After waiting all day (and most of the night), Michigan State football fans were graced with an 11 p.m. ET kickoff against USC on Saturday in a game that many experts expected to be a blowout.
While it wasn't all that close after the Spartans took an early 7-3 lead, Michigan State was able to fight back to pull within seven right before the fourth quarter started. Unfortunately, some missed opportunities on big third downs were the difference in the first drive of the fourth quarter, and Jayden Maiava just toyed with the Spartan defense.
Michigan State covered the spread and held its own, but there are still some major concerns heading into the final two-thirds of the 2025 season.
1. The pass rush
This is the most obvious shortcoming for this team, and it feels like it's just never going to improve at this rate. The Spartans have some solid defenders up front like Alex VanSumeren and Jalen Thompson, but they are struggling mightily to get to opposing quarterbacks.
Michigan State finished with zero sacks for the second time in three games as well as zero tackles for loss. That's right, USC had no negative plays outside of penalties.
That's just unacceptable.
2. Talent level
This was pretty obvious from the get-go: USC just had more talent, and the Trojans flexed it.
There are always games that make you realize how far away you are from competing, and this was just that for Michigan State. While I don't think the Spartans are as far away as people assumed before the season, it's clear that this rebuild will likely take 1-2 more years before Big Ten title contention happens.
Michigan State does have some pros like Aidan Chiles, Nick Marsh, Omari Kelly, and Jordan Hall, but the defense just doesn't have enough pieces to stop explosive offenses like USC's.
The offense did what it could and scored 31 points on the road against a ranked Big Ten team, but that should be good enough to win with a stronger defense with more talent. It's just not there.
3. Injuries
I could have put the secondary here, but I'm more worried about the pass rush, and I think that a solid one would fix a lot of secondary problems. The injuries are more concerning.
Stanton Ramil, Wayne Matthews III, Nikai Martinez, and Quindarius Dunnigan all went down with injuries, and that was a week after the team lost Luka Vincic, Alante Brown, and both Makhi Frazier and Nick Marsh who played against USC.
The injuries are piling up, and that's concerning considering this depth.