Hooray for Hoyer
Posted by kj on Saturday, October 25th, 2008
Me, last night:
One set of numbers we haven’t talked about are the career statistics of our senior quarterback: 57.1% completion percentage, 7.0 yards per pass attempt, 32-18 TD-Int ratio. If Brian Hoyer can just revert to the mean for one game, it will be a good day for the Green and White tomorrow.
Well, that was some sweet reversion to the mean (and beyond). Brian Hoyer’s numbers today:
- 17 completions on 29 attempts: 58.6%
- 282 passing yards: 9.7 yards/attempt
- 3 touchdown passes vs. zero interceptions
- All while facing pressure most of the day (sacked 5 times)
- Plus a pass reception for 24 yards for good measure
Javon Ringer was great, wearing down a good UM front seven as the day wore on to gain nearly 200 yards (so much for that Barwis conditioning). But the game ball has to go to Hoyer. Unlike previous games, when Hoyer’s biggest completions came on first down, the bulk of Hoyer’s production today came on third down and long. Hoyer was 8 for 12 for 226 yards on third down. That’s an astounding 18.8 yards per attempt. Three of those third-down conversions came with MSU trailing 21-14 in the third quarter, going for a total of 106 yards.
The defense, meanwhile, did everything you could ask of them. They held Michigan without a first down on 9 of 15 possessions and created four turnovers. It all started with holding Brandon Minor to just 3.7 yards/carry on 15 carries. With no running game, Steven Threet was unable to make enough plays to keep the Wolverine offense going. When he tried to force the issue, the result was three interceptions.
At halftime, I’ll confess to being pretty nervous. It’s never good to have more than double the total yards your opponent does after 30 minutes but only be tied. But MSU shrugged off the missed field goals, two offensive fumbles, and a touchdown gifted to MIchigan by the replay official to thoroughly dominate the fourth quarter. In fact, the numbers say MSU dominated this game (473 total yards to 252 for Michigan) in every respect except, oddly, field goal kicking.
With a 6:15 flight to catch tomorrow morning, that’s all I’ve got. This was a great win for Mark Dantonio and a great day for Spartan fans everywhere.
P.S. A more complete game recap would have included something about Blair White (143 yards and a TD) and Trevor Anderson (3 sacks). (Also: A less cheesey headline.)
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One Response to “Hooray for Hoyer”
DP99on 26 Oct 2008 at 6:27 pm 1Blair White just joined my Travis Walton All-Stars of favorite no-name players who play beyond their means. Plus, reading through the quotes, I saw that Ringer calls him “Whitey”. Now that’s just fantastic.