Fantastic, Functional, Forgettable: WMU notches rivalry win, Michigan State falters in OT

Week 10 had plenty to react to, from Western Michigan winning a close rivalry contest to retake the Victory Cannon to Michigan eking out a win over Purdue to MSU eking out a loss against Minnesota.

So from the Broncos burying the Chippewas rushing attack to the Spartans rolling with a backup quarterback, unpacking Week 10 offers plenty of lessons.

Let's dig in.

Fantastic

Western Michigan’s run defense: Allowing 55 net yards on 35 carries is a good way to win just about any football game, but especially so against a Central Michigan team that is well-versed in a varied, crisp run offense. That group entered Saturday averaging around 250 yards per game on the ground in conference play, but got shoved in a locker by the Broncos defense that wasn’t shy to commit extra defenders to the box.  

The Broncos finished with three tackles for loss, so it wasn’t a massively disruptive performance. But when Central Michigan tried to run the ball, it rarely went forward, And when the Chippewas did go forward, it wasn’t very far. It was a smothering performance that kept Western Michigan in the game long enough for the offense to engineer a second half rally to win.

Broc Lowry: He was a bit slow to start, but the Western Michigan quarterback ended up doing what he’s done so often for the Broncos this year, carrying them to victory with his legs and, increasingly, with his right arm. Lowry finished the night with 22 carries for 82 net rushing yards (114 yards with sacks removed), and another 150 through the air on a 17-of-24 line. He had a rushing touchdown, the go-ahead passing touchdown on 4th down with 2:08 to play, and made numerous key plays for his team. 

On the go-ahead touchdown drive, with the Broncos across the 50 but outside the redzone, Lowry fumbled an exchange with a back. He calmly scooped the ball off the turf, got his eyes up, and ran ahead for a first down on a broken play that more often than not goes for a loss of yardage, if not worse. He had a brutal fumble just before halftime at the goalline, or his night might have been even more impressive. 

Joe Labas and Marcus Beamon: News broke Wednesday that Central Michigan would be without quarterback Angel Flores, who got dinged up against UMass last Saturday. That put the pressure on senior Joe Labas to take on a bigger role and make the offense tick without Flores mixing in to run the ball. Labas rose to the challenge, going 8-of-11 for 152 yards, including a 77-yard connection to Langston Lewis for a touchdown. Labas was on time and accurate passing, giving the Chippewas a shot to win on the road in a rivalry.

And to complement him, the Chippewas turned to JUCO transfer quarterback Marcus Beamon, who is redshirting this season. Beamon, who can still redshirt as he’ll at most play in the final four games of the season and a bowl, added back a running quarterback element, though he wasn’t particularly productive. And he attempted one pass, his first at the FBS level, completing a 33-yard rainbow to Tyson Davis for a go-ahead touchdown in the second half. Labas and Beamon both rose to the challenge on Saturday for the Chippewas.

Jordan Marshall, Michigan’s run blocking: Michigan might be playing three redshirt freshmen on the offensive line, but it hasn’t looked like it over the last six quarters. Starting with the second half against MSU and carrying into a win over Purdue, the Wolverines have started to be road graders up front. Left tackle Blake Frazier, filling in for an injured Evan Link, has looked particularly strong as a run blocker. And the group paved the way for a career night from Jordan Marshall.

Marshall stepped up to be the lead back again, as he did against Washington, with Haynes out with an injury. And like he did against Washington, Marshall proved to be a more-than-capable bell cow for the Wolverines. He carried 22 times for 185 yards and punched in all three of Michigan’s touchdowns on the ground. He also caught a pass for 25 yards, putting him north of 200 total yards on the night. There are few luxuries in college football, but Michigan’s backfield depth appears to be one of them. 

Michigan State’s defense: The Spartans ultimately lost, but the defense held Minnesota to 10 total points for 59-odd minutes of regulation before crumbling in overtime after giving up the game-tying score in the final minute of regulation. Prior to Minnesota’s last-gasp drive forcing OT, the Spartans had allowed 10 points, and none in the second half. The pass rush didn’t dominate but made an impact and the Spartans coverage on the backend held up well. 

The group also defended the run admirably, allowing 110 sack adjusted yards, albeit at a fairly efficient clip. In general, Joe Rossi’s unit continued the arc of strong play that kicked off last weekend with him coaching from the sideline. He did so again on Saturday and Michigan State’s defense gave the Spartans all the chance it needed to win. 

Functional

Michigan’s defense: Down a laundry list of players by the end of the game, Michigan’s defense gave up 16 points, held Purdue under 276 yards — 138 rushing, 138 passing — and came up with three sacks and seven tackles for loss. On the whole, it got the job done and despite a close score line, Purdue didn’t feel like it could overcome the defense enough to take a lead.

That said, the Wolverines surely expect a higher standard than some of the lapses that showed up against the Boilermakers, be it getting out-leveraged by motion and formation or shoddy eye discipline. Nothing went egregiously wrong, and for a mix of starters and backups being called into action, the end result is nothing to turn one's nose up at. But the Wolverines can and want to do better. 

Michigan State’s non-Nick Marsh pass catchers: Michigan State’s passing offense will get doubled (tripled?) up on in this column this week, and to start, it was a voluminous performance from Omari Kelly and Rodney Bullard for Michigan State. Those two combined for 12 catches for 196 yards and a touchdown, which came on a 71-yarder by Bullard. Further, tight end Jack Velling, running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver and true freshman wideout Charles Tapelin all caught one or more passes. 

It’s a nice sign for Michigan State, as so much of the passing production has been flowing through Marsh of late. And while the Spartans are certainly happy to get their top target heavily involved, so much of this offense's potential is predicated on Kelly et. al. producing. If that can keep up, MSU should be a bit more potent. And Marsh still caught four of his six targets for 75 yards. 

Alessio Milivojevic: He didn’t go full Trinidad Chambliss, but Michigan State gave Milivojevic his first start at quarterback, benching Aidan Chiles, and the second-year signal caller had a good go of things. He got his touchdown on the long play by Bullard, much of the yardage coming as Bullard ran away from defenders. He didn’t find the end zone otherwise, but Milivojevic didn’t turn the ball over and put up 311 passing yards. 

With Chiles not seeing things well in the passing game, Spartans head coach Jonathan Smith took a gamble and opted to roll with his backup, who had played well in small samples and earned rave reviews for his practice improvements. And Milivojevic made good on the gamble, largely, injecting some life into the MSU passing game. And credit to the MSU coaching staff for calling a good game for Milivojevic to execute and settle in. Nothing massively flashy, but effective, nonetheless. 

Michigan State’s run game: Admittedly a fair bit of the production on the ground for MSU came on a single play, Tau-Tolliver’s long run in the fourth quarter to set up Michigan State’s go-ahead score. But the Spartans still churned out more than 200-plus sack adjusted rushing yards and punched in a rushing touchdown. 

Tau-Tolliver led the charge, with 11 carries for 127 yards, 85 of which came on his long run. Tullis had 14 carries for 51 yards and the touchdown. In the end, the only time Michigan State really went backwards was due to sacks, but there were a lot of those (more on that in a bit.) If the Spartans can keep finding production in the backfield via riding the hot hand, it can continue to ease the burden on the QB and develop a more balanced offense in the final month. 

Central Michigan’s defense: The Chippewas held Western Michigan to seven first half points, keeping a 14-7 lead at half by recovering a Lowry fumble at the CMU five yard line in the final minute before the half. And defensive coordinator Sean Cronin’s plan worked well in the first half, as varied blitzes and fronts, plus devoting some extra bodies stymied the Western Michigan run game for large portions of the first half. They sacked Lowry multiple times and finished the game with six tackles for loss. 

But as the game got into the second half, the front started to wear down and the linebackers were getting home in the backfield. They still got stops and only gave up 24 points on the day, but the Broncos offense managed a 17-point second half and a nails drive in the fourth quarter to take the lead. The CMU defense had a few chances to get off the field on that series, including the fourth down that WMU scored the go-ahead touchdown, but couldn’t execute a potentially game-winning stop. 

Forgettable

Michigan State’s offensive line: As you’re reading this, Milivojevic just got hit by a free rusher. Well, not really, but that’s how things felt as the quarterback got mauled behind the Spartans offensive line on Saturday. He got sacked seven times, six of them coming in the first half. And while Milivojevic had a few times he could’ve helped himself by throwing the ball away or maneuvering the pocket better, there were many more times that he got pressured almost instantly.

The long and short is Michigan State’s offensive line isn’t very good because the individual players, especially after injuries, aren’t as good as the players they need to block each week. It might’ve been better with better health for Luka Vincic, Kristian Phillips and Stanton Ramil, among others. But right now, the Spartans just aren’t good up front, individually or as a unit. And coaching can only go so far to fix that reality. 

Wink Martindale vs. another college-ass offense: To quickly define a term, “college-ass offense” is a fairly expansive bucket, but also a pretty evident one. Teams that run a lot of RPOs, side-to-side passing, screens and Air Raid principles qualify as “college-ass offenses.” Basically offenses that are built around not having the quarterback read coverage or hold the ball longer than two seconds. USC fits the definition, as does Purdue. 

And the Wolverines struggled to have answers for both. So to present a theory: When Michigan plays against more pro-style offenses, like MSU or Washington, Martindale, he of NFL background, has a good grasp on how to counter it. And against the more college-ass offenses, it just seems he doesn’t quite have the same buttons to push to disrupt things or challenge quarterbacks. It worked out fine Saturday because of the talent edge Michigan has over Purdue, but the trend is hard to ignore, dating back to last season and Texas pantsing the Michigan defense — one with multiple first-round picks. 

Bryce Underwood: Down-to-down he wasn’t really bad or good, but pairing an underwhelming night of production with two turnovers, both in the red zone, is a pretty forgettable night. And as has been the case with Underwood, the flashes and positive moments were undeniable as he kept flashing the talents and abilities that made him a coveted recruit. But the flashes were not sustained on Saturday. 

As for the turnovers, the interception is probably a ball he wants back — or to at least throw further inside of Andrew Marsh, away from the defender — and the fumble should be a lesson in the importance of ball security as a runner. It wasn’t a disastrous night, but it was probably Underwood’s worst showing this season, considering competition and setting. 

Health: As alluded to, the Spartans and Wolverines are banged up. So are the Chippewas. To start with Central Michigan, getting Flores healthy will be big. The quarterback is one of the leading rushers in the MAC, not just for quarterbacks but all players. He brings an explosive running flavor that isn’t there at the quarterback position with just Labas (and Beamon.) MSU has dealt with a number of short term dings amidst some longer term injuries, lots of them affecting the lines of scrimmage both ways.

And Michigan has a laundry list of injuries entering a bye, with the linebacker corps especially banged up as Cole Sullivan, Jimmy Rolder and Jaishawn Barham are dealing with injuries into the bye week. Haynes was in a boot on a mobility scooter after an apparent foot injury that arose this week. Link has been out at left tackle. Tight ends Marlin Klein and Hogan Hansen have been in and out of the lineup. Rod Moore is nursing his surgically repaired knee and missed the last three games. Oh, and wide receiver Donaven McCulley left the game in the second half with an injury.