MSU's offense has seemed to hit the showers 15 minutes early at the end of games.

The No. 25 Spartans (4-1, 1-0) have not scored a single touchdown in the fourth quarter in all five of their games this season.

But whatever you do, don't call the MSU offense conservative, because it's all part of the strategy.

"I don't know if it's necessarily conservative but trying to be a little bit intelligent," Spartans head coach John L. Smith said. "When our defense is playing as well as they have been, you don't want to do anything stupid."

The Spartans have entered every fourth quarter this season with a lead - and only once have they lost it.

Two games have come down to the wire for MSU, ending in the final minutes or seconds. Two games have been decided by less than a field goal, and two have been decided by fewer than 10 points.

Offensive coordinator Dave Baldwin says the Spartans haven't revealed every part of their offense, leaving part of their playbook "on the shelf" at the end of games. But he says they slowly have been unfolding a new page every weekend.

"There's 70 percent of (the offense) that's been exposed on the field," Baldwin said. "We've gone through more of that in practice, but each week you'll see there's a new little wrinkle going in.

"You saw a little bit of no huddle with part of the package and some back motion last week," he said. "Sometimes your opponent gives you the direction of how much more you put in or how much you don't want to show yet."

Baldwin also said the offense is executing the same plays, it's just mixing them up a little bit each week to confuse defenses. This, sophomore wide receiver Kyle Brown said, gives the Spartans a leg up over their opponents.

"The only advantage for us is that it takes the defense time to get used to us," Brown said.

Brown also acknowledged that MSU hasn't revealed every aspect of its offense yet.

Other players and coaches argue that the reason MSU hasn't been scorching any opponents in the fourth quarter is because the team hadn't planned on it. The Spartans are either still learning the offense, or they didn't practice certain plays.

"I have a pretty good feel for the offense, but I'm still learning things," senior quarterback Jeff Smoker said.

Smoker's top target, sophomore wide receiver Agim Shabaj, said the defense has had to save MSU's lead because the offense hasn't scored late in games.

"Our offense has been struggling a lot of times in the second half, and we've been having to rely on our defense," Shabaj said. "I think once we start clicking more and start bringing out some other plays and be more productive with catching the ball and things like that - but you'll see a lot more plays come out."

MSU's leading rusher, sophomore running back Jaren Hayes, said the team is doing exactly as it plans to each game.

"I think it's just like a game-plan thing; we're just going with the plays that we've prepared for in practice."