3 Up, 3 Down: Michigan State's anemic offense fails miserably vs. Wolverines
Michigan State's defense held them in the game as long as they could on Saturday night in Ann Arbor, but the Spartans' anemic offense did nothing against the Wolverines defense in a 29-7 defeat.
We take a look at three positives and three negatives from tonight's game, as Michigan State falls to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in Big Ten play this season:
Three Up
1.) Keon Coleman is so, so good
In prime time, in a nationally televised game, the sophomore wide receiver showed the entire country why he's one of the best young players in America.
Coleman was Michigan State's only true mismatch on the field tonight, and he carried the Spartans' offense as a result. The sophomore finished with 155 yards and a touchdown on five receptions.
Unfortunately, the Wolverines were able to leave a safety over the top of Coleman through most of the final two and a half quarters because the Spartans had no other offensive option to turn to.
2.) Michigan State's red zone/goal line defense
The Spartans' defense kept Michigan State in this game. The one thing that MSU has been pretty darn good at over the past two seasons is goal line and red zone defense, and it showed up again tonight.
Michigan State forced the Wolverines to kick four field goals in the scoring area through the opening three quarters to keep themselves within striking distance. Unfortunately, MSU's offense did nothing with that opportunity.
3.) Kendall Brooks, Xavier Henderson played their tails off
Michigan State's safeties had to cover up for deficiencies in the Spartans' linebacker corps tonight, and they did an admirable job. Senior Xavier Henderson forced a fumble on U-M's first possession, and finished with six tackles, including one for loss.
Kendall Brooks, meanwhile, had an even better game with 11 tackles (eight for loss). This was the first time we've seen this safety duo on the field together for Michigan State, and it was an improvement to other personnel options we've seen back there this season.
Three Down
1.) MSU's offense a one-man show
Offensive coordinator Jay Johnson was creative on a couple play calls tonight, but it was mostly a bland offensive game plan for the Spartans. I really thought we'd see more gadget plays this week coming off the bye, but we really didn't.
Outside of Coleman, Michigan State had nothing offensively, and the Wolverines adjusted to that and didn't allow the sophomore many opportunities from midway through the second quarter on.
The Spartans' offensive line, which has struggled to produce a push in the run game, was once again completely halted. Michigan State averaged just 1.6 yards per carry, and the number improves to just 2.2 yards per carry after adjusting for the two sacks that Payton Thorne took. Because of this, the Wolverines were able to double Coleman down the field, which took away the Spartans' best offensive player.
2.) Fourth down play call in red zone
Michigan State trailed 10-7 midway through the second quarter, and had an opportunity down inside the Wolverines' 10 yard line with a chance to tie or take the lead.
With the Spartans' field goal situation, in addition to the need to score touchdowns to pull off this upset, Tucker elected to go for a fourth-and-one down there.
I've got no problem with that decision, but Johnson's play-call to go with a delayed hand-off was atrocious. Predictably, Michigan stuffed the run and MSU's final real scoring chance of the game went out the window. Just a really uninspired effort from Johnson tonight.
3.) Defense wears down in 2nd half
I don't really even blame the Spartan defense for this. Those guys fought their tails off in this game, but they wore down as the second half progressed because MSU's offense couldn't stay on the field.
Michigan finished with a 40:33 - 19:27 edge in time of possession tonight. The Wolverines finished with 443 yards of offense, with 276 of those coming on the ground. The scoreboard and box score will suggest that Michigan State's defense had a poor game, but I disagree. This one falls squarely on the offense.
