Game Wrap and Reaction: Michigan State 35 Indiana 21
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image: Sammy Jacobs Hoosier Huddle
Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
Opponent: Michigan State Spartans
Location: Saturday September 22th, 2018 Bloomington, IN
Why They Played: The Hoosiers and Spartans play annually for the Old Brass Spittoon.
What The Game Meant: The opening of Big Ten play is big for every team, but to get off to a 4-0 start in 2018 would have been huge for IU. It didn’t happen, but it’s not the end of the world for their bowl hopes.
Top Offensive Performers:
Whop Philyor, WR, Indiana- Philyor had a career night hauling in 13 passes for 148 yards and a 65-yard touchdown, which he did most of the heavy lifting after catch a short slant across the middle. He was the lone bright spot on an otherwise lackluster offense.
Brian Lewerke, QB, Michigan State- Lewerke’s play was the difference in the game and he didn’t even have a great game. He completed just 14 passes for 213 yards, but had two touchdowns and made big passes when needed.
Top Defensive Performers
Jonathan Crawford, S, Indiana- Crawford came up big for the Hoosiers leading the team in tackles with nine including one for a loss and also recovered a fumble.
Marcelino Ball, Husky, Indiana- Ball was having a terrific game before being tossed for a questionable at best targeting penalty. He made six tackles, had three TFLs, two sacks and a forced fumble in just over a half of football. Indiana will be without Ball for the first half against Rutgers unless they win an appeal.
Joe Bachie, LB, Michigan State- Bachie is a beast in the middle for the Spartans and he tied with fellow linebacker Andrew Dowell for the team lead in tackles with nine.
Andrew Dowell, LB, Michigan State- Dowell was all over the field for MSU making nine tackles including two for a loss. The MSU linebackers played a terrific game as they could just key on the short plays.
Special Teams Performance
There is not much to write home about IU’s performance in this phase of the game, which is fine. IU won the punting battle with a six-yard net average advatange. Logan Justus hit both of his field goal attempts and outside of the opening kickoff, the coverage team and Smolar did well. Having the threat of J-Shun Harris having a big return paid off as well as Michigan State surrendered a 19-yard return and shanked another punt in an effort to stay away from him. The only thing I wished happened was an onside kick.
Key Stat(s)
5.3
The Hoosiers averaged 5.3 yards per pass on Saturday night, 4.6 yards, if you take away Philyor’s 65-yard touchdown pass on a slant pattern. That’s not good enough to win Big Ten games and allowed an aggressive defense to stay within 12 yards of the ball at all times and easily stuff the run and get after the quarterback. Something has got to give in this department if IU is going to get to six or seven wins in 2018.
Turning Point
There were a few turning points in the game, one came on the first drive when Michigan State picked up 16 yards on a third-and-17 and converted the fourth-and-one and later scored. The biggest swing came when Ramsey threw high to his running back who had the ball go off his outstretched hands and right into Shakur Brown’s waiting arms. The interception was returned 69 yards for a 14-0 Spartans lead.
I Knew it Was Over When…
The game felt over at 28-7, but the final dagger came when Jalen Nailor took a jet sweep 75 yards to push the Spartans lead back to 14 points at 35-21. The Hoosiers looked discombobulated and frustrated before, during and after that play.
Players of the Game
Whop Philyor, Indiana- He was Indiana’s lone threat offensively and turned in a big performance.
Michigan State Linebackers- The starting three combined for 26 tackles, four TFLs and two sacks. With the lack of a vertical attack from IU, they were allowed to run wild all night.
What I took away from the game
Let’s just put this out there, this loss is not the end of the world for the 2018 IU season. Now, we can re-visit that if they turn this loss into another one at Rutgers next week.
Saturday night was an extremely frustrating night for Hoosiers everywhere. IU dug themselves a hole they could not climb out of early and lacked the aggressiveness on offense that is needed to win these types of games. Indiana had a shot to hit a big play early on a wheel route to Reese Taylor and Peyton Ramsey simply just missed it. After that it looked as if he did not want to throw the ball deep the rest of the night. Indiana has a really good group of receivers and for much of the night were open down field.
The lack of a vertical threat did not give the offensive line or the running game much of a chance to be successful. IU gave up four sacks and were held to just 52 non-sack rushing yards because the Spartans were able to essentially play with all 11 players within 10 yards of the ball. While people gushed over quarterback Peyton Ramsey’s ability to have a high completion percentage they failed to see that his average yard per pass is now just 6.2 yards. Simply not good enough for a team that needs big plays.
It was baffling to see IU not play true freshman Michael Penix after playing him in two of the three opening games. He wasn’t over-matched in either outing and showed the ability to stretch the field. The plan for Penix is no longer clear, but the Hoosiers would be doing a major disservice to its fanbase and to the team if they are trying to finagle a redshirt year. This program needs six wins this year and it is very hard to see that happening with Ramsey as the only quarterback.
The defense played well enough to win getting four takeaways and holding Michigan State to 21 offensive points. There is not much else to say other than that last touchdown they gave up left a sour taste in the mouths of people on that side of the ball.
I left the stadium shaking my head not because IU was outclassed or just blown away by a better team, but because they are so frustratingly close to getting there, but seem unwilling to take the risk to complete the journey.
On a side note, the Big Ten officials have continued their tradition of being god awful in seemingly giving every call to the big boys in the conference. You can deal with a botched pass interference call here and there, but when it is clearly one-sided and points are scored because of it, that’s a problem. Add in the fact that Marcelino Ball will be sidelined the first half of the Rutgers game because of a targeting penalty and it has pushed fans over the edge. For the record, it was probably targeting by the letter of the law. However, the officials missed a call on a similar hit on Peyton Ramsey earlier in the game on a critical third down that would have continued an IU drive.