Spartans eager to rebound following tough road loss to Huskers

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Spartans are searching for answers after losing their second-straight road game in Big Ten play, and their head coach expects an intense week of practice to correct the mistakes.

Michigan State is currently winless in conference play following a 38-27 loss at Nebraska, and that doesn’t sit well with Coach Jonathan Smith, as he navigates through his second season with the program. Adversity is alive and well with the Spartans, and Smith wants a positive response from his team as they prepare for the Big Ten gauntlet.

After all, Michigan State (3-2) played well enough to win the game, but failed to execute the necessary plays down the stretch and that frustrated Smith. A slow start due to a scoreless first quarter, to go along with a couple of special team blunders stands out as a cause for concern to Smith moving forward, but he finds it encouraging what his players did right on gridiron, especially on defense.

“I gotta have this team ready to go faster than they did in the first half, but it was pleasing getting around the quarterback, really throughout the whole night,” Smith said. “This was the top passing offense in the country coming in, and I thought we got a lot of that done.”

The Spartans sacked Husker quarterback Dylan Raiola five times, including three on one possession in the second quarter. Smith thought his defense kept Michigan State in the game. However, the Spartans were inconsistent at best on offense. Gunslinger Aidan Chiles struggled with the noise from the sold out crowd, and never was comfortable in the pocket. He only completed nine of his 23 passes for 85 yards, and two interceptions. Not to mention Chiles absorbed four sacks.

Chiles didn’t get much help from his supporting cast either, as the Spartans struggled to run the ball, and only generated a season-low, 84 yards on the ground. The Blackshirts made life hard on the Smith’s offense, and Michigan State finished two of 14 on third downs. Having a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown didn’t help the Spartans either. On top of that, Nebraska wideout Jacory Barney Jr., exposed some glaring weaknesses with the way Michigan State defended the punt return.

Still, Smith was proud that his players never gave up, regardless of the circumstances. The Spartans found themselves down by as many as 17 in the second half after the Huskers scored 24 unanswered points.

“Our defensive effort was better than 38 points,” he said. “You look at where they were at starting a few drives, obviously they scored on special teams, but we gotta find a way at the end to not give up the big plays, two huge plays in the fourth quarter separates this thing.”

Once the smoke cleared, Nebraska led Michigan State in total offense, yards per play and third down efficiency. Smith finds it promising that the Spartans led the Huskers in first downs, plays and time of possession. Michigan State even converted four of its’ five fourth down attempts. Turnovers were too costly on the road though, and the Spartans threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.

Fortunately for Michigan State, the officials took two Nebraska’s touchdowns off the scoreboard, due to penalties, or the outcome could’ve been more lopsided. Defensively, Jordan Hall led the team with eight tackles. Alex VanSumeren, Wayne Matthews, David Santiago and Malik Spencer all made Raiola eat grass. Smith wants to carry over that intensity into week seven. In his eyes, the team is going to learn a sitting on a two-game losing streak.

“I’m pretty confident in the group that we’re going to stick together, and these guys are going to continue to battle,” the 46-year old said. “We gotta find a way to play better quality football for 60 minutes.”

Now it’s back to the drawing board for Smith. A dangerous UCLA team coming off a huge upset over Penn State looms, but Smith trusts that his players will be ready for the pivotal Big Ten battle at Spartan Stadium.

“I told them if we’re going to finish better, we gotta stay together and we gotta play better.”