Can MSU Right Ship Against Purdue?
The Michigan State Spartans are on their second three-game losing streak of the year after starting their season strong with three straight wins of their own. Since their 40-point game against Prairie View A&M, the Spartans have been unable to score 20 points.
How can the team get back on track against Purdue?
MSU is currently the favorite to win on social media, given the kind of season Purdue has endured thus far, but as we know, anything can happen in football. The Spartans should start by trying to put up their first 20-point or more game since their 32-20 victory over Iowa.
The running game has been nonexistent in State's recent three games. The team has averaged 58 rushing yards on their losing streak. When MSU has been victorious this season, their rushing numbers have averaged 84.25 in the four games they have won.
The Spartans will be looking for their quarterback, sophomore Aidan Chiles, to put up high passing yards against Purdue. In the four games that MSU has won, Chiles has averaged 226.5 passing yards. During MSU's current losing streak, Chiles has only thrown for an average of 212.6 yards.
While MSU's recent struggles cannot be attributed to one singular player, the team as a whole has not been able to stop their opponents on defense, a sense of their game they will be looking to improve against Purdue.
In all games this season, the Spartans have averagely allowed their opponents to score 25.5 points against them and have averaged 19.4 points themselves all season long. Purdue has allowed their opponents to averagely score 38.9 against them while only putting up 17.2 on average per game.
MSU could not have asked for a better opponent to play amidst their recent struggles, given how Purdue has played all season. The Spartans will look to instill confidence back into young wide receiver Nick Marsh.
Marsh currently leads the team with 611 receiving yards, but in the three-game skid, Marsh's production has also not been present. On the three-game losing streak, Marsh has averaged 59.3 receiving yards, while on the entire year, Marsh has averaged 67.8 receiving yards.
MSU just seems to be in search of something positive for its football program, and finding a way to win these last two games to end its season 6-6 would be the best-case scenario for kickstarting production and motivation for next season.
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Dominic Minchella holds a communications degree from Eastern Michigan University. He is a former MLB writer and joins our team ad an NFL/College team reporter on Sports Illustrated