Grading Michigan State’s Defense at the Midway Point

Defensive Line - D

The Defensive line for Michigan State has not been good unfortunately. The pass rush was a big problem last season as the Spartans only totaled 19 sacks as a team, which ranked third worst in the BigTen.

While the Spartans have garnered 13 total sacks, they have allowed the highest completion percentage in the BigTen with 67.4%. Without a good pass rush, it puts more pressure on the secondary to make plays of their own. 

The only reason the grade is a D and not a D- or an F, is because the run defense has been pretty good. In the game against UCLA, Michigan State’s run defense was graded at 76.8, and their game against Boston College was graded at 82.1 per PFF. If Michigan State wants to improve its defense, look no further than the front four and the weak pass rush.

Linebackers - C

Jordan Hall has been the best defensive player for Michigan State for this season, as well as last season. Hall has been the leader of this defense and has backed it up with his play on the field. 

Hall, as well as Wayne Mathews, have leveled up both of their play. They've been strong tacklers, for the most part, with a few exceptions, and Hall, particularly, has shown a knack for making plays beyond the routine ones. 

The depth and versatility that was touted in this room during the pre-season hasn't shown up, though, and the number of mixups in coverage has been alarming. 

The Linebacking unit has also been great to help out the defensive line when there have been blitz schemes called, as they will get picked up by offensive linemen and even running backs.

Secondary - C-

As I mentioned with the defensive line, and how poor the pass rush has been, the secondary has been given more of a task to make plays on their own, and it has hurt them more often than not.

According to PFF, there have been two games where the coverage rating was below 60. Against Boston College, the coverage rating was at 56.1, and against USC, the coverage rating was at 53.4. 

The communication hasn't been good on the field, as when watching, there have been multiple blown coverages, as well as just one on one matchups being exploited by the opposing offenses.

The Defense this year has not been good halfway through the season. Hopefully, during the second half of the season, the defense will improve and not put pressure on the offensive side of the ball to score points every time they step foot on the field.