EAST LANSING– Michigan State Spartans lost 38-7 to the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday night.
The Spartans kept things close in the first half but turnovers continued to handicap them. Two trips to the red zone were halted by fumbles, another ending on downs.
The Buckeyes ran away with this one in the second half, the inflated score shows a lopsided matchup, but that’s far from what the game felt like.
Here are a few takeaways for the Spartans:
They belong on the same field
Last November, the Spartans lost by a similar score at the Horseshoe, 38-3. This loss feels different.
By that time the white flag had been waved and the team was on its second head coach of the season and cycling through three quarterbacks. Essentially, it was a program with no life or direction.
Ten months later, the outcome in the box score seems the same, but it does feel different. Now under head coach Jonathan Smith, there was more fight, energy and hope for the future.
Spartans’ linebacker Cal Halladay was a starter for both games and believed they played better this time:
“I thought we were in this game the whole time, I thought we did what we needed to for the most part,” Halladay said.
The Spartans had their chances, but fumbles from Chiles and tight end Jack Velling in the red zone squandered those opportunities.
Even with those missed chances the defense kept them in the game. Spartans’ linebacker Jordan Turner picked off Buckeyes’ quarterback Will Howard to give the Spartans a boost, eventually scoring their lone touchdown on the next play.
But the biggest separator for the Buckeyes was their depth, they never lost their legs, playing at full speed for the full 60 minutes.
The Spartans matched the intensity for a quarter and a half but once the Buckeyes got rolling, they couldn’t keep up.
So in the record books, it goes down as another blowout loss against a top-ten team. The overall message is much different from the losses to Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State from last season.
Second half drop off
Through five games the Spartans have a worrisome trend of scoring dropping off in the second half of games.
In the first half of games, the Spartan offense is averaging 16.6 points per game. However, in the second half, that mark shrinks to only 5.2 points. In all five games, the Spartans have scored fewer points in the second half than the first.
“We’ll take a look at this film and find ways we can improve, but we gotta be able to score more than that,” Smith said.
The Spartans offense stalled once again in the second half, compiling four punts and an interception in five drives.
It is the second time the Spartans were blanked in the second half this season, the first time was in the season-opener against Florida Atlantic.
Spartans’ quarterback Aidan Chiles started the game strong, completing nine-for-ten passes, including a passing touchdown to wide receiver Jaron Glover.
But in the second half, Chiles flamed out, completing three of six passes and throwing an ill-advised pass that the Buckeyes took the other way.
The final stat line isn’t pretty, but Chiles showed flashes against a top defense in the country.
Quick Turnaround for the Spartans
The Spartans need to put their second-straight loss in the rearview mirror, with a short week approaching.
The Spartans will fly west to Eugene, to face new Big Ten opponent, the Oregon Ducks on Friday. This means less time for much-needed preparation against the No. 8 team in the country.
Spartans’ running back Nate Carter reiterated that the team needs to move on quickly.
“At the end of the day we got to play another game in six days, you know, we got a long trip out to Oregon,” Carter said.
The message in the locker room was to not get discouraged and let this two-game losing streak compound.d
“It’s easy for great teams, which I believe we have, to get to this point in the season where we lose a couple games, and how it can go downhill,” Carter said. “And I think the message is for us, is not to allow that to happen.”
