⚡ CFB Dashboard

KENNY SOARES + Sack during EMU’s second series. Beat RT. head and shoulder fake to set up a spin move. If you watched the game on TV, you probably saw that one pretty good. I thought EMU’s O-tackles were extremely suspect. I haven’t gone over the whole tape yet but I expected Michigan State to get more pressures like this throughout the game but I don’t think it turned out that way. As for Soares, that's the type of move the coaches projected for him this year when watching his infrequent edge pass rush assignments last year at NC State. What we need to know is whether that was a Jacoby Windmon type of sack, one that we won't see replicated in Big Ten play. *** TYRAN CHAPPELL + Chappell with a good block on Chrishon McCray’s 33-yard punt return. ELI COENEN * Feats of strength: On third-and-long pass in 1Q, he lined up as a DE, took on the LT with a bull rush, then long armed him while controlling, put him on skates, and planted him on his butt. He wasn’t involved in the play, but dominating a LT like that was pretty impressive. Putting a DT out on a LT, it’s no surprise that the DT can with a bull rush battle with him. But Michigan State has enough confidence in his athleticism in covering ground to put him on the edge in a three-rush/cover-with-eight situation. + COENEN’s FIRST SACK; P and 10, EMU’s third drive, QB scram loss of 1, Coenen bull rush vs left guard, pushed him back then his disengagement was sudden and strong. Technically it was a coverage sack but Coenen’s ability to disengage finished the play. Michigan State was in man-to-man underneath. That left LB Crawford on WR Devereaux on a shallow cross. That should be a VERY difficult cover for a LB. I’ve been saying that Crawford plays faster than his 243-pound frame (from the MAC) might suggest, but Crawford went from zero to fast enough on this play to keep the WR covered. - DEFENSIVE BUST * EMU third drive 3-9, swing screen, gain of 29. Michigan State blitz six. EMU caught Michigan State with a favorable play, swing pass screen AROUND the inside blitz. Good guess on the shell game. Brantley good job playing it outside-in, to his help. The problem is Tre Bell was out there playing it outside-in, too. I’m not sure who was wrong, but they didn’t “vice” or “compress” tackle that thing like it’s drawn up. Since Brantley was playing slot nickel on that play, I suspect that Bell had wide jurisdiction and Brantley maybe should have stayed inside and spilled that to outside to Bell and the sideline and Martinez scraping over the top. Anyway, with Bell and Brantley BOTH playing outside-in, that’s like having 10 on the field. And six were blitzing. So Michigan State ran out of numbers pretty quickly on this play. It looked like Nikai Martinez was illegally blocked in the back, but it wasn’t called. Chappell and Pretzlaff made the tackle downfield. LB CALEB WHEATLAND + 1-10 +41, 3:30 left in 1Q. Michigan State in 4-3 defense. Wheatland TFL on the perimeter. EMU runs a tunnel screen. Wheatland recognizes it, takes on the blocker, pushes him into the intended receiver. Then Wheatland gets off and makes the tackle, Ben Roberts delivers heavy blow. Loss of 1. Really good play all the way around by Wheatland. Smart, recognized it, physical with the blow-up then physical with the finish. That's a solid second-stringer right there. (end of 1Q) I'll do the other quarters, hopefully, on Monday.