Hoyer threw two touchdown passes — his first since the season opener — and completed 14-of-26 passes despite numerous drops by his wide receivers. The senior captain also added a rushing touchdown on a quarterback sneak and played a mistake-free game, holding onto the football and throwing no interceptions.

MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said he hopes to see continued success in the passing game, but emphasized success must come from the running game first.

“I think the pass game is always going to open up when you can run the football, that goes for everybody,” Dantonio said.

“When you’re one-dimensional in any way you’re going to have problems at some point, so we need to continue to stay balanced.”

Position of strength

Before the season even started, it looked as though the safety position would be an area of concern for MSU.

After junior Roderick Jenrette, who was slated as the starter at free safety, left the team in August for personal reasons, senior Kendell Davis-Clark moved from cornerback to safety.

After Davis-Clark suffered a shoulder injury in the season opener, junior Danny Fortener negated all concerns, thriving in the starting role by ranking second on the team with 29 tackles.

As of Tuesday, Davis-Clark was listed on the depth chart as the No. 2 free safety. Although Dantonio hasn’t said what will happen when Davis-Clark is fully healthy, he did say having a defensive back who can play safety and cornerback is a “luxury.”

“When things happen, sometimes you start to look at a position and say, ‘Hey, we need to move this guy, we need to move that guy,’ and it becomes a little bit of an area of concern,” Dantonio said of what happened when Jenrette initially left.

“We’ve addressed that area by moving Kendell in there, Fortener’s gotten a lot of reps and played very well, Otis (Wiley) has obviously played very well, for the most part of the season, so it now becomes a position of strength.”

Expanding his role

Quietly, freshman wide receiver Keshawn Martin led the Spartans with three receptions against Indiana. Dantonio said if the freshman continues his progress, his role on the team could expand.

“He caught some balls this past week, which shows me he has some ability, he definitely has ability down the field,” Dantonio said.

“We’ll definitely look to expand his role, as well as continue (the rest of the receivers).”