Michigan State Football: 5 takeaways from Week 13 victory over Rutgers

2. Brian Lewerke is a winner

There’s one thing all successful quarterbacks under Mark Dantonio have had in common: they’re all proven winners. Brian Lewerke has to join that conversation this season as a first-year starter under center.

While he started two games in 2016, losing both of them, he has won nine games in 2017 as the starting quarterback. He doesn’t always have his best game, but he knows what it takes to keep his team in the game and he’s a winner. He also realizes that when the pass game isn’t working, he can use his legs to torch defenses.

Against Rutgers, he looked solid even after a shaky start. He completed 21-of-31 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown. He didn’t turn the ball over and he rushed for another 56 yards and a score. He has become one of the best dual-threats in Michigan State history.

The scary thing about Lewerke? He still has two years of eligibility left and he’s only going to get better. When the season began, fans would have been OK with a slightly better performance than what Tyler O’Connor had in 2016, but he finished with 2,580 yards and 17 touchdowns along with 489 rushing yards and five more scores.