GAME 11 OHIO STATE v MICHIGAN STATE
November 19,
2016 Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI
Michigan State Spartans
Location: East Lansing, MI
Stadium: Spartan Stadium (75,005)
Coach: Mark Dantonio (10th
year): 90-40 at MSU/108-57 overall, 53-29 v B1G, 3-6 v OSU
Series: OSU 29, MSU 15
Last
Meeting: 11/21/2015:
MSU 17, OSU 14
Last Ohio
State win:
11/8/2014: OSU 49, MSU 37
Coach Meyer (5th year): 59-5 at OSU/163-28 overall, 40-3 v
B1G, 2-2 v MSU
2015 Ohio State Buckeyes (12-1)(7-1) 2015
Michigan State Spartans (12-2)(8-1)
42 at Virginia Tech 24 37 at Western Michigan 24
38 Hawaii 0 31 Oregon 28
20 Northern Illinois 13 35 Air Force 21
38 Western Michigan 12 30 Central Michigan 10
34 at Indiana 27 24 Purdue 21
49 Maryland 28 31 at Rutgers 24
38 Penn State 10 27 at Michigan 23
49 at Rutgers 7 52 Indiana 26
28 Minnesota 14 38 at Nebraska 39
28 at Illinois 3 24 Maryland 7
14 Michigan State 17 17 at Ohio State 14
42 at Michigan 13 55 Penn State 16
44 Notre Dame 28 16 Iowa 13
(Fiesta Bowl) (B1G
Championship game)
0 Alabama 38
(Cotton
Bowl)
2016 Ohio State Buckeyes (9-1)(6-1) 2016
Michigan State Spartans (3-7)(1-6)
77 Bowling Green 10 28 Furman 13
48 Tulsa 3
45 at Oklahoma 24 36 at Notre Dame 28
S24 6 Wisconsin 30
58 Rutgers 0 21 at Indiana 24 (OT)
38 Indiana 17 14 BYU 31
30 at Wisconsin 23 (OT) 40 Northwestern 54
21 at Penn State 24 17 at Maryland 28
24 Northwestern 20 23 Michigan 32
62 Nebraska 3 27 at Illinois 31
62 at Maryland 3 49 Rutgers 0
N19 at Michigan State Ohio State
N26 Michigan at
Penn State
This week,
the Buckeyes travel to East Lansing to take on their major nemesis, the
Michigan State Spartans. The Spartans
are the only team that Coach Urban Meyer does not have a winning record against
at Ohio State (2-2) and even though this year’s Spartans team appears to be a
far cry from teams of the recent past, it still figures to not be an easy road
trip.
OHIO STATE DEFENSE v MICHIGAN STATE OFFENSE: Due to a combination of youth and rash of injuries,
Michigan State has had a different starting lineup in every game this season. QB Tyler O’Connor has shown improvement as
the season has progressed, throwing for over 1700 yards and 15 touchdowns
against seven interceptions. O’Connor
has two good targets in the passing game.
Senior TE Josiah Price has the most TD catches by a Spartan tight end in
school history. He has a career high 30
receptions this season for 309 yards and is tied for the team lead, along with
R.J. Shelton, with five TD catches. In 49 career games, he has 96 receptions
for 1,160 yards. He ranks third among Spartan tight ends with 96 career catches
and fourth with 1,160 receiving yards. Price has been recognized for his work
off the field as well, as he has been named one of 11 semifinalists for the
Wuerffel Trophy, known as “College Football’s Premier Award for Community
Service.” Senior
R.J. Shelton leads the team in
receptions (47), receiving yards (710) and all-purpose yards (1,203), and is
tied for the team lead in touchdown catches (5), all of which are career highs.
He ranks fifth in the Big Ten in all-purpose yards (120.3 ypg), fifth in
receptions (4.7 pg), seventh in receiving yards (71.0 ypg) and tied for seventh
in TD catches (5). Shelton leads the team with 20 plays of 20 yards or more (10
kick return,nine receptions, one rush), and four of MSU’s six plays of 50-plus
yards this season have featured Shelton.
The 5-11, 202-pound Shelton has caught two 86-yard touchdown passes this
season from Tyler O’Connor. Sophomore L.J. Scott has continued his
hard-nosed running he displayed at the end of last year. He leads the team in rushing (775 yards; 77.5
ypg, 5.2 avg.) and carries (149) and shares the team lead with five rushing
touchdowns. In his last four games, Scott has averaged 109.8 ypg
(76 carries for 439
yards), including three 100-yard games.
MSU’s offensive line has played better as of late. Freshman LT Cole Chewans and junior LG Brian
Allen have played their way into the starting lineup to complement seniors
Benny McGowan, RG Brandon Clemons, and RT Kodi Kieler. Despite the injuries, it is a line still
capable of causing trouble with any defensive line it faces. But, the way the Ohio State defense has been
playing lately, the Spartans will need their best game of the year from this
offensive line unit.
OHIO STATE OFFENSE v MICHIGAN STATE DEFENSE Michigan State lost three of its four
starters on the defensive line to the NFL, but the lone returner on the
line is preseason All-American Malik
McDowell. In addition, junior Demetrius Cooper and fi fth-year
senior Evan Jones are in
starting roles for the first time on the ends, while redshirt freshman
defensive tackle Raequan Williams is
playing in his fi rst collegiate season. Sixth-year senior Brandon Clemons has started on both
the offensive and defensive lines this season; he has started
five games at
defensive tackle after starting the fi rst four games at right guard. In the
last game against Rutgers, MSU started one sophomore (Robert Bowers), one redshirt freshman (Raequan Williams) and two true freshmen (Josh King, Mike Panasiuk). The depth of the defense appeared to be
strongest at linebacker entering the season, but the Spartans have been
battling injuries at the position all season.
Junior Chris Frey leads
the team with 81 tackles and has started all 10 games while Fifth-year senior
captain Riley Bullough missed three
games due to an injury, but did return to action Oct. 15 vs. Northwestern and
has started the last five games. Sixth-year
player Ed Davis is still
rounding into form after suffering a torn ACL last season, but
started his first
game of the season against Michigan on Oct. 29 at Sam and had a season-high
eight tackles against the Wolverines; however, he did miss the last game
against Rutgers. Sophomore Andrew Dowell
has started five games at Star (weakside) and ranks fourth on the
team with 55 tackles. The secondary is
led by two seniors. CB Darian Hicks and FS Demetrious Knox, both of who have
had illustrious careers for the Green and White. Knox, with 52 tackles and an interception is
the unquestioned leader back there while Hicks comes in with 26 tackles and two
picks on the year. Junior SS Montae
Nicholson and freshman CB Justin Layne have been strong contributors back in
the Spartan secondary. Nicholson is
second on the team in tackles with 65 while Layne comes in with 13 stops.
Injuries have taken
a toll with this defensive unit and they will have their hands full with an
Ohio State offense that seemed to have found itself with back-to-back 60+ point
outings. Michigan State’s defense is, of
course, tougher than Nebraska’s or Maryland’s defense, but the lack of depth
due to the injuries could take its toll in the second half.
SPECIAL TEAMS Senior Michael Geiger is
still continuing to be one of the best field goal specialists in the
conference, going 10 of 14 on his field goal attempts with a long of 52. Sophomore punter Jake Hartbarger has averaged
40.4 yards on his 42 punts.
SUMMARY At the beginning of the season, it
was thought that this matchup would decide the B1G East’s champion as it has
for the past two seasons. Alas, Michigan
State’s season took a turn for the worse as injuries contributed to a
seven-game slump. The Spartans did play
well at times during that stretch, losing only by nine at Michigan and they are
counting on last week’s shut out of Rutgers for their first conference win to
give them a shot of confidence that has been missing as of late. This team has always played Urban Meyer Ohio
State teams tough and they are certainly still capable of doing it this
year. But after the Penn State loss and
lackluster performance against Northwestern, the Ohio State offense seems to
have found a groove and Ohio State’s defense figures to slow down RJ Scott and
make MSU’s offense one-dimensional. If
they can do this, Ohio State will pull away in the second half for a
comfortable win.
OHIO STATE 38, MICHIGAN STATE 10
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