Just when it looked like maybe Michigan State could come away with a win, especially one in a night game at Kinnick Stadium, a series of unfortunate events propelled Iowa to victory. The 26-16 defeat gave the Spartans their third-straight loss.
What can be taken away from the game? Let's dive in.
Spartans hand the game away
It was a solid performance for the Spartans through three quarters, or at least one that should have been good enough to win. But a late shanked punt, a punt returned for a touchdown, and a late turnover sealed MSU's fate.
It is something that has haunted the team quite a bit this year. It has 11 turnovers on the year, with nine of them coming in the last two weeks against Iowa and Maryland. Its five turnovers against UMD handed the Terps a short field on many of their drives, and ultimately resulted in the 31-9 loss.
Against Iowa, a team with a struggling offense of its own, MSU kept itself in the game as well. The culmination of some unfortunate errors at a bad time handed the Hawkeyes a win the Spartans should have had. Michigan State has to figure out the turnovers if it wants any chance of even winning a game in the Big Ten this season. Nine turnovers in two weeks will get you nowhere in league play.
Question marks at QB remain
Adding onto the turnovers, five of Michigan State's nine turnovers in conference play have come as interceptions from Noah Kim. I said last week that it's time to reopen the quarterback competition, and I think that was cemented this week.
Maybe Kim has been rattled. Given the things going on surrounding the program right now, that wouldn't be surprising. But the reality is his performances have not been good enough to be the starter going forward, at least not without giving any other guys a real shot. Ball security is job security, right?
I'm not saying Kim can't and won't be the guy. He's made some great plays this year, and I think there's potential there. But his performance the last two weeks especially make it clear that something is off, and if it can't get figured out then someone else needs to get a shot to challenge him for the job.
Where do the Spartans go from here?
The Iowa and Maryland games were two that were crucial for getting to bowl eligibility. Now, with Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State still left on the schedule, MSU will have a tough task getting to six wins. Trips to Rutgers, Minnesota, and Indiana as well as Nebraska at home aren't the worst matchups in the world, but if the Spartans can't clean up their turnovers and mental mistakes (something that's plagued the team through five weeks now) then they could drop any of those games. The mistakes have to be addressed and cleaned up during the bye week.
It's still not over, but Michigan State is quickly losing time to start playing its best football. There is talent on this roster still, but the Spartans need to find a way to get it to gel and turn it into wins on the field. The good news is MSU has a week off as it gets prepared to travel to Rutgers, so there is some extra time to reinforce some things before resuming conference play.
Final Thoughts
There are lots of issues that need to be addressed in the bye week. Rutgers is a winnable game that Michigan State needs to have, or a bowl game berth gets farther and farther away.
Turnovers and mental errors have haunted the team all year. If the Spartans can clean them up (which I feel like I've said for three straight weeks), then there's still some things to play for. The bye week couldn't come at a better time. Reset, clean things up, and the Spartans still can make something out of a nightmarish start to the season.
