The MSU football team discusses this weekend’s battle with Wisconsin, as well as the current state of their season.
At his weekly press conference Tuesday afternoon, MSU football head coach Mark Dantonio made it clear any criticisms directed at offensive coordinator Dan Roushar might as well be directed at him as well.
“… Right now, he’s tucked right under here under my wing,” Dantonio said, gesturing under his right arm. “If they want to criticize, criticize me a little bit because I’m in charge.”
The Spartans’ offensive play-calling has come under fire as of late, as the Spartans rank 11th of 12 Big Ten teams for scoring offense, averaging 19.6 points per game.
Dantonio recalled a theme that’s been going on all year in categorizing the offense’s struggles — that a lack of big-yardage plays continues to impede progress.
“Last year, we won 11 games, we kept talking about (how) our rushing offense — how we continued to win — was at the bottom of the Big Ten Conference, but yet we had explosive plays,” he said.
“Sometimes you can tweak the stats and make them look like what you want them to look like. The bottom line is, are you winning?
“This year, we’ve lost the close games.”
Junior quarterback Andrew Maxwell also came to the defense of his play-caller, stressing that he and his teammates need to make something happen on the field.
“The plays that are called, no matter what the play is, you (have) to execute,” he said. “Every play is drawn up to be successful. When it’s not, you don’t have to look much farther than the players. We have to put that on ourselves.”
For Dantonio, he said his quarterback sometimes needs to make those plays on his own when the pocket crumbles and scrambling is a better option.
“You have to be able to see the whole field, know the dynamics of what’s going on, feel it,” he said of Maxwell. “There’s a couple of opportunities he had to run the football. He needs to take those opportunities.”
Although Maxwell’s out-of-the-pocket athleticism was a skill often used when he was at high school, the first-year starter admitted he has gotten away from that style since he came to MSU, and mentioned a couple of instances where running would have been a better option.
“Since I’ve been here, I’ve been so ingrained into being a drop?back passer (and making) plays with my arm,” he said. “It isn’t second nature for me yet to see, OK, I’m going to go.”
Still, Dantonio said Maxwell’s greatest asset has been his leadership, something the Midland, Mich.,-native will need to keep his team focused in the final stretches of the season, and Maxwell is up to the challenge.
“If we can look at this season, look at our team right now — the adversity we are going with — (we’ll) grow together as a unit (and) as a family, get stronger and build from it,” he said.
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