Michigan State football: 3 takeaways from blowout win over Akron

It’s tough to learn anything from an early-season matchup against a clearly inferior team, but Michigan State football still answered some questions.

It’s been a while since Michigan State football last shut out an opponent. Rutgers was actually the last victim of such smothering defense by the Spartans, but Akron joined that exclusive club on Saturday night as the Spartans piled on for a 52-0 win in East Lansing.

The game wasn’t all that exciting through the first 25-30 minutes until Michigan State scored 10 points before halftime to make it a 24-0 game.

In the second half, it was all Spartans as Michigan State rolled to a 28-0 second-half score to win the game by what seemed like a million. It was also good to see Jack Stone make his first career field goal from 43 yards out.

What’d we learn from the Spartans’ shutout of Akron?

3. The run game is perfectly balanced

Right now, Michigan State has the perfect two-headed monster in the backfield. I’m not usually a fan of running back by-committee approaches, but the Spartans have the personnel to excel with it thanks to Jalen Berger and Jarek Broussard both meeting expectations.

Berger started for the second straight week and also put up 100-plus rushing yards for the second week in a row to start his Spartan career. He finished with 107 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. Broussard wasn’t too far behind, racking up 81 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.

These guys are going to take a lot of pressure off Payton Thorne who seems to be struggling early on this season but there’s no reason to worry about that — yet.

The duo of Broussard and Berger balances the backfield out perfectly.