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College Football

Despite a solid win over Iowa, Michigan State still needs to find consistency on offense

Garrett Kroeger

By Garrett Kroeger

Published:

This was the type of season building win the Michigan State Spartans needed.

On Saturday in East Lansing, the Spartans defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes, 17-10. While Michigan State defeated an Iowa team that was coming off a game in which it took No. 4 Penn State down to the wire to only lose on the final play of the game, its win showed that the Spartans are still trying to figure out their offense.

After a self-inflicted horror show against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish last week, which resulted in a 38-14 loss, Michigan State co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner admitted that the Spartans may have to change its offensive approach after its loss. The game against Iowa further confirmed Warner’s statement that Michigan State is still in need to change its approach offensively.

To open the game, the Spartans’ offense was clicking on all cylinders. Quarterback Brian Lewerke completed his first five passes of the game for 70 yards and a touchdown on the opening drive of the game. Then on Michigan State’s third drive of the game, the Spartans drove 31 yards on 10 plays which resulted in soaring touchdown grab by receiver Felton Davis. It was Davis’ second score of the game.

 

Once the game entered the second quarter, Michigan State’s offense curled into a ball and lied dormant for the rest of the contest.

The remaining drives for the Spartans went as followed: punt, punt, field goal, turnover on downs, missed field, punt and punt. There are multiple reasons why Michigan State’s offense became ineffective as the game progressed. The Spartans were called for a lot of penalties that killed drives, however, their inability to run the ball haunted them as well.

Lewerke ended up being Michigan State’s leading rusher with 42 yards on 12 carries. Behind him was running back L.J. Scott, who ended up running for 28 yards on 14 carries. That gave the junior back who has been wildly inconsistent throughout his career in East Lansing an average of two yards per carry. Everyone else behind Lewerke and Scott had less than 10 yards of rushing.

While the Spartans offense was inconsistent against the Hawkeyes, their defense was impressive throughout the 60 minutes of play.

Michigan State’s defense allowed only 229 yards (201 passing and 28 rushing). The latter is the most impressive statistic of the game.

Last weekend, Iowa running back Akrum Wadley was bottled up for the first half against Penn State. However, in the second half versus the Nittany Lions, Wadley exploded and made big time plays when it mattered most. Wadley would tally 80 yards rushing and a touchdown while adding 75 receiving yards and another score against the Nittany Lions.

Unlike Penn State, the Spartans kept the Hawkeyes’ No. 1 offensive threat in check. Michigan State only allowed Wadley to run for 30 yards and a score on 17 carries and 17 receiving yards on three catches. That was hands down Wadley’s worst performance of the year.

While the Spartans kept Wadley in check, they also forced two fumble recoveries. Which one recovery seemed to be crucial.

Iowa looked like it was about to score early in the third. However, quarterback Nate Stanley lost the ball while his winding up to throw the ball inside Michigan State’s 10 yard line.

 

The Spartans’ defense looked great against Iowa. In fact, it looked like it has the potential to be one of the B1G’s most dominant defenses this season. However, that won’t mean much if their offense cannot improve.

A positive that the Michigan State offense can takeaway was that it did not turnover the ball on Saturday. Despite that, the Spartans need their offense to become more consistent. They need the offense to establish a run game with guys like Scott and Gerald Holmes to help the passing game and vice versa. If the Green and White can build a balanced offense, it will lead to a consistent unit. But they have yet to do so.

The good thing for Mark Dantonio and company is that they claimed a season building win. In fact, the Spartans are now halfway to a bowl game with a 3-1 record.

Now, Michigan State has its sights to in-state rival the Michigan Wolverines. If the Spartans don’t become more consistent on offense, they will have a slim chance to take down the Wolverines come next Saturday.

Garrett Kroeger