Michigan State football: What we learned vs. Maryland, what to watch at Rutgers

EAST LANSING – Looking back at what happened in No. 24 Michigan State’s 17-7 home win over Maryland and a look ahead to next week’s regular-season finale at Rutgers.

Three things we learned

Will to run: There was little question MSU wanted to improve its rushing attack after four straight games of less than 100 yards on the ground. Rainy and snowy conditions more or less forced that to be the Spartans’ entire game plan. LJ Scott ran for 147 yards on a career-high 29 carries with a touchdown, while Gerald Holmes added a season-best 64 yards on 11 attempts. MSU ran the ball a season-best 51 times out of 65 offensive plays.

Return to form: Ohio State gashed MSU for 335 rushing yards a week earlier, the most ever in coach Mark Dantonio’s 11-year tenure. The Spartans held Maryland on Saturday to just 83 yards on the ground, the seventh time this season they held an opponent to less than 100 rushing yards. The Terrapins’ 204 yards of total offense were the second-fewest MSU has allowed this fall and the sixth time an opponent failed to reach 300 yards.

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No passing zone: Quarterback Brian Lewerke’s passing struggles at Ohio State carried over to Saturday. The sophomore completed just 2 of 14 throws for a season-worst 20 yards, the fewest yards by the Spartans since Bobby McAllister passed for 13 (going 2 of 10) in a 19-14 win over Iowa on Oct. 3, 1987. Lewerke’s two completions are the fewest in a game by MSU since McAllister and Dan Enos combined to go 1 for 9 at Florida State on Sept. 24, 1988. Saturday was just Lewerke’s third game this season without a touchdown pass.

Up next

Matchup: No. 24 Michigan State (8-3, 6-2 Big Ten) at Rutgers (4-7, 3-5)

When: 4 p.m. Saturday

Where: High Point Solutions Stadium, Piscataway, N.J.

TV/radio: Fox (Channel 2 in Detroit), WJR-AM (760).

Line: TBD.

Know the foe: Rutgers is coming off a 41-0 shutout loss to Indiana on Saturday, a game in which the Scarlet Knights managed just 11 first downs and 186 yards of offense, gave up 503 yards on defense and failed to score for the sixth time in the past two seasons. Junior quarterback Giovanni Rescigno (Warren De La Salle) was just 8 of 14 for 67 yards before being replaced by true freshman Johnathan Lewis, who was 3 of 10 for 36 yards. For the season, Rutgers has played three quarterbacks and has just six passing touchdowns as a team (among six different receivers). A change could be made next week with no postseason ahead. Running back Gus Edwards leads the Scarlet Knights with 703 rushing yards and six touchdowns, and their offense averages just 276.4 yards. Defensively, Rutgers allows 27.7 points and 395.6 yards a game, losing three of its last four while giving up 135 points in those four contests.

Three things to watch

Legs Lewerke: Despite Lewerke’s struggles throwing the ball against Maryland, he had a 25-yard score within his 63 rushing yards. He is the seventh QB in MSU history to run for more than 400 yards in a season; his 433 yards is the most since Drew Stanton’s 445 in 2006. Stanton is fifth on the Spartans’ single-season QB rushing list; Jimmy Raye’s 436 yards in 1966 is sixth.

Milestone recovery: The Spartans have a chance to flip their 3-9 record from 2016 to a 9-3 finish with a win at Rutgers, a team they shut out last year, 59-0. MSU can reach 10 wins for the sixth time in the last eight seasons if the Spartans can win Saturday and get a victory in their bowl game. If they win their final two games, it would give Dantonio 100 wins at MSU.

November reign: The Spartans can improve to 28-11 in November under Dantonio with a win at Rutgers. MSU has won 21 of its last 29 games during the final month of the regular season.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Download our Spartans Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!