Eastern Michigan vs. Michigan State: Game Grades, Analysis for Spartans

After falling to Oregon on the road two weeks ago, No. 11 Michigan State bounced back in a big way, thrashing Eastern Michigan 73-14 in East Lansing Saturday afternoon.

The Spartans (2-1) piled up 496 total yards of offense while limiting the Eagles to 129 on the other side of the ball. Michigan State forced more turnovers (six) than it surrendered first downs (five), and through 30 minutes of action, Eastern Michigan gained just one yard against the stifling defense.

The Spartans overwhelmed the Eagles in all three phases of the game. Here's how Michigan State graded out after its 59-point victory.

Positional Unit	First-Half Grade	Final Grade
Pass Offense	A	B+
Run Offense	A	A
Pass Defense	A+	A-
Run Defense	A+	A+
Special Teams	A	A
Coaching	A	A

Pass Offense: Connor Cook’s day was brief, but he did plenty of damage in his limited time, completing five of six passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns. Three quarterbacks aired it out against the Eagles (Tyler O'Connor, Damion Terry), combining for 160 yards and three touchdowns while completing 73.7 percent of their passes. A really bad interception from O’Connor at the end of the third quarter was the worst play from the Spartans all day. Michigan State only threw for four yards in the second half, though, because of the blowout nature of the game.

Run Offense: The Spartans bulldozed their way through the Eagles all afternoon, rushing for 164 yards in the first half before finishing with 336 total. An incredible 11 different ball-carriers toted the rock, averaging 5.6 yards per carry. Delton Williams stole the show in the second half, rushing for 103 yards and three touchdowns on just 10 carries.

Pass Defense: Eastern Michigan quarterback Rob Bolden had a very rough start to the day, missing 14 of his first 16 passes, including one interception. He was able to get a few things going in the second half, however, completing eight of 13 passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns. The Spartans only surrendered 115 yards through the air and got consistent pressure on the quarterback all day.

Run Defense: Michigan State dominated Eastern Michigan in the trenches, especially defensively. The Eagles only ran for 20 yards on Saturday, averaging a hair over one yard per rush. Eastern Michigan's skill-position players had a lot of trouble finding lanes, gaining just four yards on 12 carries.

Special Teams: The only thing that went wrong for Michigan State’s special teams came early in the third quarter when Kevin Cronin booted a kickoff out of bounds. Outside of that, the Spartans were solid. Michael Geiger was a perfect 11-of-11 on extra points and field goals. Rarely used punter Mike Sadler averaged 43.4 yards on five punts, and R.J. Shelton and Macgarrett Kings Jr. had a great day returning kicks. The Spartans even capitalized on Eastern Michigan’s mistakes, recovering two muffed punts.

Coaching: In a game like this, the coaching staff wants to get a big lead early in order to accomplish two things—get the starters some confidence and the backups some experience. After racing out to a 49-0 first-half lead, the Spartans were able to accomplish that easily. Mark Dantonio's staff established momentum on both sides of the ball early, helping the Spartans cruise to the easy victory.

All stats via NCAA.com.