By The Numbers: U-M’s Significant Defensive Advantage Over MSU’s Offense

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The Michigan Wolverines' football team will host Michigan State this weekend, holding a substantial defensive advantage over the Spartans' offensive attack.

The Maize and Blue's defense got off to a bit of a rough start this season — it allowed 343.6 yards per game through the first three outings — but has turned into a lockdown unit ever since, yielding just 229.5 yards per contest in the six games since.

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Michigan State's offense, meanwhile, has taken the opposite trajectory.

After the Spartans averaged 31.4 points and 414.8 yards through their first five games, they saw those numbers dip to just 12.7 points and 307.7 yards over their last four.

Prior to Saturday's 37-34 loss to Illinois, MSU posted 10 or fewer points in three straight games, spanning October setbacks to Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State.

Michigan's defense, on the other hand, has limited four of its last six opponents to 14 points or fewer, highlighted by a 52-0 shutout of Rutgers Sept. 28 and a 10-3 victorious defensive battle against Iowa Oct. 5.

Michigan's defense has the statistical advantage in eight of the 10 categories listed above, with tackles for loss and red-zone touchdown percentage being the two exceptions.

The Spartans' offense ranks a respectable 40th nationally in tackles for loss allowed (47), while the U-M defense uncharacteristically checks in at just 52nd in stops behind the line of scrimmage, with 59 (Michigan has finished third, first and 32nd in the country in tackles for loss, respectively, during defensive coordinator Don Brown's three years on the job).

After those two categories is where the positives end for Michigan State.

It stands 106th in college football in both rushing yards per game and points scored per outing, tallying just 130.8 of the former and 23.1 of the latter.

MSU's running back depth took a severe hit when junior Connor Heyward and sophomore La'Darius Jefferson both departed the team just one week apart, with the former leaving Sept. 30 and the latter Oct. 8.

Redshirt freshman Elijah Collins has served as the team's lone running back producer as a result, accumulating 715 yards and five touchdowns this season, while averaging 5.0 yards per carry.

No other Spartan running back on the current roster has more than 76 yards on the season.

The Wolverine front seven, on the flip side, has been extra stingy as of late, allowing just 66.6 yards per game over its last six outings. Five of the six foes during that span have been held to 2.8 yards per carry or fewer, and four of the six to 1.7 or less.

Last Saturday's 37-34 loss to Illinois was a resurgence for Michigan State's offense in some ways, with their 526 yards checking in as the club's most since it compiled 582 in a victory over Western Michigan Sept. 7.

The performance also stood as just the third time this season Michigan State tallied more than 404 yards in a game, with the aforementioned WMU win and the victory over Indiana Sept. 28 (445) being the other two.

In comparison, Michigan's defense has only allowed one opponent to rack up more than 404 yards on it this season (Wisconsin's 487 Sept. 21), holding the other eight to 293 or fewer.

1 Turnover for Michigan's offense in its last three games, including none in its last two (wins over Notre Dame and Maryland). This comes after the Wolverines committed nine through their first three affairs and 13 through the first six.

4 Straight road wins for the visitor in this series, with MSU's 35-11 home victory in 2014 marking the last time the hosting team came out on top. Michigan grabbed triumphs in East Lansing in both 2016 (32-23) and 2018 (21-7), while MSU tallied wins in Ann Arbor in 2015 (27-23) and 2017 (14-10).

17 Points for MSU's offense in the entire month of October, in three losses to Ohio State (34-10), Wisconsin (38-0) and Penn State (28-7).

No. 24 Is what Michigan State was ranked last year on Oct. 20 when U-M beat it in Spartan Stadium, which at the time snapped the Maize and Blue's 17-game road losing streak to Associated Press top-25 opponents. The victory stood as Michigan's first road win against a ranked foe since it crushed No. 2 Notre Dame 47-21 in South Bend in 2006.

38-Yard field goal for kicker Brendan Gibbons with just five seconds left to give Michigan a 12-10 victory over MSU in 2012, marking the last time U-M took down the Spartans in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines won that day despite not scoring a touchdown, with all of their points coming on four field goals (three by Gibbons and one by Matt Wile).

2002 Was the last time Michigan hosted MSU for a noon kickoff, with the Wolverines winning 49-3 that day. The start times for the seven meetings in The Big House ever since have been as follows: 3:30 for the 2004, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2015 matchups, 4:30 for the 2006 victory, and 7:30 for the 2017 ordeal.

2006 & 2007 Was the last time the Maize and Blue defeated MSU in consecutive years, with Lloyd Carr's crew grabbing a 31-13 victory in Ann Arbor in '06 and a 28-24 triumph in East Lansing in '07. Carr concluded his U-M tenure riding a six-game winning streak against Michigan State, and posted a 10-3 overall record against the in-state rival during his 13 years on the job.

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