Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast on Resurrection From Failure
There's plenty to be excited about right now if you're a fan of Spartan athletics.
Michigan State football is making a push for postseason play after dropping three straight. It will need to win out to do so, but fortunately for them, the Spartans are at home for their last two regular season games.
Meanwhile, Michigan State hockey is No. 2 in the nation and rolling right now, having swept its first two Big Ten series, both of which were against ranked opponents.
Then, Michigan State men's basketball is 4-1 and will get a clearer understanding of where it stands when it heads to Maui, Hawaii, for the Maui Invitational. Its first game is set for Monday against Colorado.
On this latest episode of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast, our Hondo S. Carpenter Sr. and Attorney Jonathan Schopp look back at Michigan State football's latest loss to Illinois, look ahead to Friday's matchup with Purdue, discuss the epic season hockey is having so far and preview men's basketball's trip to Maui.
You can watch the episode below:
Below is a transcript from Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith's opening statement of his press conference on Monday:
"OK, quick turnaround. but going back on Saturday after fully digesting the tape, lack of complementary football, really all three phases, there wasn't enough there. There were some really good things in all three phases, but not enough to make it a lot closer in the fourth quarter and ultimately, win the game. And again, credit to Illinois. I thought they did a nice job a couple of facets schematically, tweaked a couple times in protection that we couldn't get home, especially on third down, that they blocked up real well. And their quarterback made some good throws when there was needed, especially on some of those third-and-longers. Offensively, up front, we need to establish some things better. Protection wasn't as good as even I thought. It wasn't great on the field looking at it again, there's a lot of edges there. Aidan [Chiles] did a nice job getting ball out a few times. We can protect the guy better, and we're going to need to. Special teams-wise, we had to execute in the punt -- you look at the yardage, when we were punting the ball, net, how much, I mean, we've lost that side of things, their punt return, our punt. Again, going off of the previous week, we were at protection issues, now we had a little more hang time and eliminate some of those hidden yards on special teams. So, like I said, quick turnaround moving forward. Practiced this morning. Guys are back to work. There's definitely some disappointment, frustration, but I thought, looking at the work, they're putting that effort and the energy, emotion into the practice today. Because that is a quick turnaround, and it felt like guys were moving around full speed. So, liked the work we got done today. Because looking at Purdue, you watch this tape, they've been able to move the ball. They've had some lighter scoring, just because some of the red zone [struggles], similar to us. You look at their schedule and the opponents, they played. A bunch of top five teams, and that's what this league is and all of that. So, we'll know we'll have a challenge Friday night."
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