Know Your Opponent: Michigan State Spartans

Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)

Head Coach: Mel Tucker

Overall: 1st Season, 1-2 (.333) Overall

Bowl Appearances at Michigan: 0

2019 Record: 7-6 (4-5, Big Ten East)

Bowl Appearances Since 2000: 14 (7-7)

Mascot: Sparty

Colors: Green and White

Outfitter: Nike

National Titles: 6

Conference Titles: 11 (9 Big Ten, 2 MIAA)

Heisman Winners: 0

2020 Record: 1-2

Last Week: LOSS @ Iowa, 7-49

STATISTICAL LEADERS

Passing: Rocky Lombardi (65-112 passing (58%), 869 yards, 6 TD, 5 INT)

Rushing: Jordon Simmons (37 rushes, 132 yards, 3.6 YPC, 0 TDs)

Receiving: Jalen Nailor (12 receptions, 271 yards, 1 TD)

Tackles: Antjuan Simmons (26 tackles, 11 solo, 2 PDs, 1 FR)

Stat of the Week: Michigan State has just one rushing touchdown this season. The man responsible? Walk on punter/kicker turned tight end, Tyler Hunt.

Michigan State’s Talking Points

1. Which Rocky Lombardi will we see?

This talking point could also be phrased as ‘Which Michigan State team will we see?’, but it seems a lot of the Spartans’ deviation comes down to the play of quarterback Rocky Lombardi – particularly, his ability to avoid turning the ball over. In their two losses, Lombardi has thrown five interceptions, fumbled once, scrambled for negative yardage, and been sacked five times. On the other hand, in their lone victory, he had one of his best ever games: 323 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions.

“I think I just tried to do a little bit too much,” said Lombardi after Saturday’s loss to Iowa, the state where he grew up. “I saw that we kind of needed to make some plays and I probably overstepped my boundaries a little bit. It comes back to just processing the play, playing each play as an individual game and that’s what we’re going to do next week.”

“I hate to have that rookie moment, so to speak, today, especially coming home,” he said. “But at the end of the day I’m going to learn from it and get better.”

Lombardi needs to not force throws Saturday, against an Indiana defense that has had 2+ takeaways in each game so far, if the Spartans want to keep the Old Brass Spittoon.

2. Defensive consistency.

Consistency is the name of the game for a Spartans team that has had a rollercoaster of a season thus far, but it will be all the more important on the defensive side of the ball. Only Rutgers and Illinois have given up more points than Michigan State through three games. When the defense isn’t making stops is when Rocky Lombardi really has to go into forcing mode, and he’s not shown he’s ready for that.

In the Iowa game, 203 of the Hawkeyes 405 total yards came in the first four drives. They got three touchdowns out of these drives, and suddenly the offense was trying to press their way out of a 21-0 hole. They settled in after that, only allowing seven more yards until halftime, but by then it was too late. Throw in a pick-six and a punt returned for a touchdown, and the damage was already done.

The defense must be ready to go and play for sixty minutes at its highest performance to slow down the Indiana offense.

3. Can they find a run game?

This will be all the more important if the early forecasts for Saturday hold, but it just feels as if finding a way to balance the offensive attack with a solid run game could do so much for the Spartans. Junior Connor Heyward has started all three games thus far, but the revolving door of running backs alongside Lombardi has been the story. The Spartans play five running backs consistently, and this is not because of how productive they all are. It’s the opposite rather, as freshman Jordon Simmons has led the team in rushing all three games – but only averages 44 yards a game. They’ve got a pretty stable offensive line, but it’ll need to start opening some holes more consistently.

All five running backs have been active in the passing game, each having caught at least a pass in the game against Iowa, but they desperately need more offensive balance. Indiana allowed just 13 rushing yards against Michigan last weekend, so they’ll be tested as soon as this weekend to see if they’ve made any progress.