Would you believe that there was a drive in the first half where MSU was 6/6 for 34 yards passing and averaged 13 plays for 43 yards to chew up 7:07 off the clock? MSU was doing all of the things to deal with heavy pass rush pressure. RB screens, throws to the FB out of the backfield, quick little curl routes(PAST THE STICKS!), slant routes, throws to the flat.

The Burkland sack was brutal, he gets beat by his guy and really doesn’t make any effort to recover. I have to think Burkland was thinking there was a Running Back back there for more protection. Other than that, that drive was perfect. It was an excellent mix of run and pass to the inside and outside so ND couldn’t just put eight in the box and stop Bell. ND couldn’t just defend the outsides of the field because then MSU could run power between the tackles. All of the throws were high percentage, “Safe” throws(although the two almost picks by Maxwell hurt my eyes).

Roushar did an excellent job on this drive preventing ND from getting settled.For all the heat the offense took and is taking after this game, this drive was what they were trying to do the whole game. The problem of course was that in using three downs to go 10 yards a single sack for 9 yards undoes all of that good work and turns this promising drive into MSU’s only three points of the game.