MICHIGAN STATE NOTEBOOK: WILLIAM WHITE GETS THE GAME BALL, OHIO STATE UNVEILS TATE MARTELL PACKAGE AND SPARTANS MAKE AN UNUSUAL DECISION
UNUSUAL STRATEGY
Having given up only seven points to Ohio State with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter of Saturday’s game, Michigan State had reason to have faith in its defense. But considering that the Spartans had only scored six points themselves at that point in the game, they perhaps had too much faith in their offense and not enough faith in their punter when they made an unusual decision to voluntarily give the Buckeyes two points.
After being pinned at their own 1-yard line on a punt by Drue Chrisman downed by Terry McLaurin, Michigan State threw three incomplete passes in a row, forcing them to punt from the end zone. But playing a punter in William Pryzstup who had never punted in a collegiate game before Saturday, the Spartans decided not to risk the possibility of having a punt blocked in the end zone and instead decided to intentionally snap the ball through the back of the end zone for a safety, giving the Buckeyes a 9-6 lead and the ball with 42 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
“William's never punted before until this game, and it felt like coming off the goal line with only 10 yards between the snap and the punter, there's an opportunity for the punt to be blocked and it's still a one field goal game, and I felt like our defense was playing well enough,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio explained after the game. “I didn't want him to handle the ball nor did I want to take the timeout and tell our offense we're going to kneel on it so I just told them to snap the snap through the end zone.”
That decision could have at least enabled Michigan State to flip the field, which was necessary for the Spartans as Chrisman and the Buckeyes controlled the field-position battle throughout the second half, but it didn’t work. The Spartans’ ensuing free kick went out of bounds, giving Ohio State the ball at the 50-yard line, and even after the Spartans were able to force a 3-and-out from Ohio State’s offense, Chrisman was able to hit a 44-yard punt that Johnnie Dixon downed at the 2-yard line.
Entire article:
https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...nveils-tate-martell-package-and-spartans-make
