EAST LANSING — Cal Haladay thought for a moment about Michigan State football’s four most recent games against Ohio State and tried to process a simple yet complex question.
Did the Spartans, at any point during those losses, feel like they had a chance?
The fifth-year senior linebacker pointed to Charles Brantley’s pick-six of C.J. Stroud early in their 2022 meeting. It tied the score at 7-7 with 8:32 to play in the first quarter.
“I think in that game,” Haladay recalled Wednesday, “it kind of it felt like, OK, we could compete and with these guys, and we can go toe to toe with them.”
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Three plays later, Stroud threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Emeke Egbuka. The rout was on. Final score: 49-20, a game that was over by halftime.
It was the closest MSU came to playing with the Ohio State juggernaut under former coach Mel Tucker. And it was not close.
Tucker is gone, and new coach Jonathan Smith has inherited a program that has lost eight straight to the Buckeyes. The Spartans’ challenge once again is to try and limit No. 3 Ohio State’s explosive offense and navigate the overwhelming gap between the two programs when they meet again Saturday at Spartan Stadium (7:30 p.m., streaming on Peacock).
“You know this logo, this brand of football,” Smith said Monday of facing the Buckeyes. “It’s a big-time opponent.”
MSU (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) knows that well. Especially with how the Buckeyes (3-0, 0-0) have run roughshod over the Sprtans in recent years.
Ohio State has outscored MSU during its win streak by an astounding 243 points (320-77). That includes a 205-42 margin the past four years, with a composite score at halftime of 147-26. The Spartans’ defense has given up 531.4 yards a game over the past seven meetings, with the Buckeyes eclipsing 600 yards twice and 500 yards four other times.
In the 2022 game Haladay referenced, MSU ended up allowing 614 yards. A year earlier, despite finishing 10-2 and in the top 10 in the polls after the season, the Spartans gave up 655 yards to the Buckeyes, the third-most allowed in a single game in school history.
Coach Ryan Day’s offense this season continues to be dynamic. OSU ranks third in the country in scoring (52.3 points per game) and fifth in total offense (552 yards per game) — 14th in both passing (311 yards) and rushing (241). Haladay called them “one of the best offenses in country.”
“We know that they’re good, and we know that they’re going to be explosive offense,” Haladay said. “And I think our ability to respond, even if they do get a big play, to come back the next play and be able to bow up and limit points on the board, I think that’ll be a really key factor in the game.”
Over the last three seasons against MSU, OSU’s starting quarterbacks have completed 77 of 92 passes (84.7%) for 1,128 yards, 15 touchdowns to just one interception. New starting quarterback Will Howard, a transfer from Kansas State, has 795 yards on 68.9% passing with six TDs to one interception this season.
His targets all have big-play potential. Egbuka is still there and has 14 catches for 266 yards with a touchdown. Standout freshman Jeremiah Smith leads the Buckeyes with 281 yards and four touchdowns among his 14 catches, while Carnell Tate has 11 catches for 167 yards and a score.
“They’re explosive, they’re fast. They run detailed routes,” new MSU defensive backs coach Blue Adams said Wednesday. “I think this is a good challenge for us to see where we are, to kind of evaluate where we are, but they’re impressive.”
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The Spartans’ secondary has been hampered by injuries through four games this season. Cornerback Chance Rucker and versatile Dillon Tatum remain out indefinitely, and backup safety Khalil Majeed is done for the season. Starting safety Malik Spencer and nickelback Angelo Grose also both left briefly on Boston College’s final scoring drive in Saturday’s fourth quarter, returning and giving up a 42-yard touchdown pass that led to a 23-19 loss, MSU’s first of the season.
“It’s hard when your guy says, ‘Hey, I’m ready to go.’ And you look in his eyes and you see that he’s ready to go, and so you throw him out there,” Adams said of that final TD spoiled an otherwise stout and stingy defensive performance. “The expectation is for him to get the job done. And, unfortunately, we, we didn’t.”
Still, the Spartans’ defensive renaissance has been clear. New coordinator Joe Rossi’s group ranks 14th in the country in total defense at 254.8 yards yielded per game, 26th at 158 passing yards allowed and 25th in points allowed (14.3). But the Spartans also have yet to face a passing attack as prolific and proficient as the Buckeyes.
While at Minnesota, Rossi’s defense faced OSU three times, losing each while giving up an average of 37.3 points and 447 yards in those games. However, he possesses the experience of knowing the tendencies of the offensive-minded Day, while several other defensive coaches who followed Smith to MSU from Oregon State know what works against first-year Buckeyes offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who previously was head coach at UCLA.
“We’re familiar with some of the stuff that (Kelly) does, but he always poses a problem for if you,” said cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin, who coached against Kelly’s UCLA offenses while at Arizona, Colorado and Oregon the past six seasons. “We’ll need some extra time in the film room to get the guys caught up in the things that they do.”
That can only go so far, particularly with the talent the NFL draft pick factory brings in waves. But Smith has his players believing they can beat the Buckeyes for the first time since the Spartans’ dramatic 2015 win in Columbus.
“I think we believe that we can beat anybody, no matter who it is,” linebacker Jordan Hall said Wednesday. “I’ve said it before, we’re going to respect everybody that we play on the same level. We know that they are a good team with good athletes, but we are also a good team with good athletes. …
“Coach Smith, at our team meeting yesterday, emphasized, ‘Leave your capes at home.’ We don’t need any superheroes. We just need 11 people on the field at a time doing their job.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State defense looks to halt Ohio State offense’s dominance
