3 Up, 3 Down: Michigan State Overmatched By Rival Wolverines

The Spartans suffer an ugly loss against No. 2 Michigan...

Author:
Matthew Lounsberry
Publish date:
Oct 21, 2023 10:58 PM EDT

In this story:

Calling this a rough night for the Spartans is the understatement of the year...

Michigan State football just suffered its worst home loss to Michigan in the history of the rivalry with a 49-0 defeat at the hands of the Wolverines. It's the first time the Spartans have been shutout by their in-state rival since a 14-0 loss in Ann Arbor in 2000, and the first shutout against Michigan in East Lansing since a 35-0 loss in 1985 — Jim Harbaugh's redshirt junior season at U-M.

Here are my takeaways...

Three Up

1.) MSU run defense

Michigan State's strength throughout the season has been the front seven of the defense, and those guys were about the only Spartans to show up tonight. Michigan State limited the Wolverines to 120 rushing yards total, and 3.5 yards per carry.

That's a strong effort against one of the best offensive lines in college football, and a program that prides itself on its ability to run the football. There's not a whole lot of positivity to take away from this game, but MSU's defense was solid at the line of scrimmage.

2.) Sam Leavitt's pocket awareness, toughness

True freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt relieved starter Katin Houser near the start of the fourth quarter, and showed good pocket awareness and toughness on a third down scramble for a first down. Leavitt avoided the pass rush, leaked out to the left and turned upfield to pick up a big gain before taking a late hit out of bounds.

Leavitt popped up and continued to lead the drive, which ended up being Michigan State's longest of the game before ending with a turnover on downs at Michigan's 20 yard line. Leavitt did throw an interception on the next Spartan drive, which was unfortunate.

3.) We can officially turn our attention to basketball season...

I couldn't find any other positive takeaway from what we saw on Saturday night, but one bright side we can all turn our attention to basketball season, which begins on Wednesday when Michigan State hosts Hillsdale College in its first scrimmage of the season.

Obviously, this "positive takeaway" is tongue-in-cheek but, in all seriousness, the Spartans have one of the best men's basketball teams in the country heading into the 2023-24 season, and excitement couldn't be higher to see Tom Izzo's squad take the hardwood.

After what we've seen on the football field in 2023, I think we're all ready to watch something different...

Three Down

1.) Third down defense

Michigan State has made good strides with its third down defense this season, coming in as one of the best in the country in getting off the field in those situations. However, tonight against the Wolverines, the Spartans reverted back to some old ways.

Michigan converted 6-of-7 third down attempts in the first half, while building a 28-0 lead. The Wolverines pulled their starters late in the third quarter, but had converted 7-of-9 third attempts to that point. Michigan's backups were ...

2.) Ross Els' special teams

Michigan State's special teams continue to be anything but specially bad...

The Spartans had another illegal formation penalty on their first punt attempt tonight. This comes one week after the same type of penalty ended up costing MSU a touchdown on a muffed snap into the end zone. Michigan State was later hit with a "fair catch interference" penalty on punt coverage. Just more of the same here from Ross Els' unit...

3.) Offensive ineptitude

Michigan State had nothing on offense tonight.

Quarterback Katin Houser had just 101 passing yards while completing 12-of-22 attempts, before Leavitt came in and threw for 32 yards on 4-of-7 passing. The Spartans' ground game was even worse, generating only 71 yards (2.7 per carry) even when adjusting for the lost sack yardage. Tailback Nathan Carter, who's been MSU's best offensive player this season, was held to 36 yards on 17 carries (2.1 per carry).

Michigan State was outgained 477 to 190 in total offense by the Wolverines. Put simply, nothing went right for the Spartans.

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