3 Takeaways: Michigan State Smothered By Top-Ranked Buckeyes

The game in Columbus couldn't get over fast enough for the Spartans...

Author:
Matthew Lounsberry
Publish date:
Nov 11, 2023 10:44 PM EST

In this story:

Coming into the 2023 season, we knew Michigan State had a tall task with multiple top-ranked opponents on its schedule.

The Spartans have faced three Top 5 opponents this year, and each one of those games has show just how far away MSU is from being competitive in the future Big Ten Conference. In Week 3, it was a 41-7 defeat at the hands of No. 5 Washington, which pulled its starters for the majority of the second half. In Week 8, in-state rival and No. 3 Michigan cruised to a 49-0 victory while pulling starters in the third quarter.

On Saturday night, it was No. 1 Ohio State's turn to close the curtains early. Michigan State surrendered 360 yards of offense to the Buckeyes in the first half and trailed 35-3 when the teams entered their locker rooms. OSU took its foot off the gas in the second half with the game in hand, adding a field goal to its tally for a 38-3 win.

Normally, for football games, we do "Three Up, Three Down" as our immediate recap. Tonight, however, I felt that "Three Takeaways" was a better approach. So, without further ado...

1.) Same old story for MSU's defense

I mentioned this in my "first half analysis" but it bears repeating — this year's Ohio State offense has not been the juggernaut it has been in recent years, yet Michigan State made the Buckeyes look like "the greatest show on turf". OSU racked up a whopping 530 yards of total offense, and it could have been much worse.

The Spartans simply had no answers. It didn't help that starting cornerback Dillon Tatum was ruled 'Out' with an injury today, but that had little bearing on MSU's defensive performance.

Ohio State has one of the best players in all of college football in Marvin Harrison Jr., and Michigan State had to try to cover him with freshman Chance Rucker and sophomore Ade Willie. It went about as poorly as you'd expect for MSU, with Harrison going to 147 yards and two touchdowns on seven catches. OSU starting quarterback Kyle McCord threw for a career-high 335 yards while completing 24-of-31 attempts with three touchdowns.

The Spartans have been fairly solid against the run this season, but they didn't defend that particularly well tonight either. Ohio State ran for 177 yards on 5.5 per carry. Michigan State allowed 713 yards to Washington and 477 yards to Michigan. Tonight, Ohio State could have gone for 700 if it wanted to.

2.) Sam Leavitt (wisely) does not play

One of the questions leading up to this game was whether Michigan State would continue to use true freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt on offense. In my opinion, Harlon Barnett, the staff and Leavitt made the wise decision to not burn the freshman's redshirt year in a game like this.

This became a lame-duck season for the Spartans several weeks ago. MSU isn't playing for much other than pride at this point, and that's not worth burning a year of eligibility over if you're Leavitt. One of the top tasks for Michigan State's next head coach is keeping Leavitt on the roster for 2024. If that coach is able to do that, he'll have four years to mold and shape the freshman.

As for starter Katin Houser, tonight was always going to be an uphill battle for the redshirt freshman. Houser did well to take care of the football, but it was far from a banner night for the youngster. He completed 12-for-24 pass attempts for 92 yards on the night. Houser has gotten some valuable reps this season after replacing Noah Kim as the starter. We just hope his confidence hasn't taken too big of a hit as the Spartans' struggles continue.

3.) Injuries continue to pile up

Another thing Michigan State's next head coach is going to have to figure out is why the Spartans have suffered so many injuries over the past two seasons. Coming into this game, MSU has had seven different guys suffer season-ending injuries, and 13 more were out due to injury today. Within the game itself, the Spartans had several guys go down amidst the game, but it appeared most of those guys returned to the game.

Football is a tough, physical game. We all know that. But one has to wonder what's going on behind the scenes that so many guys are getting banged up through the year. Leading up to the year, fired head coach Mel Tucker said MSU had implemented various strategies to help prevent injuries, but its failed spectacularly.

There's certainly some luck involved with keeping a roster healthy, but maybe Michigan State's next head coach will find a way to reverse the curse that seems to be on the Spartans in terms of team health.

For more coverage of Michigan State Athletics: