WATCH: Michigan State DC Joe Rossi Reflects on Loss to Illinois, Looks Ahead to Purdue, More
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State's defense has fallen off in recent games, and much of that has been its inability to get to the quarterback.
But there are still two more opportunities for the unit to return to the same level of dominance it had early on this season, and that's going to be needed as the team looks to win out and earn a bowl bid.
Michigan State defensive coordinator discussed his unit, the loss to Illinois this past Saturday, the matchup ahead with Purdue and more when he addressed the media on Tuesday.
You can watch 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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