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3 takeaways as Michigan State tops Nebraska for first B1G win in nearly a year
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Nebraska entered Saturday’s game against Michigan State needing a win to claim bowl eligibility in Matt Rhule’s 1st season. The Spartans, though, put those plans on hold thanks to a 20-17 victory at Spartan Stadium — their 1st B1G win since Nov. 12, 2022.
MSU was an underdog in this one having lost 6 in a row — 0-7 in conference play dating back to last season — and with Central Michigan standing as the only FBS team it had beaten all year. But it was just a little bit better than a Cornhuskers program in search of their 1st postseason bid since 2016.
Here are 3 takeaways from the Spartans’ big Week 10 win:
An ugly win for Sparty, but a win nonetheless
No one was expecting an offensive shootout in this one: the Spartans had averaged 18 points per game to the Huskers’ 20. The Huskers had yielded just 18.6 points an outing.
And things held true to form as this was a 10-10 ballgame at halftime. It finished with 578 yards of total offense between the 2 teams with the Spartans holding a 295-283 edge in that department. Neither quarterback was particularly effective on a sustained basis throughout the afternoon. Meanwhile, there were 13 combined punts in this one.
Long story short: it wasn’t pretty. But Michigan State, in the win column for the 1st time in nearly 2 months and off the schneid in league play for the 1st time in almost a year, could care less.
Another 3-takeaway afternoon for the Spartans defense
The Spartans’ defense has been a bit opportunistic over the last few games. It forced 3 turnovers against Rutgers (an interception and 2 fumbles) then, after 0 takeaways against Michigan, had 3 more against Minnesota (2 fumbles, 1 interceptions).
Against Nebraska, Scottie Hazelton’s unit came away with a 3-spot for the 2nd week in a row and 3rd in the last 4 games: it picked off Huskers signal-caller Heinrich Haarberg twice and recovered a fumble. It was also credited with a forced fumble on the Huskers’ last-gasp drive with time winding down in the 4th quarter.
A stat worth noting: the Spartans recorded just 2 interceptions in 2022. They have 9 through 9 games in 2023, 1 shy of matching the 10 they had in 2021.
Michigan State has a massive weight off its shoulders
Michigan State’s next 3 games are at Ohio State, at Indiana, and home against Penn State. No one across the country is under the illusion that the Spartans will come out on the other end with 6 wins.
That said, it’s been a long last couple of months for a program that has undergone significant changes. A wave of players hitting the transfer portal following a demoralizing 49-0 loss to Michigan speaks volumes to the headspace many in the locker room have been in following the firing of Mel Tucker.
Credit to the Spartans as a collective for not throwing up the white flag and packing things in. They did suffer a loss to Minnesota the next week, but their work on the practice field was rewarded on Saturday in the form of a long-awaited win.