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Instant Reactions: Rutgers @ No. 11 Michigan State

Eleventh-ranked Michigan State piles up 520 yards of total offense in sending out its seniors with a 45-3 victory over Rutgers on Senior Day at Spartan Stadium.

Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

With its hopes of repeating as Big Ten champions officially gone after Ohio State dispatched of Indiana, let's focus on the positives in the aftermath of No. 11 Michigan State's victory over Rutgers.

Perhaps the best offense in school history was at it again on a cloudy and cold Saturday afternoon in Spartan Stadium as Connor Cook and company topped the 40-point mark for the sixth time this season en route to routing Rutgers, 45-3.

After Cook fumbled on the Spartans' opening possession, he led the offense to score five consecutive TDs on the next five series as the Spartans raced out to a 35-0 lead.

Cook threw for a modest 254 yards, which included a 30-yard TD to Tony Lippett in the first quarter and a 7-yard TD pass to R.J. Shelton shortly before halftime, while Jeremy Langford and Nick Hill each celebrated their respective Senior Days with two touchdown runs apiece.

Langford eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark yet again, finishing with 126 yards on 16 carries, and Hill churned out 59 yards on 12 carries as 242 of Michigan State's 520 total yards came on the ground.

Kurtis Drummond, Riley Bullough and Arjen Colquhoun all came down with interceptions for Pat Narduzzi's defense, which held the Scarlet Knights to just a Kyle Federico 44-yard field goal late in the third and just 234 total yards.

All in all, just another day at the office for Mark Dantonio and his Spartans, who will look to claim the program's fourth 10-win season in the last five years next week with a victory over Penn State in State College, Pa.

It's disappointing knowing Michigan State won't be playing for a chance to win a second straight Big Ten title in Indianapolis Dec. 6. Suppose we have Maryland and Rutgers to blame for that as if the conference had stayed at 12 teams through this season, Ohio State wouldn't have been on its the regular-season schedule.

Had that been the case, Ohio State and Michigan State would have been looking at a rematch from last season's 34-24 Michigan State victory at Lucas Oil Stadium.

But that's obviously not the reality in which we all live in, so a fourth 10-win season in five years and about a month off until a bowl game is what awaits with a victory next week in Happy Valley.

And that's not all that bad when you think about it.