EAST LANSING – The stat of the series speaks to the physicality of the rivalry.
Over the past 55 years, the winner of the rushing battle between Michigan State football and Michigan has emerged victorious 48 times. An embodiment of the Midwestern spirit of Paul Bunyan himself. And a challenge to the Spartans’ offensive and defensive lines to assert their dominance Saturday, Oct. 25.
Easier said than done.
“This year, we gotta execute at a higher level,” offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said Tuesday. “Right now, we’re nine or 10 guys doing it right and one or two – whether it’s technique or assignment – just (not) executing at a high enough level.”
MSU (3-4, 0-4 Big Ten) hosts No. 24 U-M (5-2, 3-1) at 7:30 p.m. in a primetime NBC showdown. The Spartans have lost three straight in the rivalry and four in a row to open conference play this season as their rushing game dissipated.
With their two primary running backs sophomores, Makhi Frazier and Brandon Tullis, the Spartans’ multiyear struggle to run the ball consistently continues. They have not eclipsed 100 team rushing yards since their Big Ten-opening loss at USC and average 89.25 yards in four league games, coming off a season-low 74 ground yards in last Saturday’s 38-13 loss at No. 2 Indiana.
MSU entered that game with four starting offensive linemen out – guard Luka Vincic and tackle Ashton Lepo for the season, and guard Kristian Phillips and tackle Stanton Ramil sidelined with mending injuries. Still, the Spartans’ patchwork line Chiles put together two impressive scoring drives against one of the nation’s best defenses to open the game – a 6-minute, 53-second field-goal drive on the first possession, and an 8:18 second drive capped by a 15-yard Nick Marsh touchdown catch in which Chiles used quick, short passes throughout to simulate the effect of a rushing attack through the air.
The ground game can help Chiles use play-action to his benefit passing, and the junior quarterback’s ability to run the ball is a wildcard in this as well. Despite being sacked 18 times, has 379 yards and a team-leading five ground touchdowns on his other 48 rushing attempts.
“When we’re at our best,” Lindgren said, “we’re running the football and playing our stuff off it.”
MSU ranks 106th out of 134 FBS teams at 123.0 rushing yards, while Michigan’s defense is 15th in allowing just 92.7 yards on the ground a game.
In Jonathan Smith’s debut last year, the Spartans did everything by the book to win, at least on paper. They outrushed the Wolverines 163-119, leading to a 352-256 advantage in total yards. However, U-M did not commit a turnover nor get flagged for a penalty. MSU got flagged six times, and Chiles’ late first-half fumble – the only giveaway – proved costly in swinging momentum for the Wolverines’ 24-17 victory.
“Last year, I thought there were some good things running the ball,” Lindgren said. “I think the first drive of the game, we got down (into the red zone) and got no points, which was frustrating. It goes back to finishing those drives.”
The other six times the rushing battle winner didn’t win the game came in 1995 (an MSU win in Nick Saban’s first season), 2004 (U-M win), 2007 (U-M win in Mark Dantonio’s first season), 2015 (MSU win in the “Trouble With The Snap” game), 2016 (U-M win) and 2020 (MSU win in Mel Tucker’s first season).
Defensively, it will be another major test for coordinator Joe Rossi to get the Spartans’ alignment and pursuit fixed.
MSU is giving up 6.76 yards per play in five major conference games this season, which includes 4.74 yards per carry and 158.6 yards a game against those foes. Overall, the Spartans are 52nd nationally against the run (131.3 yards), while the Wolverines own the 22nd-best rushing attack (212.1 yards) and are coming off a 187 ground yards in a 24-7 win over Washington last week. The have not been held under 100 yards this season.
Getting low and avoiding high tackling opportunities was a major point of emphasis for MSU’s defense to slow up U-M running backs Justice Haynes (117.5 yards) and Jordan Marshall (62.0 yards), along with talented freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood (28.9 yards).
“Tackling is about eliminating space. Space is the enemy of a defense,” Rossi said. “How do you do that? You set edges, that’s one way. The second way is you play with incredible effort. And then when get to the point of attack, you gotta trust your low tackling. We’re a low-tackling operation, but in the last couple weeks, we haven’t trusted it.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: History says Michigan State football must do this to pull off upset, beat Michigan
Reporting by Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
