Why Michigan State football's Mel Tucker has confidence in Spartans' lifeless run offense
Michigan State’s run game remains a problem, same as it has the past two seasons.
Still, when new coach Mel Tucker rewatched the Spartans’ 38-27 loss to Rutgers, in which the Spartans gained just 50 yards on the ground, it somewhat changed his opinion of the blocking along the offensive line.
“When I came out of the game, when I left the field, I felt like in the trenches we weren't able to get the movement that we needed to get,” Tucker said Tuesday during a video call. “When I watched the film, it was not as bad as I thought that it was just coming out of the game.”
MSU ranked among the nation’s worst rushing offenses the past two seasons because of injuries along the offensive line. Tucker's team must improve its production fast if it wants to go on the road and be competitive with, much less beat, No. 13 Michigan at noon Saturday (Fox).
The team with the most rushing yards has won 45 times in the last 50 rivalry meetings. The Wolverines held the Spartans to just 69 yards on 53 attempts in the past two meetings, U-M’s first back-to-back wins over the Spartans since 2006-07, and they held Minnesota to 129 yards on 41 attempts Saturday in a 49-24 blowout in Minneapolis.
“We gotta run the ball better,” Tucker said. “We need to better run a ball on our terms because having balanced on offense and not being one-dimensional is critically important.
Familiar foes
Tucker coached against Jim Harbaugh once in the NFL, when Harbaugh was head coach of the 49ers and Tucker was defensive coordinator with Chicago.
That happened to be a 2014 Week 2 matchup in San Francisco. Tucker's Bears beat Harbaugh's 49ers, 28-20. Harbaugh left for U-M after the season, while Tucker headed to Alabama.
“He's a fantastic coach,” Tucker said of Harbaugh. “He's a football guy, comes from a football family. I obviously have respect for all of our coaches in this conference and all the coaches that I get a chance to compete against.”
Injury update
Tucker said wide receiver Tre Mosley is “day to day” with a leg injury. The sophomore started and caught one pass for 11 yards Saturday before leaving the game in the fourth quarter.
That was the only specific personnel update Tucker provided coming out of the Rutgers game. MSU dressed 75 players Saturday, which is the Big Ten limit for travel rosters. Other Spartans who did not suit up sat wearing masks in the Spartan Stadium stands behind the team’s bench.
“Football is a game of injuries. All around the country, college and pro, you have COVID, guys are in quarantine or in isolation or you get guys that have injuries or whatever it may be,” Tucker said. “I've never really been about talking about who you don't have, it's really about who you do have. … The guys that we have available to us are the guys that we're going to go to work with this week. And we're not going to make any excuses or explanations about personnel and who's available and who's not.”
After Saturday’s visit to Michigan Stadium, the Spartans are scheduled for a noon kickoff Nov. 7 at Iowa (ESPN).
Lombardi ready for more
Things will be different this time when Rocky Lombardi steps on the field at Michigan.
Last season, he was used on special teams as a “personal protector for the punt team” — otherwise known as the up back in front of the punter.
Lombardi did not play QB against the Wolverines last year, but he got his U-M baptism in 2018 at Spartan Stadium. He was 1 for 2 for 9 yards and ran three times for minus-5 yards.
“It's exciting to finally get out there as the starting quarterback for my position,” Lombardi said. “The prep will be different from week to week, but it's ultimately the same.”
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: Michigan State football's Mel Tucker thinks run game can bounce back
