By Pat Harty

The Iowa offense, even with one of the most dynamic and productive running backs in the country leading the way, continues to be a slow and frustrating work in progress as shown in Saturday’s 32-20 loss at Michigan State.

But this costly defeat had as much to do oddly enough with the shortcomings on defense.

Phil Parker’s crew just didn’t have it as Iowa allowed 468 yards against what had been a mediocre Spartan offense.

And while it certainly didn’t help that Iowa played without All-America safety Sebastian Castro due to an ankle injury, Michigan State controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides for most of the game.

The Spartans used a balanced attack to shred the vaunted Iowa defense, passing for 256 yards and rushing for 212 yards.

They also never punted and held Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson mostly in check.

The nation’s second leading rusher finally broke loose for the latest in his growing list of breakaway touchdown runs, this one from 75 yards with 7 minutes, 22 seconds left to play (25-20), making it a one-possession game.

But it would prove to be too little and too late as the Iowa defense couldn’t keep the Spartans from scoring a game-clinching touchdown after Michigan State had settled for six Jonathan Kim field goals prior to that point.

Iowa falls to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten and now has no chance of making the 12 team college playoff.

Up next is Northwestern at home next Saturday.

Optimism had been restored with Iowa’s 40-16 win over Washington last Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

But from the very start of the Michigan State game, Iowa seemed a step slow and failed to hold its own in the trenches.

Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara had a few positive moments in the second half after having performed horribly in the first half.

But he only passed for 150 yards, while Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles passed for 256 yards and ran for 51 yards.

McNamara also threw an interception in the fourth quarter that forced Iowa to keep playing catch up, but with time running out.

The first half was absolutely brutal for Iowa in so many ways as Michigan State controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides and held Iowa to just 58 yards, including 28 rushing yards.

Kaleb Johnson carried seven times for 15 yards in the first half, while the Spartans rushed for 118 yards in the first two quarters, which nearly matched their 120.2 per-game average.

Michigan State gained 250 yards in the first half, but failed to score any touchdowns, instead settling for four Jonathan Kim field goals and a 12-0 lead at the break.

As bad as Iowa had performed on both offense and defense in the first half, the outcome still was very much in doubt heading into the third quarter.

Kirk Ferentz has been loyal to McNamara, but you had to wonder at halftime if Ferentz would be willing to give Sullivan a chance beyond red zone packages,

McNamara only completed 3-of-9 passes for 30 yards in the first half and showed no threat to run coming off two straight season-ending knee surgeries.

But Iowa would start the second half on offense with a chance to make it a one possession game by scoring a touchdown.

McNamara and his offensive cohorts were up to the challenge as Iowa scored its first points on an 18-yard touchdown pass from McNamara to freshman Reece Vander Zee to start the third quarter.

Backup quarterback Brendan Sullivan also scored on a two-yard run with 49 seconds left in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to just five points (19-14) with Drew Stevens’ point-after kick.

McNamara threw for 85 yards in the third quarter, which ended with Iowa trailing 19-14, but also with Iowa re-energized on offense.

Kim then made his fifth field goal in the game, this one from 55 yards with 11:52 left in the fourth quarter, giving Michigan State a 22-14 lead.

Iowa had less than a quarter to erase an eight-point deficit, which was daunting enough, but that challenge became even more difficult when McNamara threw an interception.

Iowa 0 0 14 6 – 20

Michigan State  6 6 7 13 – 32

MS – Jonathan Kim 42 FG

MS – Kim 43 FG

MS – Kim 36 FG

MS – Kim 29 FG

I – Reese Vander Zee 18 pass from Cade McNamara (Drew Stevens kick)

MS – Montorie Foster 18 pas from Aidan Chiles (Kim kick)

I – Brendan Sullivan 2 run (Stevens kick)

MS – Kim 55 FG

MS – Kim 46 FG

I – Kaleb Johnson  75 run (pass failed)

MS – Nate Carter 1 run (Kim kick)