Michigan State Football: 3 takeaways from tight win at Indiana

Oct 16, 2021; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Michigan State Spartans linebacker Cal Haladay (27) celebrates an interception leading to a touchdown with his teammates during the first quarter against the Indiana Hoosiers at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marc Lebryk-USA TODAY Sports /

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Things weren’t looking good for Michigan State football at halftime. The offensive was struggling and the Spartans were relying heavily on the defense for stops, trailing 9-7.

Michigan State took a 10-9 lead and then added a touchdown to make it 17-9 and never trailed again. The Spartans won the game by a slim margin, but they improve to 7-0 on the season heading into an important bye week before the Michigan game.

What’d we learn from this not-so-pretty seventh win of the season?

3. Offensive line needs some work

The offensive line still needs a ton of work and that much is obvious after this one. Beating Indiana on the road is no easy feat, but the Spartans did so and it wasn’t because of the offensive line. It struggled to open up holes all day long, leading to an uncomfortable five-point win.

We saw this same gameplan by a defense against Nebraska and the Cornhuskers shut down Kenneth Walker III and Payton Thorne also had an off game. The Heisman-caliber running back was running into dogpiles all afternoon long and Thorne was running for his life after facing pressure for most of the game.

The offensive line has the talent and the depth, but they need to figure out the right pieces for success because whatever we saw against Indiana’s aggressive front was not working.

The line clearly needs some work.

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