Michigan State linebacker Jordan Hall on 31-20 loss against Michigan
Jordan Hall: “We did a lot of good today. Just didn’t do well enough when it mattered most.”
East Lansing — Michigan State’s losing streak grew to five games Saturday night, when it lost to rival Michigan 31-20 in front of a Spartan Stadium crowd. Yet again, the Spartans couldn’t put together a complete performance. Yet again a winnable game went the other way.
Yet again, Michigan State can blame its own executional errors. On top of 12 penalties, including four false starts alone, the Spartans’ offense routinely bungled blocks, lacked separation and faltered due to poor play calling. On defense, some improvements overall couldn’t stop a few big run plays that blew the game wide open in the second half.
So, for yet another game, Michigan State players at the podium could only point to execution.
“Execution is big, and we didn’t do it,” quarterback Aidan Chiles said.
At this point, blaming execution is only half of the story for Michigan State (3-5, 0-5 Big Ten), because it’s more so that lack of improvement on that front is baffling about this team. For five weeks, executional errors have derailed these Spartans. Untimely false starts, missed blocks, busted coverages. All the details that went wrong Saturday weren’t anything new, and that’s where the great problem lies with this team.
Asked why executional errors are still showing up in Week 9, Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith pointed to a number of plays that went wrong on offense. The two fourth-down calls that Michigan State failed, including one on Chiles’ final drive of the game down 24-13 in the fourth quarter. Other earlier passing plays ended in poor throws that hit the turf, a couple that could have been intercepted.
“These are critical, critical plays,” Smith said. “Gotta keep working and looking at (the) situations we’re putting them in to execute, and then obviously doing it through the week so it shows up on Saturday.”
Those critical plays showed up often in the game. A fourth-and-3 playaction spun into a rollout that ended in an incompletion to Jack Velling. An illegal hands to the face penalty on Caleb Carter in the first quarter that, followed by a sack, contributed to a third-and-29 down and distance six yards in front of MSU’s own end zone.
And the number of throws that were just off the mark stuck this offense in the mud. Not trusting the abilities of its run game early on, Michigan State kept calling passing plays early as Chiles threw 4-for-13 in the first half. He improved to 14-for-28 by the game’s end, but even then he only accumulated 130 yards.
In the run game, Makhi Frazier’s vision and cutbacks turned busted plays into a career-high 109 yards rushing on 14 carries, but 74 of those yards came on two plays. On a down-to-down basis, Frazier found inefficient gains of three yards or less on eight of his carries. Often, that came from poor blocking in front of him more so than a poor zone read on his part.
None of this is new material. It’s the same executional details that hampered this offense against Nebraska, UCLA and Indiana the previous three games. Blame talent, or blame coaching — the effect is the same. Michigan State cannot get out of its own way.
Look no further than the dozen penalties it took, nine on offense, that gave Michigan (6-2, 4-1) a free 105 yards. The same issue contributed to Michigan State’s rivalry loss last year at Michigan Stadium, when Stanton Ramil jumped early on Michigan State’s final drive to try and tie the game.
This year, more of the same. With 2:48 to play, down 31-13 looking for a quick drive to put a comeback in question, offensive linemen Carter and Conner Moore jumped early back-to-back. And though backup quarterback Alessio Milivojevic led that drive to a final touchdown, the lack of focus was apparent.
For the penalties, and all else, Smith points the finger back at himself.
“I think all of this rests with the head coach at the top, in regards to everything that takes place in the program,” Smith said.
Michigan State has four games to snap its losing streak, with a trip to Minnesota this coming Saturday entering a bye week. If the Spartans plan to salvage this season, there’s only one place to look.
“Execution and finishing games better,” linebacker Jordan Hall said. “Bottom line.”
cearegood@detroitnews.com
@ConnorEaregood
