Five Things to Know About Michigan State Ahead of Saturday's Top-10 Showdown with Ohio State

MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS

9-1 (6-1 B1G) ROSTER / SCHEDULE

NOON – SATURDAY, NOV. 20 OHIO STADIUM COLUMBUS, OHIO

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Ohio State has already taken on ranked opponents and formidable foes in 2021, but Mel Tucker’s 9-1 Michigan State program may be the best team the Buckeyes have played since losing to Oregon on Sept. 11.

Had the Spartans not stumbled in an upset loss to Purdue on Nov. 6, we could have been looking at a matchup of top-five teams in the penultimate game of the regular season. Nevertheless, the forthcoming contest remains a meeting of top-10 teams and still has massive postseason implications as both programs hope to secure a Big Ten Championship Game berth and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Ahead of Saturday’s noon kickoff in Columbus, here’s five things to know about Michigan State and its 2021 season so far.

Best start in six years

The Spartans’ 9-1 start to the season has been unequaled in the program since 2015, when Mark Dantonio and company defeated Oregon, Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State, won the Big Ten Championship Game and secured a berth in the College Football Playoff.

Mel Tucker has led Michigan State to its best 10-game record since 2015. (Photo: © Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports)

That season capped a six-year stretch in which Michigan State won at least 11 games in five of them, and despite losing to Alabama 38-0 in the Cotton Bowl, 2015 also marked the Spartans’ ninth straight bowl appearance.

In the subsequent five years, Michigan State went 29-29 before the start of 2021, with just three bowl appearances and only one double-digit win season from 2016-20.

Tucker has turned things around in a hurry after a disappointing 2-5 run during the COVID-plagued 2020 season. Michigan State began the year 8-0 before being upset by Purdue two games ago, but got back in the win column on Saturday with a 40-21 victory over Maryland.

Walker is the nation's leading rusher

Talk about an impact transfer.

A Wake Forest Demon Deacon a year ago, Kenneth Walker has turned into the nation’s top running back since transferring to Michigan. An unheralded three-star recruit out of Tennessee in the class of 2019, Walker leads the country in rushing yards with 1,473 and is at the forefront of Doak Walker Award and Heisman Trophy conversations as the tail end of the season approaches.

Walker wasted no time in announcing his arrival in his first game as a Spartan, torching Northwestern for 264 yards and four touchdowns in a season-opening win back in September. Against Rutgers a month later, Walker cracked 200 yards on the ground again, rushing for 233 and a score against the Scarlet Knights.

But the true signature moment so far for Walker would have to be his 197-yard, five-touchdown demolition job against Michigan in the Spartans’ four-point win over the Wolverines on Oct. 30. In that performance, Walker became the first player ever to rush for five scores against Michigan.

Only one player in the country (Marshall’s Rasheen Ali) has more total touchdowns than Walker’s 18 from scrimmage this season, and he’s averaging 182 total yards per game in the past three contests entering the Ohio State matchup.

Worst pass defense in the FBS

If there’s a clear vulnerability to exploit in a matchup with the Spartans, it’s their pass defense, which ranks dead last in the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing yards allowed this season.

Opposing teams are averaging 329 yards per game through the air against Michigan State, which is nearly 25 more than any other team in the country has allowed to opponents.

Five teams have thrown for at least 350 yards against the Michigan State secondary this season. Maryland went for exactly 350 this past weekend, Miami threw for 388 in Week 3, Western Kentucky put up 488 on Oct. 2 and Purdue racked up an astonishing 536 yards through the air in its upset win over Sparty. Even Michigan, which has the 71st-ranked pass offense in the country through 10 games, managed to tally 406 pass yards against Michigan State.

Michigan State has been stout against the run, ranking 20th in the country with an average allowance of 115.2 yards per game, but the pass defense is bad enough to drag the Spartans’ total defense down to No. 111 in the nation.

The bad news for Spartan fans is the Buckeyes will enter Saturday with the nation’s sixth-best pass attack and the No. 1 total and scoring offense in America.

After scoring 59 points on 624 yards against Purdue yesterday, Ohio State's offense is back to No. 1 in the country in both points per game (46.3) and yards per game (550.4).

— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) November 14, 2021

Second-most efficient quarterback in the B1G

A large part of Michigan State's turnaround success from last year has been an upgrade at the quarterback position.

In his first year as a full-time starter from the jump, Payton Thorne has been impressive for Michigan State, and boasts the second-highest passer efficiency rating in the Big Ten (158.6) behind only Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud (179.4).

Payton Thorne has thrown 2,460 yards and 21 touchdowns so far this season. (Photo: Nick King/Lansing State Journal)

Michigan State’s passing numbers aren’t necessarily eye-popping, with an average of 251.8 yards per game to rank 48th in the country, but Thorne has thrown for at least 275 yards on five occasions this season. Throne has thrown at least three touchdown passes in four games, including three with four passing scores.

A key factor in Thorne’s success has been the play of wideout Jayden Reed, who has tallied 829 yards and seven touchdowns on 45 catches this season. Jalen Nailor has been no slouch either, with two 100-yard receiving games and a 221-yard effort against Rutgers under his belt in 2021, though Nailor has missed the last two games with a hand injury.

Thorne has been turnover-prone as of late. The Michigan State passer has thrown at least one pick in each of the past five games, with seven of his eight interceptions this season coming during that stretch.

Nonetheless, Throne had the chance to build up some confidence against Maryland by throwing for 287 yards and four touchdowns in his best performance of the past month.

Not always dominant in conference play

The Spartans’ slip-up against Purdue was not their only subpar showing of the season.

Michigan State has been less than dominant in a number of conference games this year, having defeated Nebraska, Indiana and Michigan by a combined total of 12 points. The Spartans topped Scott Frost and company by a score of 23-20, beat Indiana by less than  a touchdown in a 20-15 game and defeated Michigan by four points.

That win over the Wolverines would be nothing to scoff at no matter what the score was, but the Buckeyes have had an easier time dealing with some of the two teams’ common opponents. Ohio State only beat Nebraska by nine points, but the Buckeyes thrashed Indiana in a 47-point beatdown and blew out Purdue by four touchdowns this past weekend.