Michigan Football: 3 takeaways from Big Ten rivalry win over Michigan State

2. Spartans lost spark on offense

After opening the season 4-1, Michigan State was sitting at something of a crossroads. Their record was something of a mirage when you dug deeper into their results, as the Spartans put up big games on offense against weaker defenses and struggled in a 10-7 loss at home against Arizona State when they actually faced a tougher unit.

That has been the story for much of the season for Mark Dantonio’s squad. Once October rolled around, midnight struck on the Spartans’ Cinderella story. After losing by 24 at Ohio State, getting shut out at Wisconsin, and falling by three touchdowns at home to Penn State, it looked like Michigan State finally rediscovered their offense against Illinois in Week 11. Taking a big lead, they scored 34 points but fell in an Illini comeback.

That spark disappeared once they encountered Michigan’s lockdown defense. The Wolverines held Brian Lewerke to 166 yards through the air on 17-of-30 passing as he tossed one touchdown and two interceptions. He added only 12 yards on the ground, which wasn’t enough to get the backfield going on a day when Michigan State finished with only 54 total rushing yards as a team on 30 carries.

A big part of that was the effort of Michigan’s defense. The Wolverines held their state rival to only 220 total yards of offense and forced a pair of critical turnovers that kept the Spartans from any fourth-quarter dreams of a comeback. To have a shot at getting into the New Year’s Six picture, they need the defense to keep stepping up in the last two outings against Indiana and Ohio State.