Michigan State Football: 5 takeaways from Week 7 win over Minnesota

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN – OCTOBER 14: Tyler Johnson #6 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers carries the ball for a touchdown against Josiah Scott #22 of the Michigan State Spartans during the fourth quarter of the game on October 14, 2017 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Spartans defeated the Gophers 30-27. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /

3. Team is still suffering growing pains

It’s safe to say this Michigan State team is better than we expected and the young Spartans are only going to improve. The sky is the limit for these guys and they’re progressing at a high rate.

Forced into action, Michigan State has a number of first-year players contributing, and it sometimes becomes obvious. Although we didn’t see that much against Michigan, outside of a botched punt return or two by Laress Nelson, it became obvious near the end of the Minnesota victory.

Although this team is improving by the week, it’s also still suffering growing pains along the way. In fact, the Spartans seemed to have a win in the bag, up 23-6 and doing whatever they wanted with the ball on the ground, but Minnesota scored to pull within 10 after an LJ Scott fumble.

The next drive, though, Scott led a nice touchdown drive thanks to a strong kickoff return by Connor Heyward. The scored was 30-13. Game over, right? Wrong.

The youthful secondary and even the linebackers and defensive line looked to forget how to tackle late in the game. Moreover, they couldn’t figure out how to stop backup quarterback Demry Croft and wide out Tyler Johnson. Youthful mistakes.

Growing pains are still going to take place, but those are the lumps you take with an improving, maturing team.

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