Hoosier Huddle's Game Day Primer: No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers at Michigan State

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Written by: TJ Inman

What: #13 Indiana Hoosiers (8-0) at Michigan State Spartans (4-4)

When: Saturday, November 2 at 3:30

Where: Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, MI

How to Watch: The game will be broadcast on Peacock and can be heard on the IU Radio Network.

Pregame Festivities

Watch Party at Upstairs Pub pres. by

  • Uplands Gameday Lager just $4 for every IUFB game this year

  • Bison Mafia T-Shirts

  • New state of the art room (fully functioning ticker, (5) 100" HDTVs, the old IU scoreboard from Assembly Hall

Series History: The Hoosiers and Spartans are rivals that have played 70 times with Michigan State prevailing on 50 of those occasions. Spartan Stadium is a tough place to win but the Hoosiers have left East Lansing with wins each of the past two times they have played there. Michigan State beat the Hoosiers 24-21 last season in Bloomington. 

What’s at Stake: Indiana and Michigan State meet annually for the Old Brass Spittoon so there is a rivalry trophy on the line for the first time in the Curt Cignetti era. Of course, the Indiana Hoosiers have a whole lot at stake as the calendar turns to November. Indiana is ranked 13th in the country and has the resume of a team that should be comfortably in the top ten. The initial College Football Playoff rankings come out on Tuesday, November 5 and a win in East Lansing would give the Hoosiers a real shot to be in the first bracket reveal. IU is also playing for a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game and a win is necessary to remain in first place in the league. Michigan State is has four wins and is trying to reach a bowl game in Jonathan Smith’s first season. They have games remaining against Illinois, Rutgers and Purdue and a win over the Hoosiers would give the Spartans a chance to reach six, seven or even eight victories. 

A FEW THINGS TO LOOK FOR

  1. On the Road Again

The Indiana Hoosiers are 8-0 but there is little question that this will be the most hostile atmosphere they will have experienced this season. The distance of the trip to UCLA presented a challenge but the atmosphere could hardly be considered a difficult one. The second road trip was a short trip north to Evanston to play Northwestern in a temporary stadium with a whole lot of Indiana fans in attendance. IU will bring some fans to East Lansing but Spartan Stadium will be filled with screaming Spartans clad in green and white. How will the Hoosiers respond to a difficult environment? IU has answered the bell all season but this will be a slightly new challenge to handle.

2. Offensive Gameplan

The Indiana Hoosiers started backup quarterback Tayven Jackson against the Washington Huskies and began the game appearing to try and keep the offensive plan the exact same it had been all season. However, Washington adjusted their defense and threw some unexpected wrinkles at IU so the Hoosiers responded by scrapping the gameplan and taking what the defense gave them. Indiana ran the ball 52 times to only 19 pass attempts as they ground down the Huskies and prevailed 31-17. How will Mike Shanahan and Curt Cignetti approach the Spartans’ defense? Kurtis Rourke is trending towards being a game-time decision and that could certainly impact what IU plans to do on offense. Michigan State has surrendered 3.78 yards per rush (Boston College with 3.5 ypc, Ohio State with 5.3 ypc, Oregon with 5.8, Iowa at 5.8, Michigan with 3.8) and that places them middle of the pack in the Big Ten. Opponents have found success against MSU on third down and in the red zone but the Spartans are capable of causing some issues if the Hoosiers are out of rhythm in the passing game, as they were against Washington. 

3. Getting Pressure on Aidan Chiles

Michigan State did a much better job of taking care of the ball in October than they did in September. Aidan Chiles began the season by throwing eight interceptions but he only threw one in October. The pass protection has continued to be an issue. Michigan State is allowing a sack on more than 8.3 percent of drop-backs, placing them in the bottom fourth nationally. The Spartans do have some good weapons on offense: wide receiver Nick Marsh and running backs Kay’ron Lynch-Adams and Nate Carter chief among them. Indiana’s best way to disrupt Michigan State’s offense is to overwhelm the offensive line with Mike Shanahan’s blitz schemes and guys like Mikail Kamara and Lanell Carr winning their individual matchups to get to Aidan Chiles and put MSU behind the chains or force turnovers.

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