Michigan State football: 3 takeaways from embarrassing loss to Indiana

Michigan State football was in yet another rivalry game today, this time playing Indiana in the Battle for the Old Brass Spittoon. The Spartans (4-4, 2-3 Big Ten) entered Saturday looking to ease the pain of a loss to the school down the road last week. Meanwhile, Indiana (8-0, 5-0) looked to continue their momentum and start the final push for a potential College Football Playoff berth.

Coming into this game, I considered it a “benchmark” to compare against the Ohio State game earlier in the year.

What did we learn following Saturday’s game?

1. The hot starts continue for the Spartans

This takeaway could also be called “Nick Marsh is that guy”. He sustained two MSU drives with third down conversions, the first being for 33 yards (and good enough to give him solo possession of the MSU true freshman receiving record) and the second being his third touchdown of the year. Neither of these was a routine catch either. Marsh slowed for the ball then adjusted over a defender on his first catch, and his touchdown saw the receiver contort his body and slam a toe down for six points.

The Spartans could not run the ball, with nine carries for 23 yards in the first quarter. Of those, nine came on an Aidan Chiles scramble on a third down with what should have been a sack. Indiana halted all Spartan rushing momentum from the last two games.

Chiles had 102 yards through the air by the end of the first, and the Spartans were up 10-0. However, after two three-and-outs by the Spartan defense, the Hoosiers were able to drive the ball down the field and take advantage of Cal Haladay in coverage for a touchdown. The Spartans then drove the ball to midfield. Then, all hope died.

2. The Aidan Chiles experience continues

Aidan Chiles continues to be the piece that keeps the offense alive and frustrate the fans. Chiles had the aforementioned scramble for a first, avoiding a free defender with a spin move and taking a first down. Then, on the Marsh touchdown, he threw a ball where his receiver was the only player with the radius to catch it. He made good reads, learned from his mistakes, and scrambled out of the pocket on his one throw-away to avoid a grounding issue that has plagued him.

Then, it all went wrong. The quarterback tried to squeeze a ball to Jack Velling and it was deflected by a linebacker, and picked off on the tip drill. Later in the quarter, Chiles threw his second pick of the day, this one being a curl route that was easily read. Indiana scored after this second pick, taking a two-possession lead for 21 points straight.

What did not help Chiles was that defensive lineman Mikail Kamara was in the backfield so much that he should have been paying rent. Kamara had 2.5 tackles for loss in the first half and also contributed a half-sack to force the final Michigan State football timeout of the half.

One last first-half miscue for Chiles was a lack of urgency at the end of the half. With 17 seconds left, Chiles found Marsh for seven yards but showed the least amount of urgency of all offensive players to get to the line. Perhaps the quarterback thought that Marsh got out of bounds or picked up a first, but it was a frustrating situation, to say the least. Additionally, Chiles got hit by, you guessed it, Kamara on the play.

He left the game after being injured and Tommy Schuster was also sacked three times. The line was not great today.

3. At least there is a bye week upcoming

After the 10-point first quarter, the Spartans were humiliated. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The Spartans were humiliated much like their game against Penn State last season. The game was so bad that Indiana fans were leaving with 11 minutes remaining. This game was humiliating. Besides Nick Marsh showing out, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

Injuries took hold of the Spartans, taking Chuck Brantley, Malik Spencer, Anthony Jones, and Aidan Chiles out of the game.

Indiana controlled the line of scrimmage, with seven sacks and 15 tackles for loss before the halfway point of the fourth quarter. Every lineman had at least four or five bad reps and this was a worse loss than the Ohio State or Oregon game.

After the first quarter, there was no hope.

What’s up next?

The Spartans get a bye week before traveling to face Illinois in Urbana-Champaign next Saturday. Illinois lost to Minnesota on Saturdat but beat Michigan pretty handily when the Spartans struggled against the Wolverines.

I believe Michigan State football is out of primetime slots, so they will likely be playing at noon or 3:30.