Michigan State's Offensive Struggles are Suddenly Alarming

Not only has MSU's offense not played well, but its numbers are a bit inflated. The Spartans are tied for 58th in scoring (29.5 points per game), but are 108th in total offense (331.7 yards per game).

One reason is that those numbers don't exclude garbage-time touchdowns that the team has had in each of its last three games. One came at USC with 2:39 left when MSU was previously down 21, another came with 2:01 and the Spartans trailing by 18 at Nebraska, and they scored again on Saturday when the deficit was 31. Michigan State also got an additional 15 points during overtime against Boston College.

Michigan State's defense isn't playing well, either; the Spartans are allowing the most points per game in the Big Ten during conference play (40.3). But some more forgiveness should be given to that unit due to the massive amount of injuries plaguing it.

Against UCLA, MSU was without significant contributors EDGE Anelu Lafaele (season), DE Jalen Thompson, S Nikai Martinez, and NB Ade Willie.

The offense isn't dealing with that many injuries. Not having two starting offensive linemen, Stanton Ramil and Luka Vincic (season), isn't great, but it's not as bad as what the defense is dealing with. All of the Spartans' key skill players seem to be healthy.

Woes vs. UCLA

At the end of the third quarter against the Bruins, Michigan State was trailing 38-7. Across those 45 minutes, MSU's offense only averaged 3.4 yards per play. UCLA had outgained the Spartans 350-158 across that span. Michigan State was in the middle of finally putting together its first scoring drive since its opening possession. It had failed to put any points on the board in seven straight drives.

For a time, it certainly did not appear that the game was going to take that direction. That opening drive touchdown was one of the most methodical drives of Michigan State's season. MSU had to convert on third down three times, but never needed more than four yards.

On drive No. 2, head coach Jonathan Smith decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 34. After the game, he said they originally called a quarterback sneak, but Aidan Chiles checked into what became a toss play that was snuffed out for a turnover on downs.

The Spartans never seemed to recover from that.

Aidan Chiles

Now 18 starts into his career at Michigan State, Chiles has only failed to reach 100 passing yards twice. Those two performances have come in MSU's last two games: 85 yards at Nebraska and 66 versus UCLA.

In fairness, Chiles hasn't played the full 60 minutes in either game, but the efficiency hasn't been there either. He's only averaging 3.8 yards per attempt since Michigan State's first bye week.

Chiles has shown that he's capable of being a great quarterback earlier in the year. MSU is 2-4 instead of 3-3 if he doesn't have a five-touchdown, zero-turnover day against Boston College. But the fact of the matter is that Chiles is now 16th in the Big Ten in passing yards, is 12th on a yards-per-attempt basis, and is tied for 10th in passing scores.

If MSU wants to salvage this season, some of the responsibility has to fall on one of its captains and its junior starting quarterback.

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