Michigan State Football: Report card for win over No. 24 Miami

“Keep chopping.”

Michigan State football coach Mel Tucker was screaming that to his team on the sidelines all game long against Miami and the Spartans did just that. When the game was close for three quarters, he urged his team to “keep chopping” and they wore the Hurricanes down in the Miami heat with that attitude and that resulted in three fourth-quarter touchdowns and a 38-17 win.

The Spartans were impressive on offense again while the defense left a lot to be desired despite giving up just 17 points.

This team did enough to impress AP voters, earning the No. 20 spot in the Top 25 this week and Tucker can thank his offense and some clutch forced turnovers from his defense for that.

Which position group received our highest grade from the win over Miami?

Offensive Line: B

I was incredibly harsh on the defensive line at the beginning of the game. It seemed like they were having a tough time opening holes for Kenneth Walker III as he had just over 10 yards on his first five carries and Payton Thorne was sacked a couple of times on misdiagnosed blitzes.

But then they settled down and made me eat my words.

The line settled in, protected Thorne enough so he could throw four touchdown passes, and created some lanes for Walker III even though he had to find some room on his own. The line looked solid and it’s deep enough where we see multiple combinations up front.

There are a few guys who I believe need to do a better job moving forward, but I was impressed that this group put a horrid start behind it and had a solid game.