For the MSU vs Northwestern football game I had to opportunity to write my first news/game story for MSU Focal Point News. It was very difficult to do for this first time because there is a different format and you use a different language when writing to the average person who would read a story like this.
Here is what I came up with:
New Quarterback, Same Story For MSU Football
On the 101st homecoming in East Lansing, Michigan, the Michigan State Spartans(2-4) lost to the Northwestern Wildcats(3-3) 54 to 40 in a shoot out.
For the first time in his college career Brian Lewerke lined up behind center as the Spartans starting quarterback. Lewerke is the first freshman to start a game for MSU since Steven Reaves in 2004 against Central Michigan.
This change comes after fifth year senior Tyler O'Connor had struggled through the first five games of the season.
From the get go Lewerke seemed to give this offense a spark and a swagger that it had been lacking all season. Lewerke hit RJ Shelton down the seem for 33 yards to complete his first pass and on the second drive came the first spartan score under the Lewerke Era. Lewerke began the drive by showing off his wheels, something that O'Connor previously struggled with, to lead the Spartans inside the red zone and would hit Josiah Price for a 15 yard touchdown two plays later.
After the game Lewerke said about getting his first touchdown off of his shoulders, “ It was pretty cool….having it to Josiah who has the most touchdown catches for a tight end ever was pretty cool.”
That touchdown increased Price’s school record for touchdowns by a tight end to 19 in his career.
As the offense excelled in the early goings so did the Spartan defense whose leader, linebacker Riley Bullough, returned from a shoulder injury after missing three games. On Northwestern’s second drive of the game freshman Justin Layne snagged his first career interception and returned it 41 yards to make it a 14-0 lead in favor of the green and white.
This was the first time the Spartans had scored more than seven points in the first quarter of any game this season.
Just as the Spartan fanbase felt comfortable the Wildcats struck back.
Northwestern would cut into the spartan lead with just over three minutes to go in the first quarter when running back Justin Jackson scooted down the left side line for a 29 yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 14-7.
45 seconds into the second quarter Michael Gieger would increase the spartan’s lead to 17-7 with a 41 yard field goal. But Spartan fans have seen this story play out before.
Michigan State’s offense would once again get conservative and the Wildcats continued to cut into the spartan lead by answering Geiger’s field goal with a 12 play 75 yard drive that ended in a nine yard touchdown pass from quarterback Clayton Thorson to senior wide receiver Austin Carr to make it a 17-14 game.
All the momentum seemed to shift in Northwestern’s favor. After a MSU penalty had negated a long kickoff return the Spartans were pinned inside their own five yard line. On third down Lewerke would be slammed to the ground by defensive lineman Joe Gaziano, who beat left tackle Miguel Machado, for a safety to make it a 17-16 lead for the spartans.
The Wildcats would take their first lead of the game with just under 7 minutes to go in the first half as kicker Jack Mitchell added a 33 yard field go to make a 19-17 lead for the visitors and that score would hold going into the locker room.
The halftime break did not cool off the Wildcat offense. Northwestern opened the second half with a four play drive that ended in a 57 yard touchdown pass from Thorson to Flynn Nagel who got lost in coverage by Justin Layne to make it 26-17.
With just under 7 minutes in the third quarter Thorson tried to make it certain that the Spartans would not be able to come back in the game by finishing a 10 play drive with a nine yard touchdown run to increase the lead to 33-17. The touchdown made it a 26-0 scoring run for the Wildcat offense.
Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio had seen enough of the offense under the commands of his redshirt freshman and gave the keys back to Tyler O’Conner. Once again a quarterback change would provide another needed spark.
With just under six minutes left in the third quarter O’Conner found RJ Shelton for a 59 yard touchdown pass that was caught off of a tip. The Spartans cut the Northwestern lead to 33-24.
The Spartan offense continued to roll under O’Connor as he hit RJ Shelton for his second touchdown of the game on an 86 yard pass to cut the wildcat lead to 33-31 with two minutes to go in the third quarter.
After the game Coach Dantonio had this to say about his switch at signal caller, “ I thought Lewerke did some good things in the game….The game sort of caught up to him in the second quarter a little bit so we made the decision to go back to Tyler, which was the plan if Brian played poor”
As Spartan fans began to rise from their seats again, junior wide receiver Solomon Vault quickly sat them back down by returning the ensuing kickoff 95 yards to bring the Wildcat lead back up to nine at 40-31.
Justin Jackson would put the nail in the spartan coffin with 8 minutes remaining in the game when he broke a tackle on the way to a 26 yard touchdown run, his second of the game. The Wildcats led 47-31.
Michigan State would add a late score with a nine yard touchdown pass from O’Conner to freshman Donnie Corley and cut the Wildcat lead to 47-37 with a failed two-point conversion.
Just to make sure there was no fight left in the spartan’s back pocket Thorson found Carr for his second touchdown, this one from 29 yards out, to increase the wildcat’s lead to 54-31.
Gieger would add one more field goal to finish off the scoring for the night with a final score 54-40.
As the Wildcat offense continued to impose their will, the same problems that have plagued the Michigan State defense continued throughout the game. The Spartan defense yet again struggled to get off the field on third down as Northwestern converted 10 of their 19 opportunities.
Northwestern quarterback Clayton Thorson shredded the MSU secondary all game to the tune of 281 yards and three touchdowns as well as a rushing touchdown of his own.
The MSU rush defense was just as bad if not worse than the secondary by giving up 205 yards on the ground with three touchdowns. Northwestern running back Justin Jackson accounted for 188 of those yards as well as two of the three touchdowns.
In total the MSU defense gave up well over 400 total yards of offense to a team that scored seven points at home against FCS Illinois State earlier in the season.
On the offensive side of the ball MSU received average quarterback play from both Lewerke and O’Conner. The starter, Lewerke, finished with 99 yards passing and that one touchdown pass to Price before getting the heave hoe in the second half. O’Connor came in and played some of his best football he has all season to the tune of 281 yards, three touchdowns, and one pick, though most of it coming in garbage time.
With the victory Northwestern has beaten Michigan State for the first time since the 2012 campaign and now has two straight wins in East Lansing. This is also the most points a spartan defense has given up against the wildcats since the 2007 season when Northwestern beat the spartans 48-41.
This is the first four game losing streak for MSU football since a stretch from October 28, 2006 to November 18, 2006 that included losses to: Indiana, Purdue, Minnesota, and Penn State.
With bowl game hopes now hanging by a thread the Spartans will travel to College Park, Maryland next week to take on DJ Durkin’s terrapins who have lost two straight games of their own.
by Justin Frommer
