'Brain farts' contributing to Michigan State football's limited offense

EAST LANSING — The question has been on Michigan State fans’ minds for the past month:

What do the Spartans need to do differently in the run game to generate more yardage?

Mark Dantonio was asked this on Tuesday.

“Well,” Dantonio said, tongue-in-cheek, “we need to run the ball more effectively.”

Indeed.

That has been a major challenge for No. 23 MSU all season, and it remains the biggest offensive issue going into Saturday’s Big Ten opener at Indiana (7:30 p.m./Big Ten Network).

The Spartans (1-1) admit it is not all the fault of their offensive line, which has struggled to create holes.

“Just coming back with the amount of starters we had gave us a little bit of confidence,” sophomore center Matt Allen said after practice Tuesday. “But after the Arizona State game, it’s definitely knocked us down. We really just want to prove to everybody this next game what we’re about, and that’s what we’re planning on doing.”

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It’s not all LJ Scott's fault, as he is averaging a career-low 3.4 yards per attempt and hurt his leg in the Sept. 8 loss at Arizona State.

Even Brian Lewerke and his receivers are accepting some of the blame — the quarterback for not scrambling more and selling his fakes better, and the receivers for not holding their blocks and allowing defenders to make tackles.

A lack of a run game has rendered MSU’s offense, which returned all but one starter from a last season, stagnant and searching for answers to fix it.

“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Lewerke said after practice Tuesday. “We haven’t clicked like we wanted to for the past couple games. We’re looking to have that game coming up.”

MSU’s goal along the offensive line was to average between 150-200 yards rushing per game this season. But without left tackle Cole Chewins, who played just one snap before retreating to the bench at ASU and missed the opener against Utah State with an undisclosed injury, the line has struggled to replicate the progress it made in wins over Rutgers and Washington State last season. 

“It’s finishing and the toughness factor,” said Allen, who replaced Tyler Higby at center in the second half at ASU. “I see a lot of guys pulling up on some plays, and then guys really not working through to try and finish. I mean, there are a lot of plays where there are guys that are doing it, but we need to see it every single play. …

“In the heat of fire, when everything is going on, sometimes people just have some brain farts. Really, just being able to execute in the heat of fire is I think what we need to focus on.”

The status of Chewins and senior left guard David Beedle, who also got hurt in the fourth quarter against the Sun Devils, remains unclear. Those are the Spartans’ most experienced offensive linemen, with 33 starts combined between them.

Indiana coach Tom Allen told reporters Monday that he believes whoever plays “will be ready” and that he and his staff “don’t want to chase a bunch of ghosts” with the Spartans’ personnel.

“Obviously, the scheme always varies. They'll have wrinkles and things they're trying to give to us,” Allen said. “A typical Michigan State, coach Dantonio team — physical, fundamental, tough. That's what they're going to be.”

Without Chewins, whose streak of 16 straight starts at left tackle was snapped in the opener against Utah State, MSU is averaging 3.3 yards per carry as a team this season. Many of those have come to the outside zone on option runs, jet sweeps or stretch plays. The Spartans ran for just 63 yards on 27 attempts — 2.3 yards per carry — in the 16-13 loss at Arizona State.

“When you talk about the offensive line,” Dantonio said, “four guys can play well and one guy can make a mistake and make all of them look bad.”

Scott went to the sideline after the second play of the second half, pulling up lame while running a pass pattern, and did not return after running for just 19 yards on seven attempts. Dantonio did not update his status for this week.

Could that injury mean using Lewerke, sophomore Connor Heyward (five carries, 22 yards at ASU) and true freshman La’Darius Jefferson (three carries, 20 yards) more in the option game? Or to help soften the middle of the defense to run between the tackles if Scott plays?

“There's a lot of different things we've done over the years here, and so we've got to look back and ask ourselves, ‘What's going to be best that we use and what's going to be most productive?’ ” Dantonio said. “I think you've always got to get the ball in the perimeter, but you've also got to be able to get the tough yards up inside, too. There's a lot of different things that are involved in that and you've got to have a great passing game, as well.”

Dantonio joked that he met a guy once who was “probably one of the smartest football guys I would talk to when he would always say, ‘Hey, run that play where the guy busted up the middle for 20 yards again.’”

The crux, though, is that is goes beyond just the running backs and offensive line in “getting the tough yards,” he said.

Receivers coach Terrence Samuel has been imploring his wideouts that when they are not catching passes, they need to hold down their blocks to allow plays to flow to allow run productivity.

“Those have been things where we’ve missed points, we’ve missed opportunities in making sure we take our guy,” Samuel said. “We say the YMMT — your man made the tackle. How many times does my wide receiver allow their defender to make the tackle? I have to study those, I have to count those. Those are negatives, so we’re trying to make sure those things are minimal.”

MSU is averaging 414.5 yards per game, but in a very un-Dantonio-like, unbalanced manner. The Spartans have run for just 228 yards while throwing for 601. Only two of MSU’s five touchdowns have come on the ground.

Lewerke does not believe it is time to overhaul the offense and start from scratch as much as it is about tweaking execution with what is in the playbook for the Spartans to improve the run game.

“We don’t have to trash everything and throw it out the window,” the junior said. “It’s just kind of, hey, everything is fine. We have to focus on our Big Ten games. They’re the ones that matter for us.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!