Michigan State handled Northwestern in its season-opening matchup in Evanston, but the Spartans are still looking for improvement.

Coach Mel Tucker said on Tuesday that there are still numerous areas where the Spartans can improve in their Week 2 game vs. Youngstown State.

“There are a lot of things that need to be cleaned up,” Tucker said during his weekly press conference this week, via MLive.com. “I believe that you should make your most improvement between game one and game two but behavior precedes success so we actually have to do it, putting the work in. So that’s what these days are about, the preparation that we have.”

Most of Tucker’s goals for improvement moving forward are on the defensive side of the ball. That makes sense, as the Spartans were sensational offensively in Week 1 as they scored 38 points on Northwestern.

Running back Kenneth Walker III was especially effective, as he led the way with 264 yards and 4 touchdowns. He was named B1G Offensive Player of the Week as a result of his performance.

Northwestern was able to move the ball defensively at times, but to no avail. The Wildcats scored just 21 points and didn’t have an individual running back or receiver clear 100 yards.

Still, Tucker said he wants to improve tackling and limiting explosive plays moving forward.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, a lot of work to do this week,” Tucker said, via MLive. “We’ve already started our preparation on (Youngstown State) yesterday and today but we need to keep up the intensity and the focus throughout this week in order to give ourselves the best chance to improve and put our best foot forward on Saturday at noon against Youngstown at Spartan Stadium.”