Michigan State Football: Report card for first month of 2018 season

Michigan State football’s first month has been a roller-coaster ride but which position group has received the highest grade through September?

If you’re Mark Dantonio, you have to have mixed feelings about the first month of play. On one hand, Michigan State is 3-1 and still hasn’t played its best football. On the other hand, the Spartans look like anything but a College Football Playoff contender which people expected at the start of the year.

Michigan State has seen some position groups hit the level of “underwhelming” or “disappointing” while others have exceeded expectations.

The Spartans are facing a tough month of October with Penn State and Michigan on the docket, but this team has risen to the occasion against top divisional rivals before. Don’t count this team out just yet.

Let’s take a look at the position-by-position report card for the Spartans through September.

Let’s face it, the offensive line has been completely underwhelming. A lot of this, unfortunately is due to the fact that the line has been shifting guys thanks to a plethora of injuries.

Kevin Jarvis and Cole Chewins have been injured, at times, in the first four weeks while Tyler Higby has been playing anywhere from center to tackle. He’s done a little of everything on the offensive line, but it’s obvious that his sweet spot is at guard.

Luke Campbell hasn’t had the best start to the year and it’d be nice to see more consistent from him at right tackle along with Jordan Reid.

This line is opening no running lanes, as evidenced by the team’s 3.3 yards per carry and Brian Lewerke has been sacked more than he likes.