For the second-straight game, Michigan State looked like it could get things together and scrape out a win on the road, until a mountain of errors in crunch time cost MSU another chance to win a game it should have.
Quarerback Katin Houser's first career start could have ended in his first win as Michigan State led 24-6 in the fourth quarter, but instead, the Spartans fell 27-24 to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
MSU has now dropped four-straight games and is 0-3 in Big Ten play (2-4 overall) on the 2023 season.
Let's jump into this week's takeaways.
Mistakes pile up yet again
The mistakes have been a major issue all season for the Spartans, even before the Mel Tucker situation came to light, resulting in his suspension and ultimate firing. The difference was the opponents weren't able to capitalize early in the season.
Since then, penalties, turnovers, miscues and questionable coaching decisions have handed teams momentum, and in some cases, handed them points. The Spartans have taken steps toward improving early in games in that aspect, but now, for two-straight games, they've had an abundance of critical errors in crucial moments, giving teams the lead late and not being able to muster anything in response.
In Saturday's game against Rutgers, Michigan State blew an 18-point lead after a botched punt that resulted in a touchdown for Rutgers, an odd coaching decision to line up in onside kick formation and return man Tyrell Henry opting not to fair catch the ball, which the Scarlet Knights recovered off the bounce, and an inability by the offense to respond or the defense to get the ball back to the offense in the last seven or so minutes of gameplay.
Additionally, Michigan State had five fumbles on the day and lost three of them. Rutgers had three turnovers as well, but the giveaways have to stop if Michigan State plans to get back into the win column at some point. MSU fared a little bit better in penalties this week (five for 38 yards compared to six for 70 yards for RU), but things like an illegal formation call on a punt in the fourth quarter forced MSU to punt once again, which led to the aforementioned botched punt play and touchdown for the Scarlet Knights.
Coming off of a bye week, the easiest and best time to fix that sort of thing, it's disappointing to see it happen again. And now Michigan State will have to try and remedy it again as a very good Michigan team comes to town next week. If the Spartans want any chance of winning any of their remaining games, they cannot let this happen again.
Now, the weather could have played a role this week, but we've seen it week after week. And up 24-6 in the fourth quarter, Michigan State should have never found itself in a position for these mistakes to result in 21 unanswered points for Rutgers and cost MSU the game.
How many times does this have to happen?
It would be different if it was just once. A whirlwind of a closing few minutes and an improbable victory. It's happened to some top programs before.
But now, in year four of this staff (even with Tucker now out), closing out games continues to be an issue.
This is two games in a row now that late-game special teams errors have swung things back in favor of Michigan State's opponents.
Before that, a lack of ball security kept giving opponents opportunities to score, and put the defense in positions to fail constantly. This was arguably the third-straight game in which MSU directly contributed to its own demise due to inexcusable blunders (turnovers, penalties, decision-making, etc.).
Moments like these have hurt the Spartans before and it continues to happen. How many times does it need to happen before something changes? How can the coaching staff fix this?
It. Just. Keeps. Happening. And Michigan State needs to figure out why, make the necessary changes and move on, or it's going to be a long, brutal second half of the season for the Spartans. Remember, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State are all still on the schedule.
I'm not sure what the answer is, but it's clear whatever has been happening in practice isn't working, and the Spartans need a new strategy, quickly.
Katin Houser has a solid first start
Overshadowed by the fourth quarter blunder was the first start of Katin Houser's career. His stat line wasn't flashy, finishing with just 133 yards to go along 18-for-29 passing (62%) with two touchdowns. But he never had any moments that made me think to myself that he didn't belong under center.
He didn't have any turnovers (although, a few near interceptions were dropped and one was negated by a penalty, and he did recover his own fumble at one point as well), and considering the conditions, the Spartans were playing in, Houser could have easily folded under the pressure of his first start and failed to hold onto the football.
Now, it wasn't perfect. Like I said, he did have a few passes that were nearly intercepted but dropped. Also, the offense was unable to move the ball in the fourth quarter after all the momentum swung to Rutgers (in fact, MSU only ran a total of seven offensive plays in the final quarter).
I think it is clear that Houser must figure out the deep passing. The Spartans were saved multiple times by defensive penalties on deep shots. While the ability to draw those penalties can be an asset, you can't rely on that. Sure, some of it could've been the weather and maybe we'll see more of them connect next week against Michigan. But, some of them weren't placed the greatest or didn't have much zip on the throws, and that to me stood out. Still, Houser has a lot of potential and should only improve as the season continues.
But, ultimately, the rebuild for the future starts now. Dropping this game makes it even harder for the Spartans to make a bowl game. They now need to steal at least one of their three games against Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State. If Houser truly has the upside he's expected to, the best thing for the program going forward is to get him these reps now and start thinking ahead to future seasons.
Final thoughts
This loss feels like it's getting close to rock bottom for this team. Previously in the loss to Iowa, a very strong defense can do that to you, especially with how close that contest was until the finish. This game, though, was a new level. Up 24-6 in the final quarter of play, you have to be able to close that game out.
This Rutgers program is not the bottom feeders of the Big Ten like it once was. The Scarlet Knights have a good formula of playing tough defense and running the football, but these games are still very winnable, and quite honestly, the Spartans had no business losing this game after controlling it for three quarters when you had all of the momentum heading into crunch time. If the snap on the punt wasn't fumbled, or the kickoff was fielded or the defense could get off the field when it mattered, this probably would have been a much different article.
There are still winnable games left, but with the top-three teams in the conference remaining on the schedule, six wins and a bowl game are slipping out of view, barring anything unexpected.
With undefeated Michigan (7-0) rolling into East Lansing next week looking to feast on a reeling Michigan State team, the Spartans can't let whatever happens deter them from finding things that work, and building whatever they can to lead them into a crucial offseason to try and build something for the next coaching era in East Lansing.
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