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Michigan State Football: 5 takeaways from victory over Washington State

By Connor Muldowney

SAN DIEGO, CA - DECEMBER 28: Felton Davis III #18 of the Michigan State Spartans runs in a touchdown on a pass play against the Washington State Cougars during the first half of the SDCCU Holiday Bowl at SDCCU Stadium on December 28, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - DECEMBER 28: Felton Davis III #18 of the Michigan State Spartans runs in a touchdown on a pass play against the Washington State Cougars during the first half of the SDCCU Holiday Bowl at SDCCU Stadium on December 28, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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Michigan State football entered the Holiday Bowl as the favorite and came away with a big win over Washington State. What’d we learn?

Win No. 100 came easier for Mark Dantonio than he expected. After hearing the news that Washington State’s star quarterback Luke Falk would miss the game, Michigan State knew it had to put the hurt on the Cougars, and it did, 42-17.

The Spartans came out sluggish, falling behind 3-0 after the first quarter, but it was all green and white after that. They went on a big run to take a 35-3 lead and that was all this team needed to improve to 10-3 on the season and give Coach D his 100th victory as a Spartan.

Everything fell into place and there’s plenty to be excited about moving forward. This young team is only going to get better and the Spartans are heading into the offseason with some serious momentum and plenty of key pieces returning.

What’d we learn from the Holiday Bowl win over Washington State, though?

5. Offensive line has improved drastically

If you look at where this offensive line was at the end of last season compared to how it performed against Washington State on Thursday night, you wouldn’t even think it was the same team. The Spartans’ line improved drastically even from the final regular season game against Rutgers.

Michigan State finished the regular season with a poor rushing performance against those Scarlet Knights, but still blew them out. However, the line knew it had plenty to work on.

What did it do in the weeks leading up to the bowl game? Improve and gel as a unit. Although there were some false starts, this unit didn’t get flagged for anything else and they even regrouped after David Beedle left the game with an injury.

They protected Brian Lewerke well against an aggressive front-seven and paved the way for 227 rushing yards — 110 of which came from LJ Scott.

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