Michigan State keys to the game vs. the Minnesota Golden Gophers

Adam Hernandez

13 years ago

Michigan State looks to rebound after being dismantled 24-3 by the Nebraska Cornhuskers last weekend in Lincoln.

With last weeks loss, the Spartans need to push forward, win games and hope they can get some help along the way with someone hopefully taking down Nebraska.

This week, Michigan State takes on a very confident Minnesota team that’s coming off a very emotional victory over Iowa. Fortunately enough though for the Spartans, Minnesota is still a team that doesn’t have an abundance of talent and a team that Michigan State should fare well against.

Here’s what Michigan State needs to do pull out a victory today in Spartan Stadium.

Squash the Gopher Confidence

Minnesota is feeling pretty good about themselves heading into this week. They managed a 22-21 victory over Iowa and their head coach Jerry Kill was offered a 7 year extension to try to turn the program around.

Getting off to a quick start would help the Spartans bring the Gophers back down to earth.

Contain Marqueis Gray

The biggest Minnesota playmaker is quarterback (former wide receiver) Marqueis Gray.

Now even though he won’t make a ton of plays with his arm, he is very capable of making some big plays with his feet. Currently Gray is the teams leading rusher with 582 yards on 105 carries and three TDs. Aside from his rushing capabilities he has a completion percentage of just 50.8 and has four interceptions.

Fortunately for the Spartans they’ve done a good job this season containing mobile quarterbacks such as Denard Robinson, Braxton Miller and Taylor Martinez.

They’ll have to repeat those successes this week against Minnesota.

Better offensive play calling

Offensive coordinator Dan Roushar needs a better week of play calling this week against Minnesota after everything he came up with last week was a disaster. The running game seemed to be abandoned in favor of a passing game that the Cornhuskers caught onto very quickly.

Roushar, who’s really been under fire all season after the departure of Don Treadwill, needs to come up with a more balanced game plan that can put the Spartan offense in a good position to win games and take some pressure of the defense.

Develop an effective running game

Speaking of offensive game plans, the Spartan’s need to center their offensive attack around their running game today. Minnesota is horrible against the run allowing 268 rushing yards last week against Iowa. Roushar needs to take note, pound the ball and allow Kirk Cousins to develop a sound passing game.

Ref: Detroit News, Lansing State Journal, WinonaDailyNews.com