Here are some quick thoughts from halftime in Evanston.

Offense comes out with purpose

It took one drive for Michigan State's offense to score as much as they did against Arizona State last week. The Spartans marched down the field on their opening possession, opening the game with a 9-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown run by Elijah Collins.

Collins appeared to be bottled up at the line of scrimmage, only to squeak through the line and find his way into the end zone. Brian Lewerke was 3-for-4 for 40 yards on the drive and found Cody White for his first two completions, including a 29-yard connection that moved MSU inside of Northwestern's 30-yard line.

The drive was impressive and showed how good MSU's offense can be.

The rest of the half though, not so much.

The Spartan offense continued to stall, despite promising field position, until the final drive of the half where Lewerke found White for an 11-yard touchdown pass.

Early mistakes

The Spartans continued to shoot themselves in the foot early in Saturday's game. After MSU's defense forced a three-and-out on Northwestern's first possession, White fumbled the ball on the ensuing punt return to set the Wildcats up in Spartan territory.

Northwestern, using the help of a pass interference call on Josiah Scott, drove all the way to the goal line, only to be shut down by the Spartans' defense.

On Michigan State's next possession, a sack and false start on back-to-back plays killed the drive before it could get going, sending the ball back to the Wildcats.

Northwestern had success on its second offensive possession as well, in part to another pass interference call — this time on Josh Butler on a third-and-12 from MSU's 33-yard line. However, the Spartans held the Wildcats to a field goal.

After a big kickoff return by Darrell Stewart Jr. to the Spartan 42-yard line began MSU's next possession, the drive was killed by a personal foul on Connor Heyward, followed by a four-yard loss on a run by Anthony Williams Jr., forcing the Spartans to punt again.

Goal line dominance

Looking back, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald may regret running three consecutive run plays against Michigan State's defense at the goal line.

The Wildcats moved the ball with success after White's fumble, but struggled when the offense could sniff the end zone. After two-straight carries by Isaiah Bowser, on second and third and goal, were stopped by Joe Bachie and Xavier Henderson, Northwestern tried the option with quarterback Hunter Johnson and the Spartans stopped it, forcing a turnover on downs.