Michigan State Upset Attempt Falls Short vs. #2 Ohio State
Big plays from L.J. Scott carry offense
L.J. Scott had another outstanding game on Saturday leading the Spartans’ offense, accounting for 234 of Michigan State’s 334 total offensive yards in game. He carried the ball 19 times for 160 yards and a touchdown while also catching two passes for 76 yards and another score.
On the first drive of the game, Scott took a short screen pass from Tyler O’Connor and ran 64 yards to give Michigan State the early lead. Later in the quarter, took off on a 61-yard run to set up a field goal which gave the Spartans a 10-7 lead.
In the second half, Scott continued to run well, including an impressive hurdle over an Ohio State defender for the first down. In the fourth quarter, Scott carried on eight straight plays for 56 yards, including a 24-yard gain, and scored on a four-yard run to bring the Spartans within one.
Michigan State defense steps up, keeps game close
Despite being without Malik McDowell, the Spartans’ defense kept the Ohio State offense in check for the most part, holding quarterback J.T. Barrett to ten completions on 22 attempts and only 86 yards passing and one touchdown.
The Spartans struggled in rush defense, as both Barrett and running back Mike Weber went over 100 yards, but they got a key stop when Auston Robertson forced Weber to fumble in Michigan State territory and Justice Alexander recovered it to give possession back to the Spartans anad stop the Ohio State drive.
Ohio State punted seven times on Saturday, including twice after being in Michigan State territory and on each of their last three drives as Michigan State tried to come back before the Buckeyes were able to run the clock out. The Buckeyes gained 310 yards of total offense and out-possessed the Spartans by less than two minutes.
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Spartans deploy O’Connor and Terry at quarterback
Much like they did in last year’s win over Ohio State, Michigan State opted to shuffle in both Tyler O’Connor and Damion Terry under center. The results were unimpressive as O’Connor completed only six of 16 passes for 105 yards and a touchdown—which came on a 64-yard screen pass to L.J. Scott on his first attempt of the game—while also throwing two interceptions and fumbling once, which he recovered.
Terry only attempted five passes, completing two of them for 22 yards and only gaining 15 yards on four rushing attempts. Overall, the Spartans only gained 127 yards in the passing game and 146 total yards from their quarterbacks.
Elsewhere In The Big Ten
#7 Wisconsin (9-2, 6-2) kept its College Football Playoff hopes alive with a 49-20 road win over Purdue (3-8, 1-7), #18 Nebraska (9-2, 6-2) remains in the Big Ten West race after beating Maryland (5-6, 2-6) 28-7 at home and iowa (7-4, 5-3) shut out Illinois 28-0.
#3 Michigan’s (9-1, 6-1) Big Ten East and College Football Playoff hopes are on the line as they trail Indiana (5-5, 3-4) 7-3 at halftime at the Big House at the time of writing. Northwestern (5-5, 4-3) trails Minnesota (7-3, 4-3) 12-0 at halftime as they look to become bowl-eligible.
#8 Penn State (8-2, 6-1) will try to keep its Big Ten East chances alive when they take on Rutgers (2-8, 0-7), which still seeks its first Big Ten win, at 8:00 on Big Ten Network.
Next: Bridges Shines As MSU Basketball Routs MVSU
Up Next
With bowl hopes officially gone, the Spartans have one game left, a road game with a chance to spoil a potential Big Ten East title against the #8 Penn State Nittany Lions next Saturday.