6A — Thursday, October 15, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Fisch prepares for MSU defense once again
By JAKE LOURIM
Managing Sports Editor
Jedd Fisch remembers seeing
a Michigan State defense once
before. It was Halloween 2009,
when he was the offensive
coordinator
and
quarterbacks
coach at Minnesota.
That night, his offense racked
up more than 500 total yards and
42 points, and quarterback Adam
Weber finished 19-for-31 for 416
yards and five touchdowns.
That was a different Michigan
State team, but Fisch, Michigan’s
passing game coordinator, is
also coaching a different team
now. He and the 12th-ranked
Wolverines take on the Spartans
on Saturday.
In
2009,
Michigan
State
stumbled to a 6-7 finish, as did
Minnesota. Fisch spent only
that year in Minneapolis before
moving to the NFL’s Seattle
Seahawks. Six years later, he
is in Ann Arbor, while former
Michigan
State
defensive
coordinator Pat
Narduzzi is in
Pittsburgh as a
head coach.
Two
things remain
constant:
Spartans head
coach
Mark
Dantonio
and
the
stingy
defensive scheme he runs in East
Lansing.
“They play similar fronts and
coverages,” Fisch said. “Coach
Dantonio, it seems like he’s
kept the system the same from
when Coach Narduzzi left. Very
similar in what they do. They’re
a quarters team, and they mix in
some other coverages and play a
four-down front.
“They’re
very good at
what they do.
They have an
identity.
It’s
very
clear.
They’ve
won
a lot of games
with
that
defense. A lot
of teams have
tried to replicate that defense.”
Michigan State’s defense has
dominated the Wolverines in
each of the past two years, but
the circumstances have changed
now. Though they have escaped
the first half of their schedule
unscathed at 6-0, the Spartans
have looked vulnerable.
Though
their
defense
has
remained relatively similar since
Fisch last saw it, Fisch is focused
on this year when preparing for
this week. A win six years ago,
or even film from last year, won’t
give him an edge.
“You look at the games they’ve
played this year, because you’re
looking at the players they have,”
he said. “It’s a totally different
team. You just look at their
defense and what they’ve had to
defend, and they have defended
it all.
“I think they have a great edge
there. They’ve probably seen
every possible run and every
possible route combination and
been able to find ways to defend
all of them. They obviously have
a great advantage of being in the
same system for so many years.”
That system has given Michigan
problems in past years, but it
might see a few extra wrinkles
this year. The Wolverines seem
to have expanded their playbook
every week to the point where it’s
much more diverse than last year.
It now includes plays such as end-
around runs, more complex read
progressions and a bevy of screen
passes to get playmakers in space.
Halfway through the season,
Michigan’s offense, much like
its defense, seems to be playing
its best football of the year.
Fisch hinted at opening up the
playbook even more this week, as
the Wolverines might need more
of it to finally crack Michigan
State’s defense.
“We’re
very
game
plan-
specific. We’re going to try to
come up with the best possible
formations for the team we’re
playing, and with that whatever
concepts that go along with
those formations. We have had
a lot of different formations
and personnel groupings and
concepts.”
In
that
way,
Fisch
said,
Michigan, too, has an identity.
“We’re going to be somebody
that’s going to find ways the best
we can to put our guys in the best
possible position to succeed,” he
said. “With that comes a variety
of formations.”
FOOTBALL
“They’re very
good at what
they do.”