Is Hutzler getting better

[OopsICroomedmypants]

or does he still suck? Seems to me that he may have been trying something the first few games that he mistakenly thought would work. After that he's changed and looked better, albeit he is crippled by lack of talent. I was pleasantly surprised with the effort today and the success of the run defense in the first half especially. You could tell a big difference after D. Russell left the game.

 

[57stratdawg]

We looked alright today. I was surprised to see them averaging 6.4 yards per rush. I felt like we bottled them up well.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

Today was better but you’re also talking about Texas with a backup QB, even if it’s the most hyped backup QB in the country. They also helped us out some (lots of penalties, dropped an easy TD in the first half, took 3 points off the board for…. Reasons)

 

[Lettuce]

Manning is not a back up qb…however you want to shake it

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Nope… Texas averaged 8.4 yards per play on a day they were sleep walking. MSU controlling the ball in the first 3 quarters kept Texas from scoring 60 points.

 

[Irondawg]

We played much better D for 3Q.

Yes, they had some penalties that helped. But our alignments were better, we were able to generate some pressure on Manning and we tackled a little better.

The main issue is that other than Smith, who didn’t play, I don’t know that we have a single defensive player that has any chance of even making an NFL practice squad for a year. I don’t know if we’ve ever been able to say that.

I saw more “our guy simply can’t cover their guy” today than we simply didn’t know what to do or missed 5 routine tackles.

 

[OopsICroomedmypants]

I remember seeing right around halftime they had 1 yard rushing and it was the lowest rushing total they had in 50 years or so. I’m judging him more on the first half being he has half of a defensive roster. The defensive alignments were good for the down and distance and when we got beat it wasn’t because of blown coverage. I can think of 1 td pass where our safety bit and he paid, but that was the safety’s fault.

 

[patdog]

Well, the bar for getting better was pretty low, but yeah, we looked better. I thought Sark helped us a little with his play calling, the TX WR helped by dropping an easy TD pass, and Lebby and the offense helped a LOT by keeping control of the ball for 2/3 of the first half. But defense played well until they ran out of gas late in the 3rd quarter.

 

[Ranchdawg]

Great gameplan by Lebby. Run clock to keep the defense off the field. Hutzler benefitted as a result. I was shocked that we were able to run the ball up the middle on Texas. Personally, I believe Sark had his boosters betting on State with the points to improve their recruiting class.

 

[patdog]

Great gameplan by Lebby. Run clock to keep the defense off the field. Hutzler benefitted as a result. I was shocked that we were able to run the ball up the middle on Texas. Personally, I believe Sark had his boosters betting on State with the points to improve their recruiting class.

Or maybe TX isn’t the best team in the league after all. I don’t think they would have beaten Alabama or Georgia yesterday. And Tennessee may be better than all 3 of them.

 

[00Dawg]

Certainly we tackled better with a few notable exceptions, mostly late.
I also saw a couple of better blitz designs, and more man coverage (they did run away from man coverage a couple of times). I will say one of the long TD passes was against our let-me-telegraph-this blitz style, so it’s not totally gone.
I’ll take it as a positive overall.

 

[Jacknut]

The running game was great! We knew we we're running it, Texas knew we were running it, and we still were getting 4-5 yard gains. This offense can't get behind the chains.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

or does he still suck? Seems to me that he may have been trying something the first few games that he mistakenly thought would work. After that he's changed and looked better, albeit he is crippled by lack of talent. I was pleasantly surprised with the effort today and the success of the run defense in the first half especially. You could tell a big difference after D. Russell left the game.

Or players are learning. Or both.

 

[aTotal360]

17 no

 

[Arnept]

If allowing 522 total yards is "better", then sure.

Hutz still needed to be fired two weeks ago.

 

[HailStout]

This really is a rebuilding year. We really have never witnessed anything close to what we are going through. We literally have an entirely new team with an entirely new coaching staff, which itself has never been head coach, d-coordinator, etc before.

I am pumping the brakes on my attack on our coaching staff. Hutzler will be our D coordinator at least for the rest of the year. it’s in everyone’s best interest that he figure all of this out. If I see continued improvement game to game, the I honestly am not concerned about wins and losses (except Umass, that just can’t happen). This year was going to suck no matter what.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

No. Our opponent had all our game film, they knew they'd win by 3+ tds. They just played lazy.

 

[patdog]

No. Our opponent had all our game film, they knew they'd win by 3+ tds. They just played lazy.

Looking at stats they had over 520 yards of offense & averages 8.4 yards per play. We’re probably a little lucky we didn’t give up more points.

 

[HailStout]

The talent gap between us and Texas is insane. There was not a single position on the field where we had a player even close to being as good as they did. They were going to win. I don’t understand the people on here bound and determined to find stats that show how terrible we are. We ARE terrible. We have virtually no SEC talent. What I saw in that game was a team that didn’t lay down (they sure as hell could have after what has happened so far) and an excellent game strategy considering what we have and what we were up against. Those of you who are not happy with the performance yesterday, please tell me realistically what you wanted to see? Us suddenly manhandling the number one team in the country?

 

[AROB44]

In 2017, Hutzler was nominated for the Broyles Award, which goes to the nation's top assistant coach.

Maybe it's the lack of talent and not the coach.