The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for No. 25 Michigan State. The team is coming off of a 16-13 loss against No. 23 Arizona State, a game in which the Spartans led until midway through the fourth quarter.

The Spartans (1-1) will use the bye week to try to correct some of the early-season mistakes before they take the field against Indiana on Saturday, Sept. 22, at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Because there’s no game action this week, we thought it’d be the perfect time for another mailbag.

There are injury concerns, questions about the offensive and defensive line play and red zone issues to discuss. Thanks for all the questions and thanks for subscribing to The Athletic. As always, we’ll try to answer as many as possible. Let’s get into things.

Colton, I feel one of the reasons we are not scoring touchdowns is because of the lack of big plays (running or passing). The biggest plays we have are 10-15 yard completions and then the drive stalls in the red zone. Do you expect the play calling to change so MSU can use their strengths like their all Big Ten receivers and QB? More shots down the field? Thanks! —Kelvin P.

There really isn’t much of a running game right now. Michigan State ranks 110th in rushing yards per game through two games. So, yeah, not really seeing the big run play from this offense.

As for the passing game, Brian Lewerke’s thrown for 601 yards this season. He hit Cody White for the 31-yard touchdown vs. Arizona State and a 40-yard gain vs. Utah State. Felton Davis III had that big 31-yard catch down the stretch vs. Utah State. An offense doesn’t need the big play to be successful if the group is stringing together long drives. With that being said, I think there have been enough of them, at least in the passing game.

Given the lack of push up front, I think the red zone is an area the team should look to pass in more often than not. We’ve seen a lot of run plays stuffed for no gain in the red zone this season, and the ineffectiveness of the running backs is a result of a struggling offensive line. Meanwhile, you’ve got a trio of solid receivers and a quarterback who can buy time with his legs and make things happen when things break down around him. If the line doesn’t improve, I could see the team giving Lewerke the ball and letting him operate.

I was at the Arizona State game so I have that weird perspective of watching things without commentary and the benefit of stats. But it seemed Wilkins did his best when he just went for short screens and underneath routes and we got torched. It seemed like 3 and 8 might as well have been 3 and 1 the way we just conceded those short routes and aside from a few completions it seemed the secondary either did a decent job of leaving Wilkins few options or he just misfired. Do you agree that we are conceding these short and intermediate passes and allowing them (it almost seemed like we were willing to give them up but they just grew into larger problems) or is it just we have a porous defense? —David W.

ASU quarterback Manny Wilkins said the game plan early on was to go sideline-to-sideline with the passing game and a lot of the quick-hit stuff. It didn’t lead to a whole lot of points, which was good for MSU, but Wilkins said he felt like it wore the defense out.

He also used his legs to move around in the pocket and extend plays. In the third quarter, Wilkins was able to pick up 14 yards on third-and-20 from the MSU 45. If MSU is able to limit him to maybe 9 yards instead of 14, that’s the difference between a punt and a 49-yard field goal. So while the secondary let up some underneath stuff, the pass rush didn’t help them out. Then as the game progressed, the Sun Devils wanted to take more shots down the field and were able to connect on one of those shots to N’Keal Harry for the game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter.

This was a weird game for the defense. Arizona State had only three points through three quarters. The defense allowed only 44 rushing yards for the entire game. And 16 points allowed is hardly a poor performance. But you’re right. Arizona State was able to pick up yards without the deep ball and Wilkins finished with 380 passing yards. It was the second consecutive week MSU allowed 300 passing yards. Last year, the defense allowed 300 passing yards twice all season. So there are concerns there, but at the end of the day, 16 points should be enough to win most games.

How was the Arizona heat tho? — Souichi T.

So here’s a story. I showed up at Sun Devil Stadium about 4½ hours before the game because I’m weird like that. Spent some time up in the press box, then went down to the field to see when Michigan State was getting in. I ended up chatting with an Arizona State staff worker at Sun Devil Stadium for about 10-15 minutes before the game. She told me she moved to Arizona from Detroit about 20 years ago. I asked her how long it took her to get used to heat. Her response:

“I’ve lived here 20 years and I’m still not used to it.”

Don’t know if I’ll ever be moving there in my life because I prefer Midwest winters that last until April, but the people were friendly and some of the views were incredible. I grew up in Illinois, which I’m pretty sure is the second-flattest state in the U.S., but I’m too lazy to look it up. Anyway, I’m easily impressed by anything that isn’t flat land. But yeah, it was hot.

Should we lower our expectations for this team or should I believe we can still win the Big Ten and sneak into the playoff? — Ryan C.

You know, I try not to overreact one way or the other too much after two games. With that being said, I wasn’t completely sold before the season that this was a Playoff team. I thought there were reasons for optimism with the core of a 10-win team coming back, and I believed the expected natural growth should keep the team in the nine- to 10-win range, if not better. But one of the things you look for early on from a team in Michigan State’s position is whether some of the problems from last year — pass rush, offensive line, etc. — are still problems this year. And they have been.

Of course, there’s still time to figure that stuff out. The offensive line has been without its starting left tackle for two games. The defensive line missed Jacub Panasiuk against ASU and had to deal with Utah State’s speed in Week 1. And as Mark Dantonio said, he’s had teams that have bounced back from early-season losses and still reached 11-plus wins at the end of the season. We’ll see if the team plays with a sense of urgency from here on out, starting against Indiana next Saturday.

Any chance we see Dantonio pull the plug on Higby at center? Maybe the early bye week gives them breathing room to get the line shuffled and players back in their most natural/comfortable positions. — Joseph A.

I think it’s trending that way. Dantonio said that Tyler Higby is still learning the center position, and his transition has caused some problems for the rest of the offensive line at times. He also said he thought Matt Allen played better against Arizona State. Allen played the entire fourth quarter and much of the second half at center, while Higby shifted around a bit. I don’t know how much longer the Higby experiment will last, but Dantonio said the team will figure things out during the bye week and into Indiana week. We’ll see if Allen gets the start right out of the gate.

Michigan State tends to shuffle through its offensive linemen even when the entire group is available, but it’ll help to get Cole Chewins back in there on a more permanent basis instead of the one snap he played against Arizona State. I think at this point we’re all waiting to see what the line looks like when the best five guys are out on the field.

I was at the game, too, as an alum of both schools. Had a great time; the ASU crowd was mostly nice and fun to interact with. But my question is about defensive scheming: At some point, should the Spartans have just stopped rushing too many guys at the ASU QB? They got little-to-no pressure, while leaving major gaps in the secondary to exploit. If ASU’s QB had been accurate, maybe this game is a blowout for the Sun Devils. That being said, could MSU have resorted to a three-man rush later in the game to adjust? It was interesting watching the Spartans try to rush the QB to no avail while getting sliced up in man-to-man coverage as a result. Why not rush three and drop eight into coverage? — Sol F.

It’s easy to say that looking back, and Dantonio did say his pass rush was lacking in this game. “We need to continue to work the pass rush aspects of it that kept us off base when we brought pressure. You know, (Arizona State) either blocked pressure or got the ball out.”

But Arizona State made its comeback in the fourth quarter. Up until that point, I don’t know if there needed to be a scheme adjustment, because MSU led 13-3 and was able to keep ASU out of the end zone through three quarters. This doesn’t seem like a coaching staff that would make that sort of drastic change late in a game when their method — despite allowing yards — proved to be effective for the majority of the game. Arizona State just played better down the stretch and came away with the victory.

I do not have the stats in front of me, but it sure seemed like MSU committed a lot of penalties. How concerned should we be about this going forward? — Brandon P.

You are correct. Michigan State committed nine penalties for 82 yards against Arizona State, and was flagged nine times for 62 yards vs. Utah State. Through two games, MSU has committed the sixth-most penalties per game among FBS programs. What’s worse is that a lot of the penalties have come at inopportune times.

Against Utah State, offensive tackle Luke Campbell was called for a false start on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line. MSU walked away with a field goal on that drive.

Against Arizona State, there was a delay-of-game penalty on the MSU offense as the group attempted to pick up a first down in the red zone on fourth-and-1. MSU, again, left with a field goal on the drive.

And on defense in that game, whether you agree with the call or not, cornerback Justin Layne was flagged for pass interference on third-and-10 to extend Arizona State’s final drive. That drive ended with a game-winning field goal as time expired.

It’s weird that a team with so much experience and so many returning starters has struggled with penalties as much as Michigan State. If MSU keeps playing in tight games like the first two, and the penalties continue to pile up, it’ll definitely be a cause for concern.

So … how hot was it? It was so hot that …

And did enduring that heat have anything to do with the Spartans’ play in the 4th quarter? — Matthew F.

It was so hot that I got lightheaded after a short walk exploring the surroundings of my hotel. Either that or I’m incredibly out of shape. Probably a little bit of both.

As for the second part of your question, that depends on which team you ask.

Here’s what Dantonio had to say: “I thought we handled the trip very well. Handled the time change, handled the weather. Didn’t have any problems with that. I thought we played with a lot of energy.”

Here’s what Wilkins had to say: “We knew it was going to be hot and we knew that they’re not in as hot of a situation as we are here so our goal was to — and we weren’t really that successful, honestly — to go sideline to sideline those first two quarters and then the third and fourth quarter we wanted to get downfield. At the end of the first half, the thing that they pulled, I know everyone was booing but them taking a knee, waiting, then calling a timeout, that was their coach making a smart situation call to give his guys some more rest time because halftime is not that long and you could tell they needed it. It was a pro and a con for them because it told us that they were tired and so that second half we knew we wanted to get downfield and we started hitting some bigger shots down the field and then it paid off.”

It’s clear that Arizona State played better down the stretch, so it’s easy to connect the strong play to the fact that the players are just used to the heat. But Michigan State held a 13-3 lead through three quarters when the heat was at its worst. Guess it just depends who you believe.

Have other people noticed our refusal to use a hard count at all? Opposing teams are pinning their ears back and going on first noise. The play where Higby gets knocked down immediately after snapping the ball stick out as clear opportunities for a hard count. — Tom M.

Arizona State’s defensive line got some great jumps in the game. It doesn’t help when you have a guy playing center for the first time in his collegiate career. Dantonio said he thinks it was a combination of ASU knowing the snap count along with Higby’s technique. Here’s what he had to say:

“He’s snapping the ball and he’s probably not stepping, he’s probably catching. When you catch on a nose guard who’s coming out of his stance who, I think, knew the snap count and anticipated it, got off on the ball, you know, things become a little more difficult. So we need to vary the snap count in that situation.”

So to answer your question, it seems like Arizona State noticed that refusal.

Knock on wood this won’t be the case but say the O Line doesn’t improve a whole lot as the season progresses. What can the Spartans do to minimize the damage resulting from poor O-Line play? —Teja B.

There are things they can do to mask the offensive line’s struggles in the short term. Against Utah State, we saw some of the option plays late in the game that helped open the field on the outside and get guys in space, leading to Connor Heyward’s game-winning touchdown. And Heyward and LJ Scott are patient enough to let the blocks set up on those screen passes we’ve seen the past few games, so you can always try to incorporate more of those and pick your spots. In terms of pass protection, you can always play Lewerke out of the shotgun more often and have a running back or tight end back there for extra protection. You also can try more quick slants in the middle of the field to get the ball out quicker, like Utah State’s offense.

But ultimately, this team will be limited offensively if the offensive line play doesn’t improve. How soon can Devontae Dobbs get to campus?

Is there any reason to believe we’ll be better than 3-9 this season? — Mike D.

I’m assuming there’s a bit of humor in this question. Maybe not. But I don’t see that happening. It would take a major injury to someone like Lewerke for this team to go 3-9. I think the bye week comes at a perfect time, and should give the team a chance to hit the reset button and evaluate key positions, while also getting some guys back from injury. So I expect the play to even out. No need for 2016 comparisons at this point.

Rank the Zeke the Wonderdogs, from greatest to most greatest. — Bob I.

5. Keze. Gone too soon.

4. Zeke II. What a warrior. Fought intestinal obstruction, a torn ACL and cataracts. His dedication to MSU athletics can’t be questioned.

3. Zeke IV. Might be recency bias here, but I really like Zeke IV. Great motor. Endless energy. Outstanding athleticism. Already in my top three with the potential to keep climbing.

2. Zeke III. A nine-year veteran, Zeke III gave his all to MSU athletics, right up until the day he suddenly passed. The longevity of his career lands him at No. 2 on my very unqualified list.

1. Zeke. Gotta go with the OG Zeke at No. 1. He was once named the best receiver in the Big Ten. He’s the only non-human to earn a letter at MSU. He deserves a statue outside of Spartan Stadium, in my opinion.

(Top photo: Mark J. Rebilas / USA TODAY Sports)