In a rivalry contest that has been in the favor of the MSU Spartans for seven of the last eight meeting, they welcomed the Michigan Wolverines to Spartan Stadium for a noon matchup. The contest pitted an underachieving MSU squad with the No. 2 team in the country and a top-ranked defense. The odds were too much, as MSU (2-6, 0-5 Big Ten) is defeated by a score 32-23 at the hands of the Wolverines (8-0, 5-0 Big Ten).
The losing streak hits six games now for head coach Mark Dantonio and his Spartans, including four home losses in that span.
The Spartans started hot, picking up 63 rushing yards on a 75-yard touchdown drive to start the game. U-M answered quickly to tie it up, and the Wolverine defense got more and more stifling as they game went on. The last minute in the first half saw U-M put 10 points on the board and build their lead to 27-10 at halftime.
The second half starting with a Wolverine drive where U-M quarterback Wilton Speight (16-25, 244 yards, one interception on the afternoon), was intercepted by senior cornerback Darien Hicks. MSU wound up moving the ball all the way to the U-M two-yard line to set up a prime scoring opportunity.
Speight and his main target on the outside, Amara Darboh, were connecting all game. Darboh finished with eight catches for a career-high 165 yards, including two highlight reel grabs on long third downs for U-M.
MSU ran three straight inside runs with sophomore running back LJ Scott that totaled no yards. Then, an outside run on fourth and goal was shut down by U-M. Scott, however, was a bright spot for MSU’s offense, totaling 139 yards on 22 attempts and one touchdown. He also had two catches for 47 yards.
The Spartans started the game with senior Tyler O’Connor under center, who finished his day 7-for-14 for 84 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Redshirt-junior Damion Terry wound up taking over for MSU in the fourth quarter, going 0-4 but rushed for 11 yards. His lone offensive drive resulted in a missed 34-yard field goal as he got hurt the play before as three Wolverine players drove him to the dirt.
The Spartans ended with redshirt-freshman Brian Lewerke, who took the Spartans down the field in the fourth quarter with three straight completions, capped off by a 20-yard touchdown to senior Monty Madaris, his first of the season. It cut the Wolverine lead to 30-17 with 7:31 left in the game at that point.
The Spartans, trailing by 13, got the ball back 85 yards away from the end zone and just 3:55 left on the clock with two timeouts. Lewerke led MSU into the red zone on the drive with his arm and his legs (36 yards passing, 32 rushing), but was ultimately stopped on fourth down, giving the ball back to U-M and effectively ending the football game. Lewerke finished with those 32 yards rushing and went 6-for-10 for 100 yards and one touchdown, but also left with an injury.
O’Connor came back in for MSU’s final drive of the game, where he connected with Donnie Corley for a touchdown with two seconds left. However, a fumbled two-point conversion resulted in a safety for U-M, making the score 32-23.
The Wolverines outgained the Spartans with 438 yards of total offense (194 rush, 244 pass) compared to 398 for MSU. MSU was 3-of-6 in the red zone and left a lot of points on the board, while U-M was 6-for-6 on the day in the red zone.
The Spartan defense held U-M to just one field goal in the second half. They were led by senior Riley Bullough’s 14 tackles as well as eight from linebacker Ed Davis. U-M safety Delano Hill led the Wolverines with 11 tackles.
MSU takes on Illinois in Champaign next week, still in search of their first Big Ten win.
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