Michigan State Football: 3 takeaways from sloppy loss to Arizona State
By Zach Bigalke
3. Elijah Collins made the difference for Michigan State
Even though Michigan State found themselves dominating most of the offensive stats in the battle against Arizona State, the Sun Devils were up for much of the contest thanks to a field goal before halftime. In the end, all the offensive dominance in the world matters little if a team cannot convert those gains into points.
Fans at Spartan Stadium had to fear that this contest might turn out similarly to last year’s Redbox Bowl against Oregon or any number of low-scoring affairs played out by the Spartans in recent seasons. But while Lewerke was never able to get Michigan State into the endzone, and Mark Dantonio’s team will probably topple out of the Top 25 this week, they still had a shot at forcing overtime thanks to the hard running of Elijah Collins.
A week after breaking out for 192 yards on 17 carries against Western Michigan, Collins wasn’t able to pile up quite as many yards against Power Five competition. But when it mattered most, Collins punched in a nine-yard touchdown run with 8:37 remaining. The score proved critical as Michigan State was forced to overtime by the Sun Devils. Collins finished the day with 72 yards and the go-ahead score on 19 carries.
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The end result was a loss, but Collins provides at least one positive takeaway on a day where little seemed to be going right for the Spartans. Michigan State might want to look to feed Collins the ball more when they open Big Ten play in Week 4 against Northwestern in Evanston.