How Michigan State turned dreadful ground attack into best rushing performance in 2 years
Rocky Lombardi knew his legs would be a pivotal part of Michigan State football’s game plan.
Offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic knew more than quarterback run plays would be needed to upset Northwestern on Saturday. And he got everything he asked for in the Spartans’ 29-20 upset of the 17th-ranked Wildcats.
MSU ran for a season-best 195 yards on the ground, its best performance in more than two years. The offensive line opened holes for junior running back Connor Heyward, who churned out a season-high 96 yards on a career-high 24 carries, and Lombardi used scripted quarterback draws and unplanned scrambles to run for a personal-best 65 yards.
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“Starting with the guys up front, they played extremely hard,” Kapilovic said Tuesday. "They're starting to finally play with some of the intensity and pad level and technique that you're looking for. I think our running backs ran harder. They were specific about hitting the holes. Obviously when you throw in Lombardi, and with him making some good checks and then also taking the ball and running when it became available, puts a lot of stress on defenses. So I just think it was the whole group.
“And don't leave out the receivers – they blocked really well. they were physical on the perimeter, they got the safeties. And that's huge to have success in the run game, especially against a team like Northwestern where that 90% of time everybody on defense is 8 yards from the ball. I just felt like it was a whole offensive effort. And it started upfront with those guys and our backs running hard.”
MSU entered the game 124th out of 127 Football Bowl Subdivision teams at 73.8 rushing yards per game. Kapilovic mostly has used five players on the line the past four games: A.J. Arcuri at left tackle, Matt Carrick at left guard, Nick Samac at center, J.D. Duplain at right guard and Kevin Jarvis at right tackle. Blake Bueter also has rotated in.
“If you're in a situation where you have two or three guys you feel like you can play and there's not a drop off, you definitely want to do that. At times,” Kapilovic said. “Our lineup has changed a little bit through the season. We've had guys missing some practice time made it a little bit difficult, but we need to build continuity. A lot of these guys have been injured and up and down throughout their career, so it's just trying to get them to be consistent, practice every day and play every week is going to start to see us pay dividends there.
“Continuity is critical. But you do want to get to a point where you have some competition and you can play a few other guys.”
Heyward’s day was perhaps his best in a Spartan uniform. He ran for his most yards since a career-high 157 yards at Maryland on Nov. 3, 2018, when MSU dominated with 269 rushing yards. Saturday’s upset against Northwestern produced the most ground yardage since that game, with sophomore Elijah Collins slowly finding a rhythm late for a season-best 34 yards.
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And Lombardi added a new wrinkle, pulling the ball in the read-option game and on QB draws. Five of his 10 runs went for first downs, four coming on third down.
“I definitely think it gave us a little boost for sure,” Lombardi said. “It takes one of their guys out of the box to have to defend me or at least honor me on a fake, just to prove that I could I could run last week. It definitely helped the run game a little bit, but I think most of it's just a credit to those guys up front and a credit to Connor for running real hard.”
Injury updates
While MSU’s offensive line has three players opting out this fall – Jordan Reid, Mustafa Khaleefah and Justin Stevens – Kapilovic revealed sophomore Devontae Dobbs and senior Luke Campbell are battling injuries.
“Those guys are trying to work through some injuries and work through just getting improvement,” Kapilovic said. “I don't know if we'll see them this year. But hopefully, if we don't see them this year, that we'll definitely see some improvements and see them next year.”
Dobbs, a four-star recruit from Belleville, played four games and started at left tackle last season at Rutgers, retaining his redshirt. Campbell is among the most experienced players with 26 career starts in 31 games played since 2016. He has started at four of the five offensive line positions.
Running forward
With Anthony Williams Jr. entering NCAA transfer portal last week and freshman Jordon Simmons out, MSU stuck with Heyward and Collins rather than a deeper rotation.
The Spartans had been using four or five running backs. Kapilovic felt what he saw Saturday could continue moving forward, with MSU whittling it to two or three getting carries.
“Sometimes in the run game, you have to get a rhythm going,” he said. “You need to get those guys some back to back carries and get the O-linemen some back to back runs and kind of get a rhythm going. I thought that was something we did Saturday.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Michigan State remade poor run game into best showing in 2 years
