship were scuttled.
And even though the Spartans beat Pitt in the Peach Bowl, they were fortunate they didn’t face Kenny Pickett, Pitt’s #1 QB who opted out of the Peach Bowl to prepare for the NFL Draft.
Let’s remember, by the end of the season the Spartans Pass Defense and Pitt’s Pass Offense were going in completely opposite directions.
Under Pickett’s guidance, Pitt commanded the #8 Pass Offense in the land, averaging 337 Passing Yards per game, including 44 Passing TDs and 41 PPG.
Yet, even with Pickett out, Pitt still challenged the Spartans porous Pass Defense. In fact, Davis Beville, Pitt’s inexperienced and unknown #3 QB completed 78% of his passing attempts, but Beville simply didn’t have the experience or wherewithal to manufacture points so Pitt succumbed to the Spartans 31-21.
But that was then and this is now, so what should we expect in 2022?
Fall camp starts next week and there is precious little time to fix the Pass Defense:
Let’s remember, the Spartans Pass Defense concluded the 2021 season with the “worst” Pass Defense in the land.
The Pass Defense yielded a perplexing 325 Yards per game which ranked #130 when measured against 130 D-1 Schools, and that also ranked dead last in Big Ten, so there is nothing about those rankings that Spartan fans can feel good about!
After all, every Big Ten opponent except Nebraska exceeded their Passing average when they played the Spartans. In fact, in just 9 Big Ten games the Spartan Pass Defense yielded an “eye glazing” 3039 Yards and the Spartans Pass Defense was helpless to stop the aerial assault.
So, how much can the Pass Defense improve?
What can we expect in 2022?
Even with improvement, the Spartan Pass Defense won’t go from “worst to first” so it will get tested commencing in week 1.
Of course, as we might expect, the Spartans will play a slew of Run oriented Big Ten offenses this season, 4 of which finished in the Top 5 in Big Ten Rushing last season, including #1 Michigan…#2 Wisconsin…#3 Minnesota…and #5 Ohio State. Of course, the Spartans Defensive strength is its Rushing Defense which finished #4 Big Ten, so the Rushing Defense gives the Spartans a solid base.
Yet the Spartans will also play some of the top Passing Offenses in the Big Ten as well, including 4 teams that finished in the top half of the Big Ten in 2021, including #1 Ohio State…#3 Maryland…#4 Penn State…and #7 Michigan.
If we learned anything from 2021, we learned opposing Offensive Coordinators demonstrated little respect for the Spartans Pass Defense, attempting nearly 45 passes per game and compiling 27 TD’s offset by just 10 Interceptions.
But in the final 4 regular season games, the Pass Defense yielded 9 TD’s offset by just 1 Interception and those 4 opponents completed 72% of their Passing attempts and to add insult to injury, Ohio State completed an incredible 36 of 44 passing attempts (84%) and humiliated the Spartans 56-7 by passing and scoring at will.
it would be fair to say, given the ineptness of the Pass Defense, the Spartans are fortunate they didn’t suffer more loses. In fact, amongst 10 other teams that yielded 270 yards passing or more, they all lost between 4 and 10 games.
So, who is at fault? Harlon Barnett? Scottie Hazelton? Mel Tucker? A lack of player personnel? Or all of the above?
We can affix blame to any or all, but blame is unimportant. What is important is that Spartan Football fix their Pass Defense because one thing is certain, starting in 2022 every Big Ten Offensive Coordinator has a video library on the Spartans Pass Defense, and if the Pass Defense isn’t fixed then opponents will take advantage of its weakness commencing in week 1, and that means a B1G Championship will assuredly fall out of reach.
At the bottom line: Mel Tucker will now coach Cornerbacks:
Mel Tucker is abundantly aware of the Spartans inept Pass Defense and consequently he appointed himself Cornerback Coach which is not exactly a ringing endorsement of Harlon Barnett.
Of course, this is a “sweet spot” for Mel Tucker because he has spent almost his entire career coaching Defense.
He earned his stripes as a Defensive Back at University of Wisconsin, but thereafter MT has coached for 25 years and along the way he has been tutored by some of the best Defensive coaches of all time including Jim Tressel, Nick Saban and Mark Dantonio.
MT’s coaching experience is wide ranging: he coached Defensive Back’s at Miami (O)…LSU…OSU…Alabama…and Georgia.
In addition, MT was a Defensive Coordinator at OSU and Georgia, and he was a DC in the NFL with the Browns, Jags & Bears.
We can also note that MT has been a Head Coach in the NFL including a 5 game stint with the Jags, and Head Coaching jobs in college at Colorado and currently at Michigan State.
So MT knows the challenges of fixing the Spartans porous Pass Defense and it isn’t simply fixing a player personnel problem.
If anyone watched Purdue and Ohio State pick apart the Spartans Pass Defense for nearly 1000 yards last season, then you know the problems were as much play calling and assignment breakdowns as it was deficiencies of player personnel. So, there is a lot of work to do.
Yet, if MT can limit opponents Passing Yardage to 220 yards or so per game (and let’s be clear, there is nothing heroic about yielding 220 YPG because that would still rank in the bottom tier of the B1G) nevertheless given other strengths, the Spartans could arguably still compete for a B1G Championship.
But if the Spartans Pass Defense continues to beat itself by yielding 325 Yards per game, and/or yielding nearly 1000 yards to the likeness of Purdue and Ohio State in just two games, then all chances for a conference Championship will be off the table.
Mel Tucker has the defensive experience to fix the Pass Defense, let’s hope he gets it right!
Thank you for reading
