Two games into the season, Michigan State’s revamped rushing attack looked solid.
Following the departure of All-American running back Kenneth Walker III and key offensive linemen, transfers Jalen Berger and Jarek Broussard emerged as the leaders in the backfield. The Spartans were averaging 228.5 rushing yards per game and had seven touchdowns on the ground.
That production came in wins against a pair of MAC teams in Western Michigan and Akron. In the three games since moving up to Power Five opponents, the Spartans are 0-3 with losses to Washington, Minnesota and Maryland and the running game dried up. Michigan State is averaging only 60 yards on the ground in the last three games combined and 2.7 yards per carry with two touchdowns.
“Statistically, it looks really bad,” Michigan State offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Kapilovic said on Tuesday. “We haven’t been able to get any kind of rhythm or sustain anything in the run game, especially the last three weeks.”
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Berger, a Wisconsin transfer who joined the program in January, had a strong debut by topping 100 yards rushing in each of his first two games as a Spartan and found the end zone four times. He has 26 carries for only 74 yards and zero scores since and was banged up in the loss at Washington.
Broussard, who arrived in East Lansing this summer as a graduate transfer from Colorado, was the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year in 2020. He had 25 carries for 135 yards and two scores in the first two games combined but only 13 rushes for 42 yards since.
Michigan State failed to reach 50 yards rushing in losses to Washington and Minnesota – 43 carries for only 80 yards combined in the games – and those set new low totals since coach Mel Tucker took over the program in 2020. There was progress last week, albeit modest and in another defeat. The Spartans finished with 22 carries for 100 yards and a touchdown in a 27-13 loss at Maryland.
“When we convert some third downs, move the chains and you can get some rhythm going, then you see some positive things there,” Kapilovic said. “Perfect? No. But I thought the backs did a nice job of going where they were supposed to go and we had some good blocking from our tight ends and our O line so there definitely was progress.”
A bright spot for the Spartans last week was fifth-year senior Elijah Collins, who was the second back in the game. He looked more like the 2019 version of himself who was a starter and nearly reached 1,000 yards on the ground. Collins had a 12-yard touchdown run on Michigan State’s opening possession at Maryland and finished with five carries for a team-high 36 yards.
“It felt really good,” Collins said. “Just to be back out there helping my team doing whatever we can to get the job done.”
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Collins stuck it out at Michigan State despite Tucker bringing in transfers at the position each of the last two years. And he may have a larger role moving forward after averaging 7.2 yards per carry against Maryland but getting only two touches in the second half.
“He practiced well and his attitude and want to and everything has been really good,” Kapilovic said. “(Running backs) Coach (Effrem) Reed has been talking about we need to get him in more and he got in there and I thought he ran really well. Ran hard, got extra yards, fought for extra yards, made some people miss, broke some tackles. In my opinion, if he keeps practicing like that, playing like that, he’s got to get more carries.”
The top three in Michigan State’s backfield appears set and the offensive line has worked with a primary rotation of six players. The starters are left tackle Jarrett Horst, left guard J.D. Duplain, center Nick Samac, right guard Matt Carrick and right tackle Spencer Brown while Washington State graduate transfer Brian Greene has been mixed in at both guard spots.
It’s a different look for the offensive line than a year ago when the Spartans went nine deep up front through the first half of the season before the group was depleted by injuries. Then three starters and key depth were lost in the offseason. And there was the obvious departure of Walker, who rushed for 1,636 yards and 18 touchdowns while winning the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back before leaving for the NFL.
Through five games, Michigan State is 99th in the nation in rushing at 127.4 yards per game with nine touchdowns. Since the opening two weeks, the Spartans haven’t been able to establish a running game. Kapilovic sees potential in younger offensive linemen but believes there’s still room to grow for the group to be trusted in games.
“If you look at the stats and you look at the way things are going right now, nothing looks good,” Kapilovic said. “But if you just really analyze the five guys up front and watch them each play, none of them are playing at a level where you’re like this guy’s got to get replaced, we’ve got to make a change. That hasn’t happened.
“I’ve got to go with the best guys. At the end of the day, every drive is critical, this isn’t the time to experiment. I’ve got to go with the best guys and that’s kind of where we’re at right now.”
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Michigan State’s starting five up front features a sixth-year senior (Carrick), fifth-year senior (Horst), two seniors (Duplain and Samac) and a redshirt junior (Brown), so there’s experience. With the exception of Brown, who made his starting debut in last year’s Peach Bowl win, the other four all had double-digit starts in college before this season and they’re attempting to hold each other accountable.
“When we get the ball, we’ve got to be able to keep going with the drive,” Carrick said. “There’s always like little hiccups. It’s not necessarily one guy. We have to figure out to how we can continue to keep playing well throughout those entire drives.”
Michigan State ranks 129th out of 131 teams in the nation in time of possession at just 25:12 per game. That statistic is the result of an offense that can’t sustain drives and a defense that hasn’t been able to get off the field. However, the Spartans were 104th in the category last year (28:19) and that wasn’t mentioned much due to the number of explosive plays as they had with 73 on offense that gained at least 20 yards – 48 passing and 25 rushing.
The Spartans haven’t been nearly as effective ripping off big gains this season with 18 offensive plays of at least 20 yards – 15 passing and only three rushing. They had zero last week at Maryland.
“Most teams, it’s hard to sustain for that long. We need some explosive plays,” Kapilovic said. “That’s really what you look at we’re missing right now is some explosive plays to get some big chunks so we can move it down.”
A week after narrowly avoiding a shutout in an embarrassing 34-7 loss to Minnesota at home, Michigan State’s offense had a lot more life in the first half at Maryland. There were two touchdown drives, two that ended in field goal attempts (one missed, one blocked) and only one punt. But, after halftime, the Spartans had only 75 yards of offense and didn’t score a point.
It’s almost the midway point of the year and very little has gone right for a Michigan State team coming off an 11-win season. There’s also a daunting test ahead against No. 3 Ohio State (5-0, 2-0) on Saturday in East Lansing. The lack of a running game the last three weeks is one part of the problem and Kapilovic said the offensive line is meeting with tight ends and running backs in an attempt to solve the issues.
“There’s frustration obviously – everybody’s frustrated – but the thing I’ve really liked is there’s no finger pointing,” Kapilovic said. “We always talk about we’ve got to just look at ourselves. If you played the perfect game out there then you may be in position to look at other people but there’s nobody doing that so what can I do? What can I do as a coach, what can I do as a player to improve every day to get us out of this damn thing?”
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