East Lansing, Mich. - Three things we learned during Michigan State’s 23-20 overtime victory over Nebraska on Saturday at Spartan Stadium, two questions and one prediction as we take a 3-2-1 deep dive into Trends, Schemes & Analysis.
THREE THINGS WE LEARNED
1. Michigan State Can Win, Even When It’s Not The Better Team
Well, that might be a bit harsh. Special teams is part of football, and Michigan State dominated that area of the game, so maybe for that reason this game deserved to go into overtime.
But usually when we talk about football, we agree it’s a sport of blocking and tackling, passing and running, offense and defense, with turnovers thrown in to spice things up.
But then you get a game like this one in which Michigan State was out-gained 241-36 in the second half by a team that committed no penalties in the final two quarters.
Michigan State led just 13-10 at halftime.
Throw all of those figures together and there is NO WAY Michigan State can win this game unless it dominated on special teams and benefitted from turnovers. And that’s exactly how the Spartans got it done.
And they didn’t back their way into it. They earned it with effort on defense to hang in, and some well-timed ploys and execution on special teams.
Still, Nebraska is and was the better team in blocking, tackling, passing, running, offense and defense. That’ll get you wins most weekends. But not on this night, when the Spartans dominated in something that analysts like to call hidden yardage.
Michigan State’s Bryce Baringer averaged an astounding 58.8 yards on six punts.
“Even when we were stalling out, we were able to line up, punt, get it out of there and make them go the long, hard way, giving our defense a chance to get them stopped,” said Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker.
Nebraska’s combination of punters averaged only 32.4 yards on seven punts.
The Huskers often punted to a shorter field and the Spartans often punted to a longer field, so that makes it a bit easier for Michigan State to average more on its puts. But MSU’s punt dominance was immense, however you want to measure it.
MSU’s punts traveled 126 yards further than Nebraska’s. Or you could say it was a difference of 169 yards if equating punt opportunities (when weighing the fact that Michigan State punted one less time than Nebraska).
Throw in Jayden Reed’s 62-yard punt return for a touchdown, and his 41-yard kickoff return which gave Michigan State a short field for a field goal drive, and you’re well over 270 not-so-hidden yards for the Spartans in the kicking game.
In the first quarter, a 67-yard punt by Baringer to the Nebraska 6-yard line, answered by a 41-yard punt by Nebraska to the Michigan State 45-yard line, netted a difference of 26 yards in favor of Michigan State on that single punt exchange. It set up Michigan State with a short 55-yard field for its lone touchdown drive.
Those yards count. Hidden yards don’t affect every game. But once in awhile, in a game like this, when the dominant team isn’t able to turn its advantages into enough points, those hidden yards can keep a team in contention long enough to steal it at the end, which is exactly what the Spartans did.
Winning via hidden yardage and a big turnover in overtime is cute, but Michigan State couldn’t have done it without great togetherness and belief. In talking to the head coach and players after the game, it sounds like the sideline never lost hope. I give them credit for that because things were looking terrible for the Spartans as Nebraska ran 51 plays in the second half compared to only 18 for Michigan State.
“I said this football team is special,” Tucker said. “There was no panic. Guys were into it. Their body language was good. The guys kept saying, ‘Keep chopping wood, keep chopping, keep chopping.’”
And eventually they built a big ol’ fire in The Woodshed.
2. Michigan State’s Offensive Line Met Its Match
Maybe the offensive line met its mismatch.
Michigan State’s offensive line has been good this year, and was a big reason for the 3-0 start.
I said these Nebraska defensive tackles (some are listed as defensive ends) would be the toughest, best interior linemen that the Spartans have faced this year. But I didn’t think they would stuff the Michigan State running game this successfully.
Prior to Kenneth Walker III’s 23-yard romp in overtime, the September Heisman Trophy candidate had just 51 yards on 18 carries (2.3 per try) against the Huskers.
Jordon Simmons helped the team average with 13 yards on three carries, thanks to a 10-yard cutback run on an outside zone in the second quarter.
For the night, including the overtime romp, Michigan State tailbacks netted 74 yards on 22 carries (3.3 per attempt).
That’s not terrible. But it was never enough to move the chains in the third and fourth quarter.
Michigan State wasn’t able to complement those meager ground gains with a consistent passing attack (more on that later).
If Michigan State had gotten a little something going through the air, then some of those two- and three-yard running plays might have found a little more daylight later in the game. Then maybe Michigan State could have gotten deeper into his play sheet for some different flavors of run action.
But they never got that deep because Michigan State went three-and-out on all five of its possessions in the second half (not counting overtime).
The low point came on Michigan State’s first drive of the second half when the Spartans were stuffed on third-and-one at the Michigan State 34-yard line. On that play, right guard Kevin Jarvis was beaten by Nebraska’s talented defensive tackle Ty Robinson. Walker was stopped for a loss of one yard. Punt.