3 Takeaways As Michigan State Football Puts Away Eastern Michigan 35-7

Michigan State football was back in action on Saturday, taking on Eastern Michigan, an in-state foe residing less than 90 minutes from East Lansing. The Spartans saw their Mid-American Conference opponent for the first time since the 2014 season.

The Spartans were 10-0 all time against the Eagles, alongside Pat Fitzgerald holding a 3-0 mark when facing them from his time at Northwestern. After a 35-7 romp, the Spartans and Coach Fitzgerald keep their streaks alive.

After a 14-7 halftime score gave the Spartans a scare, there was a rally (without the puke) as MSU romped to a 21-0 second half to win. Here are some takeaways from Saturday’s affair.

New Year, New Staff, Some Old Problems

The Spartans have a new staff and a new foundation on emphasis and discipline, there was a pair of pre-snap penalties that will drive the Michigan State coaching staff crazy in the film room. Michigan State saw a false start on a punt alongside a Brennan Parachek false start on offense.

Overall, the Spartans only sit at 8 penalties through two games, which was less than what they had in multiple games last season. However, they also had two easily preventable ones.

Another holdover from the previous staff’s woes were line issues. The Spartans saw early pressures and a sack allowed to an Eastern Michigan team that had two sacks through two games against non-Power Four opponents.

The Eagles were disruptive in the first half and gave a blue print to any team on how to make Alessio Milivojevic uncomfortable. Milivojevic rebounded in the second half, but Eastern Michigan’s front being called “disruptive” for an entire half is alarming.

The Spartans turned the second half around, so perhaps hard coaching was simply the answer. After all, the Spartans finished with 258 yards on the ground.

Receiver Battle Gets Zero Separation

On Saturday, the first half was a story of the wide receivers not getting separation. By the end of the day, the story was the lack of separation in the room.

The Spartans were down KK Smith on Saturday, but played seven receivers on offense. The Spartans saw Charles Taplin record his first career touchdown, Fredrick Moore his first touchdown as a Spartan, Braylon Collier record his first career catch, and Samson Gash his first career snaps.

All those players had their own milestones, while Taplin stood above the rest. Collier also rose, as did Moore with a heads up play.

Smith saw his hold as a rotational receiver come under threat from missing time, while a Bryson Williams drop on his only target saw the receiver falter some in his hold on his spot.

The room had risers and fallers, and there is not much separation between the WR3 spot and mop-up duty in a blowout. With Notre Dame on the horizon, that is the difference between a spot on the plane to South Bend or watching from East Lansing.

Run Defense Is a Concern

The Spartans had a glaring hole exposed by both Toledo on a chunk play and then Eastern Michigan in their only touchdown drive. Michigan State football, despite their brand of physical football, has been exposed by the run.

Toledo was held to less than 10 yards without their 71-yard carry. Eastern Michigan, however, was able to run their offense on the ground quite well in the first half. The top two Eagle backs nearly combined for 100 yards. Worse yet, EMU was down a starting lineman.

In the Spartans’ defense, they were missing star senior linebacker and captain Jordan Hall. Hall also carries the green dot for communication, so the Spartans relied upon third-year linebacker Brady Pretzlaff, who did step up.