Michigan State has become one of the surprises of college football in 2021, but the ugliest win might look the prettiest to head coach Mel Tucker.

The No. 10-ranked Spartans (7-0) struggled on the ground and through the air, but rose up enough on defense when it mattered most to secure a hard-fought 20-15 victory over hard-luck Indiana, Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Ind.

“I told the players I haven’t been more proud of a team, this team, this season, than I was today because that was a tough game,” Tucker said, “that we had to play on the road, their homecoming, they were coming off a bye week. We knew they would be fresh and they would be ready. Our guys didn’t flinch. They kept chopping, kept believing, kept trusting each other and found a way to get it done.”

The Spartans were out-gained 217-57 in the first half, but trailed just 9-7 after three good defensive stands in the red zone, and a first-quarter interception and 30-yard return for a touchdown by linebacker Cal Haladay.

In the second half, Michigan State out-gained the Hoosiers 184-105, with the Spartan defense getting severe heat on Indiana quarterback Jack Tuttle throughout the Hoosiers’ final three possessions.

“Shoot, everybody knows when you go through the Big Ten, home or away, it’s going to be slobber knockers, dog fights, whatever you want to call it,” Tucker said. “Style points sometimes are not going to be there. They certainly weren’t there today, but you get in the left hand column and keep going.”

With strong linebacker play and squared-up discipline from the secondary, Indiana held Kenneth Walker III to 84 yards on 23 carries (3.7 per attempt). His long carry of the day went for 13 yards. Walker came into the game as the nation’s leading rusher.

Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne had trouble getting open receivers against Indiana’s tricky, stingy pass defense. Thorne was 14 of 26 for 126 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked twice.

But MSU’s defense was stifling down the stretch. Jacub Panasiuk’s sack with 2:47 left on second down, and Jacob Slade’s QB pressure and knockdown on third-and-21 with 2:17 left putting a hole in Indiana’s hopes of staging a comeback.

Tuttle’s fourth-and-21 deep pass, with Michigan State defensive end Drew Jordan pressuring him out of the pocket, was knocked down by Spartan safety Emmanuel Flowers.

Michigan State finished it off when Walker carried for gains of 9 and 3 to move the chains and exhaust the clock.

“We talked about needing to come out with good energy in the second half, and that’s what we did,” Tucker said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy but we were willing to do whatever it took all the way down to the very end to get the job done. I was very proud of our team’s mental toughness and being resilient and being able to hang together and get the job done on the road.”

Michigan State linebacker Quavaris Crouch led Michigan State with 13 tackles and one pass break-up.

Panasiuk, Chester Kimbrough and Noah Harvey had sacks for Michigan State.

Darius Snow had an interception for the Spartans.

Tuttle was 28 of 52 for 188 yards, held to just 3.6 yards per pass attempt.

Indiana rushed for 134 yards, with tailback Stephen Carr netting 53 yards on 19 carries (2.8 per attempt).

Indiana outgained Michigan State on the ground, 134-100.

“They (Indiana) are a tough, physical team,” Tucker said. “So are we. So we knew it was going to be a tough, physical game and it would be a four-quarter game. There were no surprises. They answered the bell. There was never any question about that, and that’s the way it’s going to be every week, every game.

“We are into the thick of the Big Ten. We have a bye. So we need to rest up.”

Michigan State will be undefeated when it plays host to rival Michigan on Oct. 30. Michigan needs to beat Northwestern next weekend to turn it into a battle of the unbeatens.

Michigan State took a 10-9 lead on a Matt Coghlin 51-yard field goal with 7:54 left in the third quarter.

Then Michigan State extended the lead to 17-9 on a 12-yard TD pass from Thorne to Tyler Hunt with 1:49 left in the third quarter, capitalizing on Michigan State’s first trip into the red zone.

Earlier in the drive, Michigan State executed a reverse pass from Hunt to Thorne for 15 yards to the Hoosier 19-yard line. On that play, Thorne handed to running back Jordon Simmons, who flipped it to Hunt on a reverse.

Thorne was well-covered by two Indiana defenders down the sideline. But Hunt, while being pressured by Indiana linebacker Micah McFadden, threw off-balanced, off his back foot, looping a pass perfectly into coverage. Thorne high-pointed the catch and managed to get a foot down inside the boundary for a mammoth offensive boost on a day in which offensive production was difficult to achieve.

“I thought our defense played awesome and did what we asked them to do,” said Indiana head coach Tom Allen. “We kicked too many field goals in the first half and didn’t finish in the fourth quarter. So, disappointing without question. Disappointed and frustrated right now. Our kids played hard.”

Michigan State finished the drive with Thorne’s TD pass to Hunt, on third-and-three. On a well-designed play, Hunt stayed in for two beats while setting up to look like he was blocking for a pair of run fakes, and then released late on a delayed route. The concept fooled an Indiana pass defense that had been razor sharp most of the rest of the day.

Indiana answered with a 75-yard TD drive.

Indiana kept the drive alive with a 5-yard run by Carr on third-and-three when Slade blasted through Indiana’s left guard to get to Carr in the backfield but failed to finish the tackle.

Two plays later, Michigan State cornerback Marqui Lowery was flagged for pass interference.

MSU’s red zone pass defense has been multiple and effective all season, and that was the case in the first half. But on second-and-goal at the 9-yard line early in the fourth quarter, the Spartans skewed their linebacker level to defend the pass, but Indiana double-teamed Slade and surprised the Spartans with an inside zone blast for a gain of 8 yards to the goal line while Haladay turned and looked for his pass defense assignment.

One play later, Carr scored 1-yard TD run on an option pitch to cut the lead to 17-15.

Indiana’s 2-point conversion attempt was thwarted when Xavier Henderson read an inside shovel pass and made the tackle short of the goal line, in one of the more critical plays of the game.

Twelve plays later, on third-and-two at the Indiana 28-yard line, Thorne and Walker mishandled a zone read option exchange and fumbled.

Michigan State offensive guard Matt Carrick recovered the fumble at the Indiana 31-yard line. This preserved a chance for Coghlin to bang another crucial, long field goal, this one from 49 yards to extend the lead to 20-15, forcing Indiana to seek a TD rather than a field goal for the winning points.

But on Indiana’s last three possessions, the Hoosiers never crossed their own 37-yard line.

Indiana kept Michigan State’s explosive receivers quiet all day. But Jayden Reed broke through with a huge play on third-and-7 at the Michigan State 36-yard line with 10:27 left and Michigan State nursing a 17-15 lead.

Reed gained separation with a stutter-and-go route down the left sideline. He beat off man coverage by just enough, and leveraged his route just inside the numbers to allow Thorne a deep shot window. Throwing from the right hash across the field to the left boundary, Thorne dropped it perfectly into Reed’s hands against tight coverage for a gain of 27, moving the ball to the Hoosier 36-yard line and setting the table for Coghlin’s insurance field goal.

Cornerbacks and defensive linemen rose up as Michigan State’s defensive heroes in halting Indiana’s last three possessions.

Trailing 20-15, Indiana faced second-and-nine at its own 26-yard line when Michigan State cornerback Chester Kimbrough broke up a Tuttle pass intended for 2020 Big Ten Receiver of the Year Ty Tryfogle.

Then on third-and-nine, Slade beat Indiana guard Mike Katic, applied pressure to Tuttle, who had to hurriedly get rid of the ball for an incompletion.

After Michigan State punter Bryce Barringer pinned the Hoosiers deep at their own 6-yard line, Indiana began to threaten on its next possession. Indiana picked up a first down on a third-and-one inside zone, and a third-and-10 on a Tuttle scramble keeper.

Then the defense turned it on. Crouch batted down a pass on first down.

On second down, Michigan State cornerback Ronald Williams broke up a back-shoulder 50/50 ball downt the right sideline intended for Miles Marshall.

Then on third and 10, Michigan State sent Kimbrough on a cornerback rush. He sacked Tuttle and stripped him for a fumble and Kimbrough recovered.

However, Michigan State made a terrible error two plays later when Thorne’s 20-yard pass into the end zone was intercepted.

Michigan State had the ball second-and-seven at the 20-yard line when it chose to go to the air. Michigan State was in position to extend the lead to eight points if it played for a field goal. Instead, Michigan State remained aggressive and committed a ghastly mistake.

But the defense rose up again. Overcoming a 15-yard personal foul on Maverick Hansen for a hand to the face, Michigan State rallied on the next play with Panasiuk’s sack on a splendid arm-over move to beat a double team.

Then came the Slade knockdown on third down, and the incompletion on fourth-and-21.

“The message to the team at halftime is this is what Big Ten football looks like on the road sometimes,” Tucker said, “and we are built for it.”

“We have a lot of room for improvement and we are hungry to get better. But I think Indiana is better than what their record shows.”

“I am very, very proud of this coaching staff and the players and everyone in the organization because what we are doing is not easy. We don’t expect it to be easy. We are willing to do what it takes to get the job done.”