Each week, AnnArbor.com will have a chat with a beat writer/radio personality from the team Michigan is facing to get a feel for what's going on in Kalamazoo, South Bend or Champaign.

This week, Lansing State Journal Michigan State beat reporter Joe Rexrode joined us to chat Michigan-Michigan State. Check in with him at the State Journal and on his blog, 'Hey Joe.'

Michael Rothstein: So what’s going on with Michigan State?

Joe Rexrode: “Great question. A lot of things, and not many of them good. The biggest thing is obviously the defense and more specifically the secondary. This was supposed to be the strength of the team, the defense was supposed to carry the offense early while the offense got the quarterbacks and running backs figured out and instead the offense is giving this team its only chance to compete in games and the defense has been horrid. It’s hard to figure because most of these guys in the secondary played significant snaps last year and were productive and were pretty solid in most games. But something is missing. Otis Wiley is gone, that’s true, and they have changed some things. Danny Fortener was a good player last year and he hasn’t played much this year. They have some younger guys at safety. But for some reason it isn’t meshing. The communication isn’t there and they are getting beat deep and are giving up the eight-yard, wide open out pattern to the tight end on 3rd-and-6. So, it just, and they are getting no pass rush so it’s not fair to put it totally on those guys but without any sort of pass rush without heavy blitzing, you’re going to have trouble in the back end.”

MR: How do you envision Michigan State being able to win this game? What do they have to do?

JR: “Well, I think what they need to do, first of all, is build on one thing did well at points in the Wisconsin game, which was run the ball straight at Wisconsin with Glenn Winston leading the way. He was powerful in that game on a few carries, they put together some drives. I think they can do that against Michigan. They haven’t been able to do that much this year but quietly that part of their game is coming along. And if they get Joel Foreman back as expected, then they will have the best offensive line they’ve had all year with (Joel) Nitchman back at center. You have to control clock. They are last in the Big Ten in time of possession. You have to keep (Michigan’s) offense off the field and if you can run the ball, then your play-action stuff is going to work and Michigan, I think, is vulnerable in the secondary other than Donovan Warren. So it starts with, and in a way it’s an old fashioned thing, can you run the ball at Michigan. I think they have to.”

MR: With what has gone on the past two of three weeks with last-second losses, how close is this team to just unraveling a little bit?

JR: “I think the first signs of unraveling would have come early in the fourth quarter against Wisconsin, down 24-17, they had a third-and-long, blitz doesn’t work, Kendell Davis-Clark gives up an easy touchdown on a seam route. Then they fumble and give up another quick touchdown and they competed in that game until then. At that point they were obviously blown out of that game. I was down on the sideline after that looking around because you can pick a lot of stuff up walking around behind the sideline. I didn’t see a lot of people pointing fingers. Obviously everybody was down, but that game has to test them right now. If they come out and have some tough plays early, fall behind, you can see where things can get really ugly here.”

MR: When you look at their quarterback situation (with Kirk Cousins and Keith Nichol splitting time) are you surprised with how it’s gone? Is this how you thought it was going to go?

JR: “I thought by now there’d be one guy and he’d be playing. Or, that both would be playing so well that it just makes sense to just go back-and-forth. But I am surprised that they are still, frankly, not just going with Cousins. There are a wide variety of opinions on that, even in the press corps. Some people think they should just go with Cousins. To me, in the pro-style offense that they run, Cousins right now is absolutely better than Nichol. He reads defenses, gets rid of the ball quicker. Nichol brings that running element but I’m surprised that, for example, at Wisconsin, they scored, Cousins finally got into a rhythm, got the game tied. Then Wisconsin scores and they go with Nichol. He throws a pick and Wisconsin scores again and its 21-7 and then they go back to Cousins. There’s some indecision there and they really need to, in my opinion, go with Cousins.”

MR: How much have teams focused on linebacker Greg Jones? Are teams really taking him out of games despite all those tackles?

JR: “They’ve done a good job, Notre Dame and Wisconsin both, with the more power offense, at least they set up the pass with the run, I think he’s obviously been a focus because the other linebackers have not been playing very well. So, yeah, they’ve done a good job. He’s made a lot of tackles the past two weeks but really he’s made a lot of tackles where guys are six yards downfield and he’s grabbing their ankles. Teams have done a better job of controlling him. But granted, he blitzes a lot. He’s almost like a defensive end on this team because they have so little pass rush at this point. They are sending him a lot. A lot. But in the run game, teams the last two weeks have done a pretty decent job of getting in front of him. But he’s still a great player and making most of the plays out there.”