Michigan State vs Rutgers: Report card for the Spartans

Oct 10, 2015; Piscataway, NJ, USA; Second quarter action between Rutgers Scarlet Knights and Michigan State Spartans at High Points Solutions Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

Offensive/Defensive Lines: B-

I’m going to lump these two groups together with one grade this week because no side really stood out as better than the other.

Let’s start with the offensive line. The resilience shown by this group is just flat-out unbelievable. Losing Jack Conklin, Kodi Kieler and Dennis Finley so far this season for extended time, the Spartans finally got to return Kieler to a group that looked to be getting healthier at the right time.

However, Kieler returned and Jack Allen went down with an injury that may have been serious as he was unable to put any weight on his leg. He was reportedly carted out of the stadium on Saturday night, which is never a good sign.

These guys struggled early with blitzes, letting linebackers and defensive backs run into the backfield unblocked, but picked it up late. Holes were hard to come by in the run game early, but were improved late.

As for the defensive line, there is just far too much running room for opposing backs these days. Michigan State seems to allow a huge run every week to the opposing running back and this week it happened to be a 72-yard run by Paul James in the second half to kill some MSU momentum. That’s partially on the defensive backfield as well.

Malik McDowell, Shilique Calhoun and Lawrence Thomas all played well, though, putting pressure on the quarterback consistently, and adding three sacks to their total of 18 on the year.

Next: Linebackers/Secondary