How will Indiana attack Michigan State's defense? Spartans unsure

EAST LANSING — Another game, another high-tempo offense.

Michigan State’s defense should be used to playing against hurry-up styles. But the challenge Indiana presents may be a little different.

Different than Utah State and Arizona State. And even in contrast to what the Hoosiers did offensively a year ago.

“You can check the stats,” MSU defensive tackles coach Ron Burton said Tuesday about the Hoosiers. “There’s no doubt about that, they’re running the ball.”

What had been a pass-first system slowly is being molded by defensive-minded, second-year coach Tom Allen into a balanced approach. That has meant relying on the rushing game and freshman running back Stevie Scott more and more to get the Hoosiers off to a 3-0 start.

And it also means Indiana will have a decision to make when No. 23 MSU arrives Saturday night (7:30 p.m./Big Ten Network). Try to penetrate the strength of the Spartans — their run defense is ranked No. 1 in the nation — or attempt to pluck them apart via the pass like the Aggies and Sun Devils did during the first two weeks.

“We're going to take what they're giving us,” Allen told reporters Monday. “That may be run game-wise, pass game-wise. I believe we have the scheme and personnel to take advantage of it.”

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Indiana ranks 29th nationally at 235 yards rushing over three games, even with last year’s top running back Morgan Ellison suspended indefinitely and Cole Gest lost for the season to an ACL injury.

Those situations opened an opportunity for the 6-foot-2, 236-pound Scott, who has seized the job and league’s attention. The reigning back-to-back Big Ten Freshman of the Week ran for 204 yards against Virginia and followed with 114 yards on 18 carries in Saturday’s 38-10 win over Ball State. He leads all freshman nationally with 69 carries for 388 yards, which is tied for eighth overall nationally and second in the Big Ten.

Scott is coupled with the developing QB Peyton Ramsey, who is completing 73.7 percent of his passes for 479 yards and five touchdowns through the air. The sophomore, who won the starting job in preseason camp, also has run for 106 yards on 23 attempts and another TD.

“They’ve got a triple-threat quarterback,” Burton said. “They’ve always had the ability to throw and break quick, and now they have a quarterback they can utilize in the run and the passing game. With their tailback that has emerged, they have created a situation where they can be much more of a threat offensively first, second and third downs.

“So, yes, they’re going to run the ball.”

Indiana has run the ball 133 times this season and thrown it 91 times. Last year, the Hoosiers threw it 502 times to 449 rushing attempts.

“I just think it's sort of a cat-and-mouse game, really,” MSU coach Mark Dantonio said Tuesday, adding that “I think there's a lot of philosophical things that go back and forth over the years.”

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The Hoosiers ran the ball 35 times for 94 yards in the Spartans’ 17-9 win last year in East Lansing. Ramsey, who went 22 of 34 for just 158 yards in that game, is not really a field-stretching quarterback. He averages just 8.5 yards on his 56 completions this season.

However, those short passes are what have troubled MSU’s defense so far in its 1-1 start to the season. The Spartans rank 126th out of 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams against the pass and last in the Big Ten at 349.5 yards allowed per game. Yet their run defense remains stifling, yielding just 34.5 yards a contest.

“You have to be able to play up-tempo offense and be able to stop the run and be able to play against the controlled passing game, and then be able to play the deep ball down the field because most of the teams right now that you see are vertical attack teams,” Dantonio said. “They attack you vertically I think off the play-action or off the (run-pass option) things, or intermediate or short. You've got to be able to tackle in space.

“And a lot of the things that he talks about — really, that Coach Allen talks about — you have to be able to tackle in space, come up with turnovers and got to play with great effort. The three things he talked about, talks about, are really the three things that we constantly talk about here.”

Many of the Spartans’ problems have come against crossing routes in front or behind the linebackers and with screen passes to running backs that also fall into their coverage responsibilities.

Junior middle linebacker Joe Bachie said that inability to cover Arizona State’s running backs in the pass game caused problems, despite the defense’s ability to reach its goal of holding the Sun Devils to fewer than 17 points.

“You watch Arizona State and (see) little things we did wrong, things we can work on,” Bachie said. “Coaches have been on us the past two weeks. We’ve been getting better, and we’re just ready to show it this Saturday.”

MSU’s opponents have thrown 92 times this season for 11.8 yards per catch. They have run the ball 54 times, averaging a meager 1.3 yards per carry.

Cornerback Justin Layne said there is one big emphasis the defense has going into this week: to disprove the theory “that we can’t stop the short passes and that our defensive backfield isn’t lockdown.

“I believe we are lock-down,” the junior said.” I feel like these first two weeks, we were just a little loose, but we’re still there.”

Allen agrees and believes MSU’s defense remains the strength of Dantonio’s team, despite its pass coverage concerns.

“Coach Dantonio always has a great defense, big, strong guys that are very well-coached,” Allen said. “The expectation is we got to score touchdowns when we get down there. You don't beat a team like this kicking field goals. That's the objective there, the expectation.”

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