Ohio State crushes Michigan State, proving gap hasn't narrowed

East Lansing It might be tough to admit less than a year removed from an 11-win season that featured a player in the Heisman Trophy race, but Michigan State is starting to look like a defeated team.

It was on full display Saturday as No. 3 Ohio State walked into Spartan Stadium and administered a beating not all that different than the one it handed out last season. This time around, the final score was a bit closer as the Buckeyes jumped on the Spartans early before cruising to a 49-20 victory.

The numbers, once again, were tough to stomach for Spartan fans. Ohio State piled up 614 total yards to just 202 for Michigan State. Quarterback C.J. Stroud was nearly unstoppable, again, going 21-for-26 for 361 yards and six touchdowns.

Combined with the fact Michigan State ran for just 7 yards and mustered minus-12 total yards in the third quarter, it was easy to see why the shoulders slumped a little sooner and the fight waned more than it has at any point during Michigan State’s four-game skid.

“Obviously, very disappointed in the outcome of the game,” Michigan State coach Mel Tucker said. “We’re just very, very disappointed in the outcome. Obviously, I'm not real happy right now.”

It was a common theme around the Spartans’ locker room, only lessened some by the fact freshman safety Jaden Mangham was back with the team by the end of the game, escaping serious injury after he was in a first-quarter collision with Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson left him motionless on the field before being taken off on a stretcher.

Mangham was checked out at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing and released.

BOX SCORE: Ohio State 49, Michigan State 20

“It was one of those things where your heart stops,” defensive end Jacoby Windmon said. “You never know how that situation could have turned out. But God had his back and it was a great thing to see him come back.”

That was about it for good news for the Spartans (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten). Despite getting its first interception of the season, one that Charles Brantley returned 32 yards for a touchdown, the defense had no answers for the Buckeyes.

Stroud had plenty of help as the Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0) came up short of the 655 total yards they gained in last season’s blowout. Marvin Harrison Jr. had seven catches for 131 yards with three touchdowns while Emeka Egbuka had five receptions for 143 yards and a touchdown. Julian Fleming and Gee Scott Jr. added touchdown receptions while TreVeyon Henderson ran for 118 yards and one touchdown.

“It didn't start exactly the way we wanted on offense and nobody panicked at all,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “I thought for the first half of that third quarter as well and maybe (late) into that third quarter, I just think overall we played good football on the road. Certainly not perfect, and we got a little sloppy in the fourth quarter, but we just wanted to get some guys out of the game and make sure that we got to the bye week as healthy as we could.”

Michigan State had few answers as it was outgained 429-117 in the first half, and by the time quarterback Payton Thorne was pulled late in the third quarter, that total had gone down to 102 yards.

Thorne did throw a touchdown pass to Jayden Reed in the first half and Charles Brantley returned an interception — the first of the season for the Michigan State defense — 32 yards for a touchdown, but that was about it as the Spartans totaled only 202 yards, including just 7 rushing yards.

Thorne was pulled late in third quarter for Noah Kim, who threw a touchdown pass to Montorie Foster with just less than six minutes to go. Thorne weas 11-for-18 for 113 yards and was hit often, getting sacked four times.

“I don't really know how to answer that one,” he said when asked how he was doing. “I'm not good. You know, frustrated, upset about how things are going. And I hate losing, a lot. And to lose four games in a row, that's not something I feel like I've ever really done, to be honest with you, in any sport. So it’s frustrating and it's tough and there's a lot of question marks right now, but all we can do is work. All we can do is show up tomorrow with the right attitude and move forward together.”

The game didn’t start exactly as it did a year ago, but the first half was still dominated by Ohio State as the Buckeyes gained 429 total yards and scored on five of six possession, its punter never needing to come off the sidelines.

Stroud did make one mistake, throwing the interception to Brantley for Michigan State’s first touchdown. But that was it as Stroud was 15-for-18 for 285 yards and four touchdowns, connecting twice with Harrison while finding Fleming for a 51-yard scoring strike and Egbuka on a 69-yard touchdown pass. Henderson added a 26-yard touchdown run while gaining 117 yards in the first half.

Michigan State managed only 4 rushing yards in the first half while Thorne was sacked twice. He did hit Reed for an 18-yard touchdown in the second quarter, but the point after was missed by Jack Stone and any potential momentum was lost.

“It’s the little things that we did wrong,” center Nick Samac said of the feeble rushing attack. “Yes, it’s frustrating. You want to get more than 7 rushing yards. That's not good. That's horrible. So we’ve got to continue to get better and keep fighting and work on those things as a unit and continue to get better.”

The second half was more of the same as Ohio State added third-quarter touchdown receptions from Harrison and Scott. The Spartans were held to minus-12 total yards in the third quarter as the Buckeyes took away any chance at Michigan State mounting a comeback.

Michigan State managed to put together a fourth-quarter scoring drive as Kim hit Foster with a 25-yard touchdown pass to pull within 49-20 with 5:40 left.

“I think the first thing is that togetherness, and moving forward together,” Thorne said. “I feel like we've been doing that and now we are going to have another test of that. It's going to be another week with another outcome that we are looking to have. So we're together and all working for the common good, and the common good is we need a win. We’re going to have to do things a little bit better than we've been doing them, obviously. But we’ve got a good Wisconsin team coming in and we've got to get our team ready for that.”

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau