Although it was a welcome sign for Head Coach Mel Tucker and the Spartans to see Thorne and Reed connect on the field again, there’s still a key aspect of the offense missing. The passing game has been able to string plays together, maybe not as consistent as they would like, but they’ve shown they have what it takes. The running game however, has completely disappeared since MSU’s game against Akron one month ago.

The Spartans were only able to muster up seven rushing yards against Ohio State, with redshirt senior running back Elijah Collins leading the pack with nine. Thorne finished with -23 rushing yards, due to taking four sacks, which brought down the team’s overall yardage.

“Yes, it’s frustrating,” senior center Nick Samac said. “You want to get more than seven rushing yards. That’s not good, that’s horrible.”

Tucker often emphasizes the need to play “complementary football” and perform well both offensively and defensively, but after the 49-20 loss against the Buckeyes, he also emphasized the need to get both sides of the offense going, the pass and the run game.

“We have to be able to run the ball,” Tucker said. “You can't be one-dimensional.”

Tucker also said going into the next game against Wisconsin he wants to see better and consistent execution “in all three phases.”

When it comes to rushing yards, this matchup was a tale of two cities. While the Spartans only came up with seven rushing yards, the Buckeyes forced their way through MSU’s defense with 237. In fact, second-year running back TreVeyon Henderson alone had 118 yards and one rushing touchdown.

This isn’t a new issue for Michigan State either. Other than the first two games against Western Michigan and Akron, MSU has been forced to rely on the pass game for the bulk of its scoring. Collins is the only Spartan to have a rushing touchdown versus a Power Five opponent, with a 12-yard rush against Maryland and a one-yard rush against Washington.

With the results he's been having, it's possible the Spartans will be seeing more of Collins in the future, especially after he led the team in rushing yards against Ohio State in just two attempts.

After a 52-0 win over Akron that included five rushing touchdowns, there was hope that running backs, redshirt sophomore Jalen Berger and fifth-year Jarek Broussard , would work together to create some offensive firepower in that spot. However, that same production hasn't been seen since. Broussard finished with eight yards against Ohio State, while Berger finished with just seven on a combined eight attempts.

It won't get any easier for Michigan State with a difficult Big Ten schedule still ahead. MSU still has meetings with Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State and Illinios, all of which have strong defenses.

The Spartans are working through frustration on both sides of the ball and coming together to focus on what's next.

"For the most part it's very frustrating, but ... you gotta block out the noise and you gotta focus on what's next and that's what we've been doing," senior linebacker Jacoby Windmon said. "Just find the areas to improve in and build off the improvement we've been making, and look at the good stuff on tape and build from that and learn from the bad stuff."

Thorne also emphasized how the team is sticking together through the losses.

"I think the first thing is togetherness and moving forward together, which like I said I feel like we've been doing that," Thorne said. "Now is going to be another test to that."

The Spartans will get a chance to break their losing streak and get their first conference win next week when the Wisconsin Badgers come to East Lansing for an afternoon matchup that will also serve as Michigan State's homecoming game.