Michigan State’s Nate Carter working to pump consistency into a struggling Spartan offense
East Lansing, Mich.– There hasn’t been much in the way of consistency when it comes to Michigan State’s football team this season.
Even when the Spartans opened the season at 2-0 there were questions about the performance and production of Michigan State’s offense, defense and special teams.
Despite the many inconsistencies, execution errors and questionable play calls on offense, the one aspect resembling a constant has been the play of redshirt sophomore running back Nathan Carter, who will enter Michigan State’s 7:30 p.m. contest at Iowa (NBC) on Saturday with 369 yards through 16 quarters of football.
Through four games, Carter is averaging 92.3 yards a game, which ranks No. 4 in the Big Ten. He ranks No. 6 in the Big Ten in yards per carry (5.1) among backs with at least 50 carries.
Carter, a redshirt sophomore transfer from UConn, opened the season with two straight 100-plus yard games. Carter has scored four touchdowns and added nine receptions for 60 yards.
Carter, a human development and family studies major from Rochester, NY, is an important, improving and effective weapon in the Spartans’ offense. He rushed for 97 yards during Saturday’s loss against Maryland, averaging a healthy 5.1 yards per carry.
“I feel like I did pretty well doing everything I could to help this football team win,’’ said Carter of his performance against the Terps “But I think that once I’ve watched this film there’s going to be some plays that I know I missed and there’s going to be some plays that I know that I could have done better on. I could have blocked better, I could have ran the ball a little faster.
“No game is ever a perfect game even though the stats might show that. So I know there’s still a lot of stuff I can improve on as far as my game. It’s game four of the season, so there’s a lot of improvements to be made, not just for me but for the offense as well.’’
Presently is on pace to finish with 12 touchdowns and 1,108 yards in a 12-game schedule, plus 180 reception yards.
Carter did have an expensive hiccup against the Terrapins, fumbling early in the second quarter, in Michigan State territory, when the Spartans were trailing 14-0.
“As far as the fumble, I didn’t do my job,” he said. “It’s my job to hold on to the football, and I just didn’t do my job. It was just poor, poor ball security.
“I got the handoff, and I was in traffic and I didn’t do my job. I’ve got to be able to do my job better. It wasn’t the play call, it wasn’t the offensive line. I’ve just got to be able to do my job.’’
Carter’s miscue was part of a five turnover day by a team that is just not good enough to overcome multiple mistakes. Still, it’s fair to say that Carter’s production is giving Michigan State a chance to be better as an offense going forward for the remainder of the season.
Carter runs hard between the tackles, does not shy away from contact and has a deceptive wiggle and burst when he hits the hole.
Carter was stopped on fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line when right tackle Spencer Brown was blasted backward and tight end Evan Morris failed to secure a block.
Later in the game, Carter converted a pair of fourth-and-two situations, one with center Nick Samac doing a good job of controlling the Maryland nose guard. On the other fourth-and-two conversion, left guard J.D. Duplain controlled and sealed nose guard Taizse Johnson to help Carter gain four yards.
Late in the third quarter, on third-and-three, Samac sealed the nose guard in allowed Carter to pick up first-down yardage.
Carter had gains of 19, 15, 11, 9 (twice), 8 and 5 yards among his 19 carries on Saturday.
“I really felt like we had some explosive plays. We dominated at times,’’ Samac said. “Plenty of times we were driving on them but it was just the little mistakes; penalties, turning the ball over. We need to continue to get better, obviously, especially taking the hits off the quarterback and getting a better push upfront (for the run game).
“I thought we were getting a decent push at times. Now it’s just doing it more consistently because we popped for some runs, where we saw the light of day. We need to learn to finish and execute to a higher level.”
Despite Carter’s personal productivity, Michigan State as a team ranks No. 12 in the Big Ten in rushing yards per game (111.0), and 12th in yards per carry (3.5).
Senior Jordon Simmons entered the season as a fourth-string running back, but with Jalen Berger and Jaden Mangham injured, Simmons is getting second-string work, albeit on a limited basis.
Carter isn’t getting much help from a second-string partner, and run blocking was spotty through the first three games of the season. Run blocking showed improvement at times against Maryland, but more progress is needed.
Carter was involved in some of the more encouraging plays of the day last Saturday, but also one of the worst, when he was stopped for a loss on the fourth-and-goal play in the first quarter.
“As far as the fourth down play, whatever Coach (Jay) Johnson calls, we have to have faith that he’s calling the right play for the right reasons,” Carter said. “And if it doesn’t work, then that means we didn’t do our job as an offense. We knew that all that we had to do was get the ball in the endzone and we simply didn’t do that. So that’s what happens when we don’t execute and we don’t do our jobs. That’s goiong t be the point of emphasis going into the Iowa game.’’
(Jim Comparoni contributed to this report).
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