Michigan State Football: 3 hot takes from crushing loss at Iowa

3. Antjuan Simmons is the team’s MVP

If we learned anything from Saturday’s loss, it’s the fact that this defense is not the same — or really close to it — without Antjuan Simmons.

The senior linebacker, fresh off the biggest win of his career, had played great this season and looked like he was ready to help lead the Spartans around the corner against Iowa. After a couple of bad drives by the defense, we saw Simmons sparingly throughout the remainder of the game and the defense just didn’t have the same look.

Was he healthy from the get-go? It seems like he either got banged up very early or he came into the game with a nagging injury. Either way, the defense wasn’t the same without a healthy Simmons.

Michigan State loses a game it doesn’t see much of Simmons 49-7 and you know what that should tell everyone? He’s the most valuable player on the roster. If he’s healthy, this defense looks worlds better much like it did against Michigan. When he’s hurt, the defense lets someone like Spencer Petras go off and Tyler Goodson to gash the front-seven on every carry.

This team needs Simmons to be healthy or it’s going to be a long season.