What To Take From The Michigan State Game

So, Sparty traveled to Ann Arbor and Michigan handed them a loss. What should Michigan fans take from it?

By Anthony Mammel Oct 21, 2012, 12:00pm CDT

The Bad

The offense is containable

Last week I said that anyone who can contain Robinson and the run game could put Michigan on the ropes, and that's exactly what happened this week. Denard barely missed getting his 100 yards, and outside of a few select plays the halfbacks didn't do anything special. As a result Robinson launched 29 passes, completing only 14 of them. Michigan State's run defense came prepared and because of it Michigan never even got into the end zone.

Teams that are deep at wide receiver could be trouble for the defense

Michigan State had a handful of chances to go down the field on throws against single coverage, and had it not been for Andrew Maxwell's inconsistency they would have had a lot of success with it. If Burbridge and Fowler can give Michigan a hard time I'm afraid that a team like Ohio State could do worse, as they field a lot of talent outside.

The Good

The defense can make teams one-dimensional

Zero points for Michigan State at the half. Ten at the end of the game. Oh, and Le'Veon Bell? He saw saw 26 carries, only amassing 68 yards, for a 2.6 yard average. Before the game Bell was just about the only reason why the Spartan offense had a prayer, and Michigan absolutely removed him from the game. This forced the game into the hands of one Andrew Maxwell, who performed admirably yet failed to complete challenging throws. The secondary gave up a few long completions, but for the most part Maxwell had to choose between short, easy completions or an attempt at a perfect throw down the field.

Jake Ryan is a superstar

He's not a budding superstar. He's not going to be a superstar. He is a superstar. His line for the day reads: 10 total tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 forced fumble, 1 sack. His sack was a thing of beauty, coming around the edge before anticipating a block from Bell, only to dip his shoulder and find his way to Maxwell anyway. Outside of that he was part of a front seven that contained arguably the best back in college football, which makes him worthy of praise on its own.