Michigan State football suffocated by Michigan defense in 21-7 loss

Chris Solari
Detroit Free Press

EAST LANSING — Ground-and-pound. Gnaw the clock. That always has been Michigan State’s M.O. on offense, particularly how the Spartans have dominated Michigan for the past decade.

All of that changed Saturday.

Quarterback Brian Lewerke played hurt. Top wide receiver Felton Davis III went down with a season-ending injury. Running back LJ Scott looked like a player who had not seen action in more than a month.

The 24th-ranked Spartans’ offense evaporated. And No. 6 Michigan’s offense played keep-away with every chance it got, pulling away to a 21-7 victory with two touchdowns in the second half against MSU’s gassed defense.

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Michigan State running back LJ Scott runs against Michigan during the first half at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018.

The Spartans had the ball on offense for just 18 minutes and 57 seconds compared to a dominating 41:03 for the Wolverines. And with Lewerke largely ineffective with a right shoulder injury, MSU gained just 94 total yards of offense – by far the lowest under Mark Dantonio – as well as just 15 rushing yards.

“Had opportunities, but we've got to make good on every opportunity,” said Dantonio, who suffered his fourth loss in 12 games against Michigan. “Not enough production offensively. When you look at possession time, you'll see it's highly one-sided.”

U-M ran for 183 yards and totaled 395 yards after kneel-downs at the end of the game.

But it was the problems on offense that bring some harsh truths for the Spartans (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten), who are effectively are out of the chase for the Big Ten East Division title with the loss, barring collapses by both the Wolverines (7-1, 5-0) and Ohio State.

“As a leader, I’m just gonna address the guys and let them know we got big games ahead of us,” senior safety Khari Willis said. “As far as the conference standings, they are what they are. We gotta continue to come out and play.”

MSU hosts Purdue next Saturday (noon, TV TBD) with a quarterback who is ailing. The Spartans are now without their top two wide receivers, unless Cody White can recover from a hand injury, and a number of other passing threats nursing injuries. Scott, who ran for just 25 yards on 10 carries, still does not appear to be 100 percent. And MSU’s already-hampered offensive line suffered another injury as center Matt Allen left the game with an apparent leg injury.

“We just regroup. You go in the lab and see what mistakes you made and just come back next week,” said receiver Darrell Stewart Jr., who returned after missing last week’s game against Penn State. “We’ve got phenomenal coaches and phenomenal players. There were some mistakes we made this game. But the mistakes we made can be easily cleaned up and we can win the ballgame.”

It took a forced turnover deep in U-M’s end and a trick play for the Spartans to get their only touchdown in front of 76,131 fans at Spartan Stadium.

Trailing, 7-0, early in the third quarter, MSU’s defense forced Michigan’s Chris Evans to fumble, and Tyriq Thompson recovered at the Wolverines’ 7-yard line.

Two plays later, Scott took a handoff from Lewerke around the left side. Stewart came from that direction and took a flip from Scott, then lofted a pass to a wide-open Lewerke in the right side of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown.

That would be the best moment of the day for the offense, which ran just 51 plays in the game and averaged 1.8 yards per play.

“It’s not fun,” said Lewerke, who was 5 of 25 for just 66 yards passing. “We always want to win this game and make our alumni proud. It doesn’t feel good.”

Michigan running back Karan Higdon is tackled by Michigan State defenders during the first half on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018, at Spartan Stadium.

That led to a long day for the defense, which held up for most of the first three quarters.

But the Spartans gave up a few big plays on defense that burned them – and had two defended that hurt them as well.

In the first quarter, after a 1-hour, 15-minute delay for lightning, MSU appeared to have Michigan stopped on third-and-8. However, a deflected Patterson pass bounced to receiver Nico Collins, who caught the ball out of midair and pushed ahead for 10 yards and a first down to save the drive. Seven plays later, Patterson hit Collins with a TD pass in the back of the end zone in front of MSU cornerback Tre Person.

Person got beat deep in the third quarter, with Patterson connecting with Donovan Peoples-Jones on a 79-yard, go-ahead TD pass with 2:24 to play.

Then early in the fourth quarter, the Wolverines got another deflected reception – this time, tight end Zach Gentry snared the ball out of midair, with referees ruling he could return to the field and make the catch legally for a 16-yard gain. Patterson also pulled a fourth-and-2 option run and took the ball around edge for 11 of his 24 rushing yards.

Michigan had the ball for 12:32 in the final quarter. And MSU’s defense wore down.

“It’s very difficult,” Willis said. “But I got faith in this program.”

More:Michigan State's Brian Lewerke can't wait for all the injuries to stop

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!