Michigan State football weathers adversity, inconsistent play to avoid upset vs. Indiana

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — “So what. Now what?”

All week, that’s what Mel Tucker drilled into his Michigan State football players’ heads.

The Spartans, No. 9 in the country and unbeaten at the midpoint of the season, one of college football’s biggest surprise stories, with the highly anticipated rivalry game looming.

So what. None of that mattered Saturday.

What did was a feisty Indiana team, wounded and fighting for redemption after its first three losses came against top-10 opponents. And the Spartans absorbed everything the Hoosiers gave them and still managed to emerge with a 20-15 victory at Memorial Stadium.

“I talked about it before the game to the guys. I told them, I said I'm tired of hearing the defense kind of getting piggybacked by the offense,” senior safety Xavier Henderson said. “We had to come play our game, we gotta dominate this game. And I think we did a great job.”

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That means MSU (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) goes into its bye week and awaits a visit from No. 7 Michigan. Game time and TV information has not yet been released. The Wolverines, who did not play this week, host Northwestern next Saturday.

“We'll rest up and we got some things we need to fix and correct. We'll do that,” Tucker said. “And then we'll be ready for the next one, which we all know what that one is.”

With Kenneth Walker III bottled up and the Spartans’ offense sputtering, MSU relied on its defense to stop an Indiana offense that had backup quarterback Jack Tuttle playing in place of injured starter Michael Penix Jr.

Cal Haladay stepped in front of a Tuttle pass on a tight end slant, picked it off and outraced Tuttle for a 30-yard interception return that was MSU’s only touchdown of the half with 4:33 left in the first quarter.

Tuttle finished 28 of 52 for 188 yards for Indiana, which outgained MSU, 322-241, and held the Spartans to just 13 first downs.

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The Spartans also snuffed out three potential game-changing drives by the Hoosiers (2-4, 0-3), holding Indiana to three field goals after reaching MSU’s 6-, 26- and 7-yard lines before halftime.

Then in the second half, the Spartans turned it up, turning a two-point halftime deficit into a lead they would not relinquish. The Hoosiers managed just 105 yards after halftime and just 33 in the final quarter.

After the Hoosiers closed an 11-play, 75-yard drive with a 1-yard Stephen Carr touchdown run, Henderson made a stop on a middle screen to Indiana tight end Peyton Hendershot on the ensuing two-point conversion attempt to keep MSU in front. Coghlin added a 49-yard field goal with 8:31 to play for a bit of cushion.

Then the defense took over.

Indiana managed just 1 yard in three plays and punted on the ensuing drive. On its next possession, Chester Kimbrough dropped Tuttle on a third-down corner blitz sack, stripped the ball and recovered it with 3:59 to play.

Thorne, who finished 14 of 26 for a season-low 126 yards, got picked off in the end zone two plays later. But Jacub Panasiuk sacked Tuttle and Indiana could not complete a pass on its final three plays to allow MSU to escape.

“I think that's really the epitome of defense,” said safety Darius Snow, who had his first career interception in the third quarter. “You're always put in adverse situations. … It's just about the mentality of, 'OK, this happened. Now what?' No matter if it was good thing or bad thing, it's about the next play. We follow a mantra of win what's right now.”

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The Spartans also needed to overcome their own issues, which included struggles getting off the field on third down, penalties, special teams gaffes, turnovers and watching Walker get bottled up for 84 yards on 23 hard-hitting carries.

The big plays MSU made in the first half at Rutgers vanished at Memorial Stadium, with Indiana dominating up front and not permitting Walker or Thorne to get on track. The Spartans instead resembled the offense that endured second-half frustrations last week and its overtime win against Nebraska.

“You watch it on film, and you know that they got a good team. But I have confidence in our guys as well,” Thorne said. “I think that there were some things that were open that we didn't quite get to today. There was just a couple of times where it's like, oh, it was so close. But so close doesn't do you anything.”

Meantime, Thorne’s receivers dropped a few passes — including what looked like could have been a long touchdown to Jayden Reed in the first quarter — and the Hoosiers kept the sophomore quarterback under pressure.

“It wasn't even just the run game. Their pass game has been impressive, too,” Indiana coach Tom Allen said. “I was kind of more worried about that, because those are just big, explosive plays that just gut you when you spend so much time trying to stop such a great running back, and then they hit you over the top. It's just really challenging. But we didn't give those (big pass plays) up either.”

Indiana carried a 9-7 lead into halftime, but the Spartans reclaimed the lead on Coghlin’s 51-yard field goal that just cleared the crossbar on MSU’s first drive of the third quarter. More importantly, Thorne and the offense found some rhythm and ate 4 minutes and 4 seconds off the clock to take the 10-7.

That helped set up the heroics by Hunt — a former high school quarterback at Gobles and a one-time punter/kicker at MSU who transitioned to tight end last season.

Hunt took a reverse flip and threw a 15-yard pass under pressure to Thorne, who made a dazzling toe-tap catch on the sideline. Then Thorne returned the favor with a 12-yard touchdown three plays later to extend the lead to 17-9.

That takes MSU to its bye week, a chance to decompress mentally, rest physically and refocus internally. The Spartans still have games remaining at Purdue, at home against Maryland, then back-to-back games at Ohio State and at home with Penn State to close the season.

But Tucker continues to tell his players that what’s next is most important. And Michigan finally is on the clock in less than two weeks.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Michigan State football avoided upset? By asking 'now what?'