Michigan State's shortcomings are readily apparent in loss to Washington

Seattle — If you’re looking for total domination, you would have found it Saturday night at Husky Stadium.

The scoreboard said it was a fairly tight game, Washington knocking off No. 11 Michigan State, 39-28. And give credit to the Spartans for that — showing some fight in the second half and at least making the home crowd a little uneasy in the fourth quarter.

But a true analysis of what took place Saturday night shows one team in complete control, the other scrambling from start to finish.

From the opening kick, it was Washington (3-0) that was in control, scoring on four of its five first-half possessions with the only one that came up short ending when the Huskies were stopped on fourth down inside the Michigan State 2. But even that didn’t matter as Washington stuffed MSU running back Jarek Broussard on the next play for a safety and was back in the end zone roughly two minutes after that.

By halftime Washington was up, 29-8, and had outgained Michigan State, 322-90.

“There’s no excuses, no explanations,” Michigan State coach Mel Tucker said. “We give Washington credit. They're very well coached and they outplayed us today in all three phases.”

On a day Michigan State (2-1) was hoping to make a statement, much like it did in Week 3 last season when it won on the road against Miami, the Spartans got stomped by a familiar foe who picked apart a defense that never looked in sync.

Quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who inflicted his share of pain on Michigan State in the past during his time at Indiana, was nearly unstoppable, going 24-for-40 for 397 yards and four touchdowns. He connected for three touchdowns with Ja’Lynn Polk, who had six receptions for 153 yards. Wayne Taulapapa added a touchdown catch for the Huskies while Cameron Davis added a 1-yard touchdown run.

The Huskies finished with 503 total yards and earned their first win over a ranked Power Five nonconference opponent at home since beating Michigan to open the 2001 season, and the fans celebrated by rushing the field.

“We had a matchup issue they took advantage of,” Tucker said. “It was obvious and it showed up early in the game. We knew it was going to be a game about explosives. If you look at their drives in the first two games, almost all of their scoring drives included explosive gains and we knew that we needed to eliminate explosive gains. We weren't able to do that. It just was a deal where it's too easy to score when you give up big chunks.”

BOX SCORE: Washington 39, Michigan State 28

What, precisely, was the matchup problem Tucker wouldn’t say. But at halftime, Justin White replaced Chester Kimbrough at nickelback.

“We weren't able to get the rush,” Tucker said, “and then from a coverage standpoint, it wasn't just one position or one guy. It was kind of across the board.”

The Spartans entered the game leading the nation in sacks but didn’t record one on Saturday. That allowed Washington to control time of possession in the first half and keep the MSU offense off the field, not that the Spartans played well there, either.

Michigan State managed one good drive in the first half but ran for only 42 yards.

Most of the production came from quarterback Payton Thorne, who was 30-for-42 for 323 yards and three touchdowns. Two of the scoring strikes went to Keon Coleman (9 catches, 116 yards) and the third to Tre Mosley. Elijah Collins added a 1-yard touchdown run.

Michigan State made things interesting late in the game as it got a touchdown from Collins and a Coleman scoring catch from Thorne. The Spartans failed to convert an onside kick but got the ball back and moved near midfield, down 11, but a failed fourth-down conversion allowed Washington to milk the clock from there.

“We pride ourselves in our programs that we're never going to give up,” said Thorne, who took several big hits. “I think that people that watch us, they can say that. So, that's something that we want to do every week and every year that we play. We want to say that we’ve got a resilient team and I think that we have that this year. I think we showed that and played till the end.”

It wasn’t the end that was the issue.

It didn’t take long for Washington to get rolling, scoring on the opening drive then adding a safety when its next possession ended near the goal line. Two more touchdowns came before the Michigan State offense settled in and produced a 75-yard drive, complete with a pair of fourth-down conversions. The Spartans pulled within 22-8 when Thorne hit Coleman for a 7-yard score and then for a two-point conversion.

But Washington responded by cruising down the field in 1:18 to take a 29-8 lead on Penix’s second TD pass to Polk with four seconds to play in the half.

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“We knew there were going to be big plays and we wanted to limit that as much as possible,” MSU linebacker Cal Haladay said. “That didn't happen the way we wanted to. But they did a great job.”

Michigan State scored on the opening drive of the second half when Thorne connected with Mosley on a 26-yard touchdown pass on fourth down. But a missed two-point conversion was deflating as Washington scored just 57 seconds later on a 53-yard strike from Penix to Polk.

The Huskies added a field goal with 9:19 to play and Collins added his touchdown run with 6:51 to play to pull the Spartans within 39-20. Thorne then hit Coleman with a 33-yard touchdown with 5:17 to play and hit him again for the two-point conversion to make it an 11-point game, but the comeback ended when Michigan State failed to convert on fourth down with just more than two minutes to play.

“When you don't play complementary football, you just can't beat a good team,” Tucker said. “It’s tough when you get the ball and you’re not able to do anything with it. But on the other side of it, you got to get them stopped, too. It works hand in hand.”

None of it, however, worked on Saturday.

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau