Michigan State Looking to Clean Up Penalties in Week 2

Michigan State was penalized 12 times in a 16-10 victory over Florida Atlantic. Heading into conference play next week, Coach Jonathan Smith aims to improve in that area as soon as possible.

Michigan State defense / Starr Portice, Michigan State on SI

Michigan State won a close game at home against Florida Atlantic in Coach Jonathan Smith’s first game in East Lansing.

While a win is always a positive, Michigan State undoubtedly has work to do on both sides before they hit the road to open Big Ten play against Maryland. Michigan State’s defense is a step ahead of the offense early in the season. However, as good as the Spartans’ defense looked at times against Florida Atlantic, Smith pointed out the glaring need for the Spartans' defense to work on playing the game properly and keeping penalties to a minimum. 

The Spartans were penalized 12 times for over 100 yards, extending drives for Florida Atlantic’s offense in a one-score game. Coach Smith made it clear he was unhappy about the team’s penalties. However, Smith also took responsibility for the penalties, attributing the large number of penalties to a need for better coaching techniques from Michigan State’s coaching staff to its players. He plans to work further with the team to help lower the penalties next week in the Spartans’ first road game. 

“Too many. Without question,” Smith said after the game. “Again, we want to play with some aggression but we have got to have some technique at the same time. So, it's not just ‘it was a late hit.’ We have got a horse collar [penalty] here. We have got to be smart around the sideline. We knew going into the game that [Florida Atlantic’s quarterback Cam Fancher] was going to be athletic and aggressive, get out, but he likes to slide. We have got to be aware [of] when that is taking place. 

“I will say, that’s not easy because as you’re going to go tackle a guy, it’s really [the] proper technique. You want to go low. You want to tackle low, then all of a sudden he’s coming down into that slide. It’s not easy, but we have to coach it better and get better at it.”

Michigan State’s defense must find a way to lessen penalties as the season progresses, especially as they enter Big Ten play. Michigan State already has plenty working against it. The last thing they want to do is make things worse by not focusing on the details, leading to costly penalties.

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