​Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch looks at Michigan State football’s game against Washington. When: 4:16 p.m. Saturday. Where: Spartan Stadium. TV: Big Ten Network. Betting line: Washington -3.5.1. Coming down from the cloudsThis Michigan State football team has shown it can get off the mat time and time again. How about coming down out of the clouds after your first moment of joy in months? Or getting off the mat when you’re drunk with happiness? That’s the challenge for the Spartans this week against Washington. Pat Fitzgerald’s program passed its first test against Michigan. What made Mark Dantonio successful beyond owning his rivals was his record the week after games against Michigan and Ohio State. This week is less a test of resolve for the Spartans and more one of maturity and focus. MSU is tied for 19th nationally in fewest penalties at 4.89 per game. That’s one area that’ll be a tell as to whether the Spartans are dialed in.2. Repeating the performance It’s not just that MSU beat Michigan. It’s how the Spartans won — by being the physically superior team at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, by being efficient and poised at quarterback, and elusive at receiver, by running hard with the ball and taking care of it, by getting after the opposing quarterback and creating turnovers. A number of MSU players raised their level or at least played one of their best games. As Fitzgerald said, they’ve put that standard on tape. Now they’ve got to meet it again. It’s one thing to fall short because you’re not capable of more. But we saw more last week in Ann Arbor. That should be the expectation, even if it’s a different matchup (especially Washington’s offense), so it won’t look the same.3. Who is this Washington team?The Huskies are a hard team to get a read on. They’ve lost at home to Minnesota, been pummeled at home by Iowa, dominated Purdue on the road and beat Nebraska in Lincoln. They’ve been better at times without starting quarterback Demond Williams Jr. He’s listed as questionable on the availability report this week with a rib injury, though on Monday coach Jedd Fisch said Williams was good to go. Washington can be explosive offensively, mostly through the air, and yet the Huskies are the worst team in the conference at protecting the quarterback. Defensively, this is a slightly below average Big Ten team, one that’s taken a step back from a year ago. But here and there, the Huskies have looked pretty good overall. 4. A different kind of challenge for the SpartansAt Michigan, the Spartans were facing an inept offense that lacked confidence and creativity, and a defense that had been one of the more menacing units in the Big Ten. This week, they’ll be up a passing attack that’s had some good days and, two of the last three games, a rushing attack that’s has netted more than five yards per carry. Success for the Spartans defense is unlikely to be a shutout deep in the fou