Be following is a presentation of play Fly Sports properties. My guys, they're
trying to turner the goal line, but the hands, you know, Pat
Shappo. Up here comes the button. Now the sidelight you show this spot.
Well, welcome a top of the Graduate Hotel, Well at the rooftop
Rock Bar. I'm your host Jason Strayhorn and my co host Jayu culcrit Choo
Chow, and this is Sparta. We are here to break down this week's
game against the Washington Huskies, and we're gonna preview it. Are you one
of those people that says Washington or Washington Washington? Okay, good, you're
a normal human being and not a serial killer. Is that? What is
that? An FBI stat Washington versus Washington? You know, one hundred versus
hundred, hunt fifty versus fitty fitty Thursday versus Thursday. Okay, now that
we got that out of the way, the Spartans are traveling twenty three hundred
miles to the West coast. Mel Tucker takes his two and O team out
there to face a two and oh Washington Huskies team. Yeah, you know,
you know you hit on that travel there. It's it's difficult, you
know, going from the west to the east to the west, but it's
more difficult flying from the east coast to the from the west coast to the
east coast to play. So but the Spartans are going to be you know,
making that trip out there will be a little easier for them. But
still you have to put everything into account from you know, the acclamation of
the elevation of where you are, the temperature, you know, the time
of the game. Washington Stadium's open, right on the water. You know
how it's that wind gonna play. Is it gonna be a swirling wind?
Is it going to be a straightforward when all those things have to come to
play, expecially when it's really key when you fly into the stadium that Friday
previously, when you do a walk through in the stadium, if you're a
quarterback, if you're a kicker, you know all those things, you find
those different nooks and crooks about the opposing team, stadium kickers, you mean,
the people are the non people whatever whatever says. So they're going to
take that show on the road. Mel Tucker says that he's really working hand
in hand with his strength staff, the conditioning staff, as well as the
dietitians, all the people that are making sure that those players are in the
right frame of mind, the right physical state. He's asking the guys to
get an extra hour of sleep this week too. Yeah, it's it's Coach
Tucker really does a good job about those outside of x's and those things of
the game. He brings in sleep specialists there, he has you know,
on staff, nutritionists, the strength and conditioning coaches. Everything outside of x's
and o's is gonna be approach and it's gonna be talked about. It's gonna
be hit on, and the spartans will be ready for those things that from
everything from even the temperature of the hotel room h when when the guys get
in there will be worked on and looked at. Remember, yeah, that's
incredible. You remember a year ago going down to Miami, there was a
great plan in place for hydration because of the extreme guip temperatures down there.
Michigan State comes out on top of that ball game. So looking forward to
what's happening with the Washington Huskies, Jay, you give us a look to
what they have been doing and their two wins so far this year. Yeah,
you know, Washington They've been impressive in their two wins so far.
They have the Indiana transfer Penis Junior coming in and Pinnis is familiar with the
Spartans. Beat the Spartans. He has beat the Spartans before, so he
will be licking his chops for another opportunity to he You know their offense,
you know they're they're humming right now. They like to run the football and
at times you'll see them getting almost a double wing set offensive, a double
wing formation and run RPOs out of that because Penis can either pull it,
throw it, or pull it and run it or give it to the backs.
They're averaging forty eight and a half and a half points per game.
You know, they're firing on all celinders right now. This is going to
be a very good test for our defense. Yeah, you think about that,
forty eight and a half points only giving up thirteen to opponents. Yeah,
the defense is giving up thirteen points so far. The defense, you
know, they like to They also like to swarm to the football de offensively.
You'll see them in a forty three walk a safety down at times depending
on the backfield set, or sometimes they'll walk that linebacker off the edge.
And bring him and it will be essentially a four to two similar to what
Michigan State plays. Wow, So what do you think Michigan State's plan of
attack will be going out to Washington to face a team like the Washington Huskies
from a defensive side of the ball. From the defensive side of the ball.
I don't think anything changes. It's gonna be staying at home, playing
defense and reading your keys. The linebackers have to especially with these RPOs.
The linebackers they're keys. They have to be the guards. They have to
read the guards through to the backfield, and I think that's what they're gonna
have to do. We're gonna see a lot of aggressiveness with our secondary safeties
coming down, corners coming up speed. He's gonna have another good game because
of the type of offense that they run. Michigan State secondary is going to
be tested this game. You know, with the loss of a snow An
X, they're gonna be tested with this game because Pennis can throw the football
around and this line at times can give them time. Are you thinking that
because of the ability for Pinnis to use his legs, that there's gonna be
a spy type of player for Michigan State that's gonna be watching him. You
almost have to. You almost have to have someone, you know, being
like I said, a safety coming down, extra guy in the box.
There uh to be that spy on him. But yeah, I think you
almost have to put a spy on him. That's I think this is where
Michigan State is going to be tested because the loss of Snow, this is
a position that's perfectly suited for his skill set, his experience level. And
now you're gonna have there somebody else. Maybe it's you know, it could
be a gross a guy who can get in there, and that's the safety
that has a lot of range and being able to stay home and have great
eye control. It's very important for the secondary guys to be able to buzz
down into the box and then pay attention to the quarterback who is elusive in
his own right exactly like you hit on that eye control. That is that
discipline, you know, don't take the cheese. You know, you always
got to be, you know, ready and disciplined. But I think this
is a game. If I'm on the Michigan State coaching staff, I'm excited
about this game because you really get to have fun with your guys that you
have. You know, you have a lot of talent on that team.
You can rotate guys. I wouldn't be surprised to see a lot of rotation
on the defensive line for the Spartans on Saturday. You get you get an
opportunity to do different things schematically with the defense, and you know, if
we want to go to the offensive side, Jason, I think I'm predicting
that the Michigan State's offense is gonna come out and it's gonna be a fireworks
show on Saturday. They're gonna be We're gonna see a lot of explosive plays,
a lot of big plays. We're gonna open up the playbook. The
past two weeks, we didn't need to open up the playbook. Last week,
we came in with the mindset of we're gonna stablished a run game.
Now we established a run game. Now they're gonna say let thorn eat.
We're gonna see a lot of action. Our tight ends are gonna get involved.
Are receivers going to get involved. You're gonna see some reverses. You're
gonna see some flea flicker. The flea flicker might come out this week.
It might come out. It might come out this week. Way on the
road, the flea flicker might come out. I think Michigan State's offense is
gonna put on a show offensively. People have been saying that Jay Johnson has
been calling a pretty conservative ball game the last two weeks. And that's an
interesting take from j U Nostradamus culprit here, who was right a week ago
and he said Michi Sate was gonna hang a forty piece extra crispy. Let's
go back to that tape. We're gonna come in with that work mindset,
that work montal mentality, that blue collar mentality, and we're gonna take care
of business. We're not gonna worry about you know, who they are,
what they are, and we're gonna hang a forty piece on them. Crispy,
too, crispy spicy, I say spicy, A little spice on that.
Yeah, there it is extra crispy, right, forty points. So
now you said miss State is now going to open up the playbooks, as
if they haven't already coming off of fifty two point victories against the akron Zips.
Yeah, you know they're going to open up the playbook offensively. The
defense are gonna have a lot of fun doing some different things with the schemes.
But something that's overshadowed, and it's overshadowed all the time, special teams.
Special teams is going to play a key role in this game. Whoever
has the best special teams, they're the ones that are gonna be in the
best position to have that advantage. But I think this is contradicted to what
you've always said that kickers aren't people. I'm talking about kickers. I'm talking
about your punter. I'm talking about your long snapper, kicker. The kicker
is different than the punters. Defensive punter is probably one of the best players
on the defense. Yeah yeah, especially with our punter the ability to change
the field like that. So yeah, special team's going to be a key
part of guys flying down the field making place. I expect to see a
turnover too on special teams, a turnover too. Yeah. Well, that's
gonna be an exciting ball game for Spartans traveling twenty three hundred miles west to
see the Spartans in Seattle playing out there in the Pacific Northwest. Seagulls,
flying wind, swirling, lots of salmon and seafood for everybody. For Spartan
nation. Uh so, it's gonna be an exciting ball game. It sounds
like if you say special teams will come down to a kick, because right
now, this is what I think will be a big difference for Michigan State
because they open up as a favorite. I think it was Saturday morning or
Friday night, and then by or Saturday night, by Sunday afternoon, Washington's
favorite by three and a half points and climbing. Yeah, you know they're
Vegas if you're into that kind of thing. If you're into that kind of
thing, the Spartans are not the favorites. But you know, hey,
you know that's an interesting little thing. If you're into that kind of it's
always extra motive basic. Yeah. But as for the players that don't learn
into that kind of thing, they just look at that as like people like
them more. It's a it's an insult. You know, you're a you're
a big ten team. You know, you played pretty two solid games and
now you're going on the road. Yes, I see, you know that
three points you know for you know, just being away from home. But
you know, it's it's a it's a tricky you know, it's tricky,
you know, going out west. But if the Spartans can go out there
with the focus that I know that they can go with, forget the sale
gate and forget the alumni tailgates, the bands, the the Husky Dogs,
you know, the atmosphere there, and just focus on what's happening between the
lines. Spartans should have no problem when we see Peyton Thornton come back to
form that we know that he can be. I think Thorn's gonna come back
to form. I think he's gonna do some uh. I think he's gonna
go back into the archives to see what was working for him and just go
back to basics. He's gonna go back to basics, and he now he
knows he does not have to do too much. He has good running backs,
he has a good offensive line, and he can just play his game
now and let these receivers eat one thing. Quarterbacks always have to remember,
you know, you eat an apple one by the time, you don't swallow
the whole thing, and you never go broke taking a profit. Take the
checkdowns and let those guys do the rest for you. Yeah, check down.
You talk about a guy by the name of Jay and Reed check down
specialists, a guy who all you need to do is get him the ball.
I don't care if it's a jet sweep or crossing shallow crossing route.
He'll take at the distance with his ability. And also in the return game
to your point, the kicking game will be important on the road to take
that crowd out of the ball game. And we expect Michigans to take to
travel well, yeah, Spartan's gonna travel all it's you know from talking to
people, they're excited about this. You know, if you're a casual viewer
that picked one game a year to go to on the road, this is
the game that a lot of people are circling to go to. So Spartan
Nation is gonna be represented really well in Seattle this weekend. Now, this
is gonna be a fun matchup at seven thirty pm Eastern time for Michigan State
on the road facing the Washington Huskies night game. There's not gonna be so
much night game out there for thirty pm out there, so we may have
a little sunlight dusk, a little dusk and the sun will set on that
stadium on a Spartan victory that's right. We're looking forward to it for next
week. And as we said here at the Graduate Hotel, sitting the top
here at the rock top rooftop bar, ju cochrit signing off with me Jason
Strayhorn. But this is Sparta. Have a good night, God bless and
go great, Go White,