3&Out: No silver lining for Michigan State in ugly loss at home against Washington
East Lansing, Mich. – Despite the distraction created by the suspension of Mel Tucker, Michigan State players and coaches were hopeful that they would play a competitive game against Washington at home in Spartan Stadium. The Spartans were far from competitive in this game. In fact, nothing seemed to go right in the 41-7 loss.
Continue below for our takeaways from the game in the latest 3&OUT:
1. Michigan State plagued by mistakes
Michigan State made far too many mistakes in every phase of the game to be competitive against the No. 1 passing offense in college football. Washington brought its ‘A’ Game and the Spartans failed to get passing grades on offense, defense, or special teams. The Spartans made too many mistakes, period. I can’t ever remember seeing two illegal substitution penalties on special teams in the same game. Michigan State committed two of them against UW, and the second of those penalties gave Washington a first down, and a prime scoring opportunity. To the credit of the Michigan State defense, that scoring drive resulted in a field goal and not a touchdown.
I could rehash the costly mistakes committed by Michigan State in this game, but there is really no point in doing so. You saw the game and know perfectly well that every phase of the game was filled with miscues.
The only good individual performance by a Spartan in this game was Zeke the Wonderdog, who did not drop a frisbee to the best of my knowledge.
2. The Spartans can’t do much on offense if they can’t run the football.
Trailing 35-0 at halftime, Michigan State probably had no business running Nathan Carter in the second half. Carter is really all that the Spartans have at running back right now with both Jalen Berger and Jaren Mangham sidelined by injury. And because Michigan State absolutely needs to have a credible run game to compete in games against Big Ten teams, the Spartans probably should have shut Carter down at halftime.
During pre-game warm-ups it was apparent that Carter was a dinged up when he was tagged by teammate Simeon Barron during a thud drill. The UConn transfer walked to the sideline gingerly after that incident of friendly fire. He ultimately waved away trainers and did his best to stay loose.
I doubt that Carter’s minor injury was to blame for Michigan State’s anemic run production. The UConn transfer finished with 48 yards on 17 carries in the loss. But I am not sure that his staying in the game after halftime was in his own best interest, or the best interest of the team moving forward.
Michigan State must have a credible rushing threat moving into Big Ten play for a chance to win seven games this season. To do so, Carter must stay on the field. Additionally, the offensive line must play much better than it has to this point in the season. Veterans on the o-line like Nick Samac and JD Duplain must set the tone as run-blockers. Tight ends and wide receivers must also do their part.
Noah Kim has a strong arm and he made some high end throws today, even though he passed for just 136 yards. Today, however, we saw a panicky version of Kim. His footwork was shaky and he rushed throws when he didn’t have to because he didn’t trust his pass protection. Kim isn’t at a place in his development where he carry the team on his arm talent alone. Kim needs to have a credible run game.
3. Judge Michigan State on how it responds to this loss, not the loss itself.
I expected Michigan State to lose this game, and thought it was possible that the Spartans could lose this game by a big margin. I did, however, expect the Spartans to play better than they did tonight. It’s easy to look at the yardage given up by the Michigan State defense and point fingers. The defense certainly struggled, but nobody should have expected the Spartan defense to hold the Huskies under 35 points in this game if the offense couldn’t score points. There is no possible scenario where Michigan State could keep this game respectable without scoring points until the fourth quarter.
This game was a dumpster fire, and it was an inauspicious beginning to Barnett’s time as interim head coach. The circumstances surrounding this loss create what might be a must-win scenario for Barnett in the Big Ten opener against Maryland next weekend if the longtime Spartan secondary coach wants to keep his name in the mix for the head coaching gig at Michigan State. That may not be fair, but an ugly loss like this hurts Barnett’s candidacy.
During his weekly radio show, Barnett shared his belief that the Spartans have the pieces to be a good football team. That certainly didn’t appear to be the case against Washington. As I indicated before the game, however, I would reserve my judgement based on how Michigan State performs against teams in its peer group. Washington is not a team in the same peer group as the Spartans. Maryland, however, is a team that is, in my opinion, in the same peer group as Michigan State.
If Michigan State does not win at home against Maryland next weekend, the Spartans will likely face an uphill battle for a winning season and a bowl bid.
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