East Lansing — Michigan State lost to Northwestern for the third straight time on Saturday, but its problems go much deeper than that.
The Spartans have an offense that continues to lack any consistency or ability to make plays in crunch time and a defense, while dominant against the run, has routinely given up chunks of yardage through the air. Add in a rash of injuries and some questionable play-calling and Michigan State is five games into the season wondering what’s next.
The latest head-scratcher was Saturday’s 29-19 loss at Northwestern, a team that had lost three straight coming in and didn’t score a single point in the second half of last week’s loss to Michigan when it blew a 17-0 lead.