Michigan State got back to work after a bye week and came away with a huge 35-21 road victory at Indiana Saturday night.

It was obvious from the get-go that the Spartans, who struggled out of the gate with a narrow home win against Utah State and a loss at Arizona State, brought a sense of urgency to this game. They needed that, too, because previously unbeaten Indiana is a feisty team, especially at home.

Here’s what I liked — and didn’t like — about Michigan State’s win over Indiana:

What I liked

  • Understanding the sense of urgency: Michigan State came to play Saturday night, and that’s what we’ve been waiting to see all season. They were ranked preseason No. 11 for good reason, and we’ve been waiting to see them be dominant. They were, in some phases, Saturday night. “I thought we had full focus and we played hard,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. “We came to play. We’ve talked about needing to establish our identity and I felt like we did that.”
  • Defense made a quick turnaround: Michigan State’s defense has struggled the first two games, but that changed Saturday night when they really got after Indiana quarterback Peyton Ramsey. They had four sacks, and that pressure on the quarterback won the game. “I thought we got great pressure on him all day,” Dantonio said. “We had the sacks, but we had him on the run a lot, too, the rest of the game. I really liked that.”
  • Offense made big plays in timely fashion: Michigan State hung 35 points on a good Indiana defense, and they did it with some big plays. Jalen Nailor had a long 75-yard touchdown run and quarterback Brian Lewerke made some nice throws.
  • Special teams had some magical moments:  Instead of kicking a short field goal, quarterback and holder Brian Lewerke instead ran an option, pitching the ball to kicker Matt Coghlin, who dove into the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown. It was a nice surprise. “At some point, I think the head football coach needs to take some chances too. I just felt like this was the time. I told them, don’t be surprised if we fake one.”
  • Setting the tone for down the road: Finally, these are the Spartans we expected to see. THere’s still plenty to fix, of course, but this was a huge step in the right direction. “If you look at us, we’re hard to run the ball against, we can pressure the quarterback and we’ve got some big-play wide receivers,” Dantonio said.

What I didn’t like

  • Still not running the ball well enough: LJ Scott was out and outside of the 75-yard run by Nailor, they didn’t do much in the running game.  “We need to be able to run the ball on the inside, but we need to be able to get out on the edge, too,” Dantonio said. “One guy can break down on the interior on the offensive line, and it can be a problem for everybody. It can be a lot of things. It’s just something we need to keep working on.”
  • Penalties, errors still too prevalent: The Spartans had eight penalties for 72 yards, and many of them came at bad times. Lewerke also threw two interceptions by forcing the ball into tough spots. “He’s just trying to make a play,” Dantonio said. “He has confidence in his ability and he’s trying to make something happen, but sometimes you just have to take care of the ball and just throw it away.”
  • Failures on third down: It’s amazing that the Spartans scored 35 points and won despite going just 2-for-13 on third-down conversions. That’s an area that has to get better quickly.