Connor Cook is clearly the answer at QB for Michigan State. The putrid of the Andrew Maxwell era seems long long over now. The MSU offense turned around Connor Cook and he’s starting to develop into something for Michigan State; finishing second team All Big Ten. Also he broke a record.
His 93.4 completion percentage, 15 of 16 passing in the Spartans 42-3 destruction of Illinois on October 26th, is a Michigan State record. For a single game. Because of course, when you play the Illini defense, you break records. And you usually get a league player of the week honor.
Connor Cook led the Spartans to 15 of 16 on third down conversion. That is JUST INSANE. And speaks to how bad the Illini defense is. More specifically just how awful the Illini pass defense is. Cook took advantage of an already bad unit that was missing Ve’Angelo Bentley; who is by far the Illinois secondary’s best player.
Connor Cook took a major step back versus Purdue the previous week. However, he redeemed himself and more in Champaign. Nothing like the Illinois defense to cure what ails ya!
On the topic of what the difference was. “I think it was great play calling. The run helped out a lot with play action passes and just opening up the pass game,” Connor Cook said. Mark Dantonio on Connor Cook :
“He was a little bit off throwing the ball last week, but he’s able to regroup and move forward, that’s youth and I think that’s what happens sometimes.”
Very true. Connor Cook is young and his best days are ahead of him. His November has been solid, as he led his team to the Big Ten Title game. We’ve known all year that Michigan State has an All-World defense. They’re dominant. Now the offense is kind of folding into shape somewhat, completing the unit and making them Rose Bowl bound. MSU is the only undefeated team in their division. As Connor Cook becomes more experienced within the offense, they’ll get even better.
Illini Defensive Coordinator Tim Banks agreed with me, both about the growth of Connor Cook and the development of MSU.
“It’s a shame they’re hitting their stride against us. It couldn’t have waited a week,” Banks said.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a regular analyst on news talk radio stations across the world; with weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS