Michigan State left Madison with a familiar problem and not nearly enough answers.
The Spartans managed just three points in the loss to Wisconsin, and the biggest issue was staring right at them: the offense had almost no punch. For a day, head coach Pat Fitzgerald and offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan asked sophomore quarterback Alessio Milivojevic to be careful with the football and live with the underneath stuff.
He did that. But the tradeoff was an attack that never really threatened.
“I just want to see us grow on those explosives and get the ball downfield more, so I think just being able to balance those and do both at the same time is something that we’re going to have to continue to grow,” Milivojevic said.
That lack of explosiveness has become the defining flaw for an MSU offense that keeps sputtering. The Spartans did not record a single gain longer than 10 yards, even though they avoided the turnovers that have hurt them in other weeks.
“Taking care of the football and eliminating negative plays; those are good things,” Sheridan said. “Let’s keep doing that. But then we’ve got to be more explosive, and we’re all responsible for that.”
The problems didn’t stop there. MSU also couldn’t finish drives or get enough out of its fourth-down chances. The Spartans entered the game almost perfect on fourth down, going 6-for-7, but in Madison they converted only once in six tries.
That meant five possessions ended the same way a turnover would have: no points and Wisconsin getting the ball back.
Fitzgerald and Sheridan had reasons for leaning into aggressiveness in those spots, even if the results weren’t there.
"Scared money don't make money," Fitzgerald said Monday. Still, the Spartans have to be better in those situations, and they have to be more timely in their decision to risk picking up the sticks.
“There are certainly plays that we could point to where we’re attempting to be aggressive, and we didn’t do good enough,” Sheridan said. “That starts with us because, as coaches, you’ve got to make sure that those plays can be executed in those moments.”
Fitzgerald has made it clear from Week 1 that he wants an aggressive approach. He’ll push the envelope, but not to the point of being reckless. Against Wisconsin, though, that balance was off, and the Spartans came away with one successful fourth-down conversion and five failures.
Now they head into Saturday afternoon’s game against Illinois with another fix to make. MSU has spent enough time cleaning up one issue only to create another, and the next step is making sure that doesn’t happen again.
“This is an unforgiving league,” Sheridan said. “You don’t really have time.
There’s no pity party here. We better get up off the mat and come back ready to work and attack the week.”
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