MSU Coach Jonathan Smith Speaks on Season Opener, Injuries, Maryland
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State football is shifting its focus to Maryland now as it prepares to take on the Terrapins in College Park for its second game of the season.
The Spartans have a lot to learn from their ugly win over Florida Atlantic in Week 1, as the road will only get tougher now that conference play begins.
Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith addressed the media on Monday, reflecting on Friday's win, revealing injury updates and looking ahead to Maryland.
You can watch his presser below:
Below is part of Smith's opening statement:
"Well, just like what we do after a game, we digest it and look at it from every angle. Couple of things stood out. Obviously, still pleased we found a way to win the game. That was competitive. Credit to Florida Atlantic, they pushed us in a lot of different ways -- schematically, physically. Had some good players contesting. Came down to the end and, like I said, we finished really, really well. I thought that crowd, again, was awesome. Impacted the thing. Really appreciate everyone's energy in coming out, especially that student section. On our end, definitely looking to clean some things up. Offensively, I'll start there. It's 11-man football, and we had too many times where whether [it was] just missed assignment, missed identification, and so, we're not ID-ing the front correctly and got too many freak hitters in the run game. Got to find ways to be more efficient there. In the pass game, so much is about detail. I did think the protection, for the most part, showed up pretty well. I thought we had time to make throws, the pocket was clean a lot of the time, not all, but a lot of it. So, I was pleased with that part And then, it comes down to taking care of the ball and red zone efficiency. We just -- wasn't where we need to be, and we got to take a step there. And excited about the opportunity to kind of dive in and improve. Defensively, a lot to like. We were on the same page, communication throughout the game was solid. Thought they played with great effort, running the ball, tackling, for a first game, lot of good tackling; not a bunch of missed tackles, guys were playing with leverage. It just comes down to we have to be able to finish plays. ..."
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