Pro Football Focus Grades for Michigan State's loss at Iowa
Find out which Spartans earned a passing grade despite the heartbreaking loss
The Michigan State Spartans once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, this time in Iowa City. The Spartans led for most of the second half, but a late flurry and a walk-off field goal as time expired resulted in the eighth consecutive loss for the Green and White.
As we have done since the beginning of the season, let's take a quick look at the grades for each player as compiled by Pro Football Focus (PFF) to better understand what went well and what went poorly in in the loss to the Hawkeyes, starting with the offense.
Table 1: Pro Football Focus snap counts and grades for the offense for Michigan State in the Week 13 loss at Iowa
Last week the Spartans were only able to play five offensive linemen against Penn State, and all five guys took 100% of the snaps. Against Iowa, guard Gavin Broscious was once again available to split time with Caleb Carter. Broscious took a total of 28 snaps while Carter took 43. The remaining four linemen each took all 70 snaps on offense.
A total of four Spartans graded out over 70.0 on offense and all four played skill positions. Leading the way in Iowa City was the tight end room. Michael Masunas (79.3) and Jack Velling (78.7) earned the two highest scores overall thanks to passing game grades over 80.0. That said, both players graded out poorly in run blocking. Masunas received a score of 49.2 in this subject while Velling scored a 55.1.
Wide receiver Chrishon McCray (74.7) and quarterback Alessio Milivojevic (73.4) were the other two members of the top four. By contrast, two of the four lowest graded Spartans on offense were wide receivers Nick Marsh (52.9) and Omari Kelly (52.8).
The other two players in the bottom four this week were guards Rakeem Johnson (52.8) and Carter (53.7). But the other four members of the offensive line also struggled. Right tackle Conner Moore (60.3) had the highest overall grade followed by Matt Gulbin (58.6), Broscious (57.8), and Rustin Young (54.0).
Broscious (85.8) and Gulbin (78.6) both got good grades in pass blocking and Young earned a respectable grade of 63.2. But Moore (58.9) struggled a bit and Carter (32) and Johnson (30) struggled even more.
None of the lineman scored above 60 in run blocking. Moore (59.1) had the best grade in this subject with Young (48.1) brought up the rear.
Now let's turn to the defense:
