Turnovers, the lack of scoring touchdowns in the red zone and costly mistakes have plagued the Spartans all throughout the 2024 season. After a 32-20 win over Iowa on Oct. 19, it felt like Michigan State was turning a corner in that regard. However, some of those issues resurfaced on Saturday night against Michigan.

"I think it just comes down to really just execution," Carter said about MSU's struggles. "Especially, with emotions high, with the rivalry of this game, we have to be able to calm our emotions down. We have to be able to execute the little details at the end of the day.

"Michigan, they're a really good team. They're really good, sound defense. But at the end of the day, it's all about us, so what do we do in order for us to put ourselves in the best position to score? And ... we just didn't do that today, execute like we should've."

Michigan State ran the ball 42 times for 163 yards (3.9 yards per carry) and a touchdown against the Wolverines. The Spartans threw the ball 23 times for just 189 yards. Carter noted that MSU's game plan coming into Saturday was to have a "balance between the run game and the pass game," and it was able to move the ball to some degree, but drives weren't finished with points often enough.

"We knew that we had an opportunity based on the film that we watched to be able to move the ball on these guys," Carter said. "We were able to do that successfully, I believe. Unfortunately, we can't keep getting stalled out when it gets to the red zone because that's what hurts us. So we have to figure out a way in order for us, when we drive the ball down there (to the red zone), to finish with points, hopefully touchdowns."

Regarding the penalties for the Spartans, Carter said, "We just shoot ourselves in the foot a lot."

As for his impressive individual performance, Carter praised the blocking from the offensive line, wide receivers and tight ends and noted that he was "blessed to have the opportunity" to play and perform at a high level.

The Michigan State run game as a whole has shown serious signs of improvement over the past two games. Last week against Iowa, the Spartans had a season-high 212 rushing yards as a team. This week against Michigan, Carter not only had a season high, but as mentioned, the 118 rushing yards were his most in a Spartan uniform.

Carter is pleased with what he has seen in the run games from his team as of late, but he knows the Spartans still have room for improvement as well.

"It's really encouraging," Carter said about MSU's run game. "And what we can see is we have so much potential, and we keep saying this week-in and week-out. And, we're going to improve. We're on a constant (path toward) improvement. That's what (head) Coach (Jonathan) Smith always talks about, is making sure that every single day, every single week, we're looking at the film, and we're saying, 'OK, how can we improve? How can we improve in the run game? How can we improve overall as offense, (and) in the passing game? How can we improve overall as a team?' So each and every day, we have to work on that constant level of improvement in order for us to win these close, tight games going forward."