Michigan State Football: Can the Spartans pick up the pieces after tough loss?
By Shane Lunnen
After Michigan State football‘s surprising upset at the hands of Arizona State, can the Spartans rebound? How worried should fans be about this team?
It has not been a good start to the season for the Michigan State Spartans. Last week Utah State went toe to toe with Michigan State before ultimately falling when the Spartans scored the game winning touchdown with two minutes to go in the game. In Week 2, Michigan State let Arizona State hang around and in the fourth quarter the Sun Devils scored 13 unanswered points to pull off the upset in Tempe.
Most thought the close game against Utah State would be a wake-up call for the Spartans. They are an experienced team that should be performing better in these early non-conference games. So what is wrong with them and how can they fix it?
The biggest problem for the Spartans is how ineffective they have been at running the ball. Against the Aggies, the Spartans rushed for 165 yards total but against the Sun Devils the rushing attack was terrible. As a team, they finished with 27 carries, 63 yards and no touchdowns. Brian Lewerke is a good quarterback but the Spartans cannot afford to be one dimensional and put everything on his shoulders.
The offensive line struggled mightily against the Arizona State defense. Without getting a push, the Spartans rushing attack was stuck in neutral all night. If they are having trouble now, imagine what Big Ten play will look like against better defensive fronts like Ohio State and Michigan.
Can the Spartans rebound?
Usually coaches do not want to have a bye week this early in the season, but for the Spartans it is probably not a bad thing. They can hit the reset button on the season and now have two weeks to correct mistakes while preparing for their first Big Ten contest.
The problems have not been with the defense, but the offense needs to get some semblance of consistency. If the Spartans can correct issues in the run blocking and get the running game going, it will open things up more for Lewerke and his receivers.
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After the bye, the Spartans travel to Indiana before back to back home games against Central Michigan and Northwestern. Then they will face tough tests against Penn State and Michigan in back to back weeks.
It is not completely over for the Spartans just yet. They still have time to correct their problems and get their season back on track. It will be tough, but no one should count Mark Dantonio and his Spartans out of the Big Ten East race just yet.