Michigan State football: 3 takeaways from homecoming win over Iowa

Happy homecoming, Spartan fans. Michigan State football was back in action for their annual homecoming game. In addition, Spartan fans were encouraged to wear green, creating a great scene before Saturday’s game. With the alumni in the house, the Spartans hosted Iowa, led by former Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara.

Granted, the bigger concern was the Hawkeyes’ powerful running game, led by feature back Kaleb Johnson. The Spartans kept him in check, and Jonathan Kim was the MVP of the game, putting up a Spartan single-game record six field goals on seven attempts. Jonathan Kim being great at kicking is not a new revelation to Spartan fans, so he was not included in my takeaways.

I’ll rave about him on the Spartan Shadows Podcast later this week instead. The Spartans won 32-20, giving them some much-needed momentum heading into the battle for Paul Bunyan against the school down the road next weekend.

1. Michigan State football tried a new strategy at running back, and it worked?

It has been no secret that Michigan State has struggled running the ball during its three-game losing streak. The Spartans decided to go full “running back by committee” this game, and they played Nate Carter, Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams, Makhi Frazier, and Brandon Tullis. That was, they utilized all four in the first quarter.

Considering the 85 yards rushing they had by the time their drive that ended the first quarter was completed, I think it worked. The Spartans added 87 yards with Aidan Chiles’ arm and it was 9-0 with 11 minutes left in the second. Unfortunately, the Spartans could not add a touchdown in those three drives, but a two-possession lead was more than enough for me. Aziah Johnson joined the fun on a reverse, adding 15 yards rushing on his first career carry. The Spartans proceeded to get another field goal on that drive after a Brandon Baldwin false start dissuaded the Spartans from going for it on 4th-and-2.

The Spartans ended the half with 118 rushing yards on 24 attempts and a 12-0 lead.

In the second half, the Spartans were running the ball again. While not as efficient (16 carries for 94 yards), Michigan State football was able to keep Carter and Lynch-Adams fresh enough so that they could convert and gain yards on crucial downs. On 3rd-and-3, MSU ran a toss for a first. In a first-and-goal, Carter was able to jump over the top for a touchdown. The Spartans wore down an Iowa defense, which is not a statement I expected to make on Saturday. They finished with 212 yards on the ground, a season-high, even better than their date against the FCS’s Prarie View A&M.

2. Michigan State defense is… back?

The Spartans were just as hot as the run game to start, with the Hawkeyes being stuffed for a paltry 2.8 yards per carry in the first half. The Hawkeyes could only muster two first downs all half and managed to choke their final possession from a second-and-2 and not convert. Star running back Kaleb Johnson entered the night as the second-leading rusher in the FBS, and he was held in check. Besides his 9-yard carry at the 2-minute timeout, the running back had six carries for six yards. The Hawkeyes managed to find him in the receiving game, though, where he added a team-leading 22 yards receiving at half.

Most of this came courtesy of a 19-yard swing pass. Johnson was my primary concern entering the day, and the Spartans had him in mind, too.

With the Johnson train derailed, the Hawkeyes had Cade McNamara (remember him?) attempt nine passes in the first half. Unfortunately, McNamara only completed three of those passes (and two of them were swing passes) all half. Iowa ran 19 plays for 58 yards all half. This looked like a game on freshman difficulty of College Football 25, not the “revamped” Iowa offense that put up 40 against Washington last week. My worries of a brand-new Iowa offense were a mirage in the first half.

That new Iowa offense came out strong in the second half, with back-to-back touchdown drives. Late in the game, the Spartans allowed a 75-yard touchdown run, one of the very few “big plays” the team has allowed all year. Thankfully, MSU’s offense responded with points after every single Iowa touchdown drive, including two of them being Spartan touchdowns.

The Spartans ended the game only allowing 283 yards to the Hawkeyes. Take out the 75-yarder, and it’s 208 yards on 45 plays. Not bad at all.

3. The second half was a brand-new ball game

At half, I posted that “the next touchdown determines this game.” Well, that certainly was true.

Following a great return, Iowa drove the ball 58 yards for the score (the same yardage they had all first half) to make it 12-7. MSU had their own touchdown drive, and Iowa then responded with its own. Both teams were sick of defense. It became Pac-12 after levels of crazy.

MSU forced a Cade McNamara interception, and the Spartans got their sixth field goal of the game after Aziah Johnson’s catch and run to the one was erased by an offensive pass interference call. Just when everyone felt confident the Spartans would emerge victorious, Kaleb Johnson broke his first run of 10 or more yards on the night. Naturally, it was a 75-yard house call.

In arguably their most important drive of the season, Aidan Chiles, Brian Lindgren, and Nick Marsh teamed up to create a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Of course, it had to have a full set of drama, too. Marsh had one catch get whistled for a review (he caught it) and then a touchdown called down at the one via an unannounced expedited review. While that was not the worst thing in the world, as it forced a Hawkeye timeout to be burnt, it was moderately annoying. MSU punched the ball in with Nate Carter on the play after the timeout.

In the last edition of the second-half drama, there was the final Hawkeye drive. McNamara elected to be efficient, dumping the ball off to Johnson, where the running back nearly doubled his receiving yards (49) today than he had for the whole season (53). They spotted Cal Haladay in coverage and picked on him. He was subbed out, and Angelo Grose was the next victim. Iowa got the ball to the MSU 35. The Spartans ended Iowa’s hopes after an unbelievable 31-yard catch on fourth-and-10, as Jacob Gill ran out of bounds on his own move and caught it for an illegal touching penalty. That made a loss of downs, and the Spartans got the ball at their 35.

Ballgame, MSU.

What’s next?

Michigan State football snapped its three-game losing streak and improved to 4-3 on the season. As I said in my last takeaways, the Spartans had to steal one of Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, or Illinois to be in a good spot for bowl contention. That mission was accomplished. The Spartans are on the road next week, but it is a short bus ride.

MSU plays in Ann Arbor against the Wolverines. That is right, it is Hate Week, folks. Buckle up — 7:30 p.m. on Saturday cannot come soon enough.