EAST LANSING — It was fourth-and-2 and the punt was the safe play, but Jim Harbaugh wasn’t worried about being safe. He wanted…
EAST LANSING — It was fourth-and-2 and the punt was the safe play, but Jim Harbaugh wasn’t worried about being safe.
He wanted to end it there, with his team driving again in Michigan State territory, and make sure there’d be no more Spartan magic.
It was hard to blame him. After all, there’d been the bad snap three years ago and the interceptions in the deluge last year.
The rain didn’t matter Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium. The Michigan Wolverines dominated MSU. When it was dry. When it was windy. When it was wet.
So when Harbaugh called a read-option for quarterback Shea Patterson, he knew even if it didn’t work, his defense would get him the ball back.
Patterson took the snap and kept the ball and scooted around the edge for 11 yards. U-M scored a few plays later as part of a 21-7 victory over MSU.
It really was that simple. The Wolverines overwhelmed their rival to stay in the Big Ten East race and, in the process, cemented themselves as a College Football Playoff contender.
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For a minute — actually, for a few minutes — the Spartans looked like they might do it again. Might win a game they had no business winning.
Might find a few more trick plays and a few more fortunate bounces and ruin U-M’s — and Harbaugh’s — season again.
When the sky turned dark in the third quarter and the rain began to fall and the Wolverines coughed up a fumble with the game tied and MSU stealing a little momentum, well… everyone in the state figured, « Here we go again. »
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But these Spartans aren’t those Spartans. It’s safe to say that now.
True, MSU snuck out a win at Penn State the week before, but they needed a lot of breaks. This MSU isn’t good enough to beat a good team without them.
Not with all their injuries, and not with Brian Lewerke continuing to play worse than he did a year ago. Lewerke, who played through is own injury on Saturday, had the worst game of his career.
He couldn’t run. He had little sense of the pocket. And he couldn’t throw.
His passes were behind and above and at the feet of his receivers. It was a perplexing performance. And a worrisome one, too.
Not just for the rest of the season, but for next year as well.
The Spartans should be good again on defense, and, when healthy, will bring back an explosive group of receivers. But until Lewerke rediscovers his accuracy, MSU will struggle to win games against the best teams on its schedule unless it gets lucky.
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U-M’s defense will get a tougher test against Penn State and, eventually, Ohio State. But in the last two weeks, this Wolverine defense has looked championship-like.
Yes, Wisconsin is a one-dimensional team. And, yes, Michigan State was missing its best possession receiver, Cody White, and lost its best receiver to injury late in the first half — Felton Davis.
Though I suspect having both of those players wouldn’t have mattered. Not Saturday. Not when Lewerke had so little time to throw. Not when Davis struggled to get open before he got hurt.
Not with Chase Winovich and Devin Bush and Khaleke Hudson running down everything. And I mean everything.
MSU couldn’t get the edge on run plays. Heck, they couldn’t run period. And while this MSU offense was mediocre even when they were healthy, that shouldn’t diminish what U-M’s defense has done.
Other than a few big plays to Notre Dame and a shaky first half against Northwestern, the Wolverines have overwhelmed offenses all fall.
