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Many people felt that Ohio State's biggest challenge this season would be coming from East Lansing (Mich.) rather than Ann Arbor (Mich.) but things just did not work out that way with the Spartans of Michigan State. A rather flat season opener against Utah State was followed up by a loss on the road at Arizona State and the Spartan hopes of the College Football Playoff died more or less in the desert.

Mark Dantonio's squad has bounced back to a decent measure with a stout defense but the offense has been a work in progress as key injuries have kept the team in green and white from finding much rhythm on offense all season long. Running back LJ Scott has missed significant time and really has never seemed to be completely healthy and then the Spartans lost receiver Felton Davis for the season and when Davis went to the sideline, so did most of Michigan State's offensive output.

In fact, Michigan State has not broken through the 24-point barrier since its win against Central Michigan and and while the Spartans have won three of their last four games, it has been with an average offensive output of less than 23 points in those wins and that was coupled with a seven point outing against the Wolverines in a game that Michigan State could not get anything going.

So much of the Michigan State success has been predicated by its run defense and if you take the games against Penn State (allowed 205 rush yards) and Michigan (allowed 183 rush yards) off the table, the Spartans are giving up less than 37 rush yards per game the rest of the way and an average rush of 1.5 yards per carry. Of course you cannot pick and choose which games you want to count and which games you don't, but it does go to show you that Michigan State has denied most of the rank-and-file teams on its schedule an opportunity to get things going on the ground.

What else do we know about the Spartans and what makes them tick? This is a team that may see players change on the roster but they don't really change 'what they do'. And with that, we are going to the Tale of the Tape to try and figure out more about Ohio State's next opponent in advance of Saturday's game (12:00pm EST - FOX).

Ohio State certainly found someone that it needs to get on the field with Brendon White after fate intervened and forced the Buckeyes to go deeper on the bench than expected with the ejection of Jordan Fuller due to targeting against Nebraska. Fuller will be back this week but it would be safe to say that the lineup may look like Fuller and White starting at safety with Isaiah Pryor, who missed last week due to injury, as the third safety and Shaun Wade moving back to the nickel position, a place where he shined in past weeks. Of course, that is just speculation and we won't know until we know. The secondary as a whole has been plagued with injuries with guys like Jeffrey Okudah and Damon Arnette each missing time with injuries as well this season. Urban Meyer feels like everyone should be healthy this week and it might be the first time in a long time that the Buckeyes have everyone at their disposal to play. It sometimes is difficult to get a read on what the Spartans are going to do from week-to-week, and that is not a case of the team changing who they are, but there are some more pass-heavy weeks and other times it is more run-heavy. Against Purdue two weeks ago, Michigan State threw for more than 300 yards and two touchdowns, and this was still post-Felton Davis injury, proving that there is still reason to respect the pass from Michigan State, even with their biggest receiving playmaker shelved for the remainder of the season. The Buckeyes are going to have to build upon a few wins last week against Nebraska and not give up any ground as this defense continues to work toward fixing the issues that have been there all season long. A big step in the right direction will be solid tackling as the Buckeyes cannot allow the Spartans to gain any extra yards after the catch.

The 2018 edition of quarterback Brian Lewerke has not been the one that fans of the Spartans had hoped to see this season. He is completing passes at a 56-percent clip and has as many interceptions as he has touchdown passes (eight) and is only averaging 218 yards per game via the air. Against Michigan, Lewerke only completed five passes and against Maryland he completed 11. He has not thrown for more than two touchdowns in any game this season and has been sacked 16 times. His understudy, Rocky Lombardi played well against Purdue in a game where he threw for 318 yards on 26-46 passing and had two touchdowns in that contest but this is still Lewerke's team but it would not be shocking to see both quarterbacks used in this game if Lewerke is ineffective. Where does this offense go without Felton Davis? Davis is still the leader of the team in receptions (31), yards (474) and touchdowns (4) despite being out the last two weeks. Darrell Stewart is next up with 24 grabs while Cody White leads the team with 320 yards, at least in active players. Jalen Nailor is sitting with two touchdowns along with White and those two are the only two with more than one touchdown grab on the year. Keep an eye on Connor Heyward (Cameron's little brother) in the passing game, he is tied for third on the team with 22 receptions and while he is not a home-run threat within the pass offense, he has been able to make a key play or two to keep drives alive as a receiver as he leads the team in rushing as well (more on that in a second).