For the majority of the season, the defense has been the primary area of concern for the team. Week after week, opponents have marched up and down the field against MSU.

While the yardage doesn’t look pretty on the final stat sheet, that “bend don’t break” look from last season’s defense reappeared. All things considered, it was an admirable performance from the unit. Michigan consistently made it into the red zone or into field goal range, only for the offense to sputter to a halt. By the end of the night, the Wolverines racked up five field goals. 

“We balled up in the red zone,” Head Coach Mel Tucker said. “That’s what we need to do, keep them to lower numbers.”

Defense wasn’t the main issue against the Wolverines. It was the offense. 

The unit wasn't especially terrible in the first half. Although the Spartans went into the locker room with just seven points on the board, they had nearly 200 yards of offense and put together a couple of effective drives. Combined with a good showing from the defense, there seemed to be a brief glimmer of hope for Michigan State as it trailed 13-7 at halftime.

Then, the offense completely imploded in the second half. 

The defense forced field goal after field goal throughout most of the second half, giving Michigan State multiple opportunities to march down the field and keep the game within reach. The offense responded with two straight three straight three-and-outs, with the last series resulting in a special teams miscue that gave the Wolverines prime scoring position. Each drive was lifeless, featuring a combination of rushing attempts with barely any yardage gained and deep passes that came nowhere close to the intended target.

Michigan State finished with just 63 yards of total offense in the second half, 51 of which came on a deep catch in the fourth quarter from sophomore wide receiver Keon Coleman.

“They beat us today," redshirt junior quarterback Payton Thorne said. "I’m not going to sit up here and say we beat ourselves, but we did not help ourselves in the second half."

Save for a single performance by Coleman, who had 155 yards and a touchdown on five catches, there was not a single promising statistic for the offense. 

The team was situationally terrible. MSU converted just two third downs on 11 attempts. The team also finished with just 11 first downs on the evening.

Perhaps more damning were the dreadful fourth down attempts. The Spartans successfully converted just once on four tries. Two of those failed conversions were fourth and one; the first was a run out of the shotgun, while the second was a delayed handoff in a pistol. 

Those failed conversions tilted the time of possession heavily toward Michigan. Michigan State finished with under 20 minutes of offensive possession, allowing the Wolverines to comfortably control and dictate the pace of play. The home team finished with 25 more plays than the visitors. 

What little effectiveness the offense mustered up came through the air. However, like the rest of the offense, that mostly disappeared following the first two quarters. After a decent first half, Thorne could not find any rhythm in the second. He finished with 215 yards, a touchdown and an interception on 30 attempts. 

While the passing game was substandard, the ground game was atrocious like it has been in all five of MSU's losses. Michigan State finished the night with just 37 rushing yards on 23 attempts, averaging 1.6 yards per run. Redshirt senior running back Elijah Collins’ 22 yards led the team. 

Michigan State's offense has not been particularly effective all year. But, save for the game against Minnesota a few weeks ago, the unit had its worst night of the season against the Wolverines.