It was not the opening performance we were hoping for against a non-Power 4 opponent
It’s a Beeeautifulll Dayyy for Foootballll!!! and our Michigan State Spartans hosted the Florida Atlantic Owls this evening in East Lansing. This was the first matchup between these two football programs since Kirk Cousins broke the Owls’ back in 2012 in a shutout victory.
There has been a ton of speculation on what each of these teams could do this year – Tom Herman’s second after a 4-win 2023, and Jonathan Smith’s first at the helm of the home team. The Owls’ offense was speculated to not be terrible this year with a new transfer QB and stout running backs possibly making things interesting for a few games. The Spartans, as you know, have 61 new players on the roster, mostly new coaches, new playbooks on offense and defense, and a lot of talent – some of which was squandered in prior seasons. Rebuilding indeed – but most gave a pretty strong edge to MSU in this one. The Spartans won, but hopefully someone took the over on penalty yards.
We won’t normally need to cover the pregame, but Coach Jonathan Smith’s got our boys in green started, and the alumni stomping, on the right foot with a couple of much appreciated touches… the classic look Green Helmet with White Spartan Logo/Green Jersey/White Pants combo under the lights. He also brought back “Thunderstruck” for the revamped team’s emergence from the tunnel. As the crowd finished pretending AC/DC has any other remotely decent songs and that they wouldn’t have minded ‘Swag Surfin’ except for the Tucker association, FAU entered. From somewhere in the student section a clever freshman shouted, “Who?” and high-fived no one around him.
The stands were slow to fill up, and for good reason – with a new regime and new quarterback, losing the coin toss wasn’t enough – a pick needed to be sacrificed on the first play of the game.
A collective breath was drawn and most Spartan fans would disagree with the call. Though the defense came through with a sack by Bogle to secure the three and out.
Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK
That seemed to be a theme emerging for the game – defense standing solid as the offense finds its footing. Who would have thought that a season or two ago?
The second series showed promise after a wrong-direction-predictable run to Carter to start. But Chiles hit Alante Brown for 15, followed by a not great naked keeper before a PI call against Glover’s defender gave the field position a boost. A couple of pulling linemen got Carter an additional 13 on a good looking play, but going right back to him for small yards and a failed QB draw led to a punt. A beautiful one to the one, but an unhoped for punt nonetheless.
On the plus side, that kick put MSU´s defense in great position to score and D’Quan Douse took advantage, recording a safety.
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Alante Brown took the ensuing kickoff to the 46 and looks to be a solid option for kick returns.
OC Lindgren called an impressive drive, with a deep shot to Foster just off the fingertips, a bullet to Marsh a few plays later and a couple of shots to Masunas, including a 22 yard gain. But I think most Spartan fans disagreed with the decision to call a fumble by Foster inside the red zone.
The defense looked good on the next series – staying home on a weird reverse, and ending FAU’s series with a pick. Though getting drawn into a couple of penalties by Fancher’s late slide – including a costly loss of Malik Spencer to targeting for the rest of the game was not ideal. Fancher would continue to slide in attempts to draw penalties a few more times throughout the game, with his final one short of the line of gain, to his team’s detriment.
The next series was short, with a miss of Foster on a long-developing route and a miss of Alante Brown on a hot route.
But again the defense stepped up as Nikai Martinez grabbed a pick and 35-yard return when it was his turn back on the field.
The MSU offense got its scoring going with Chiles running for the short TD on a draw, just after an early whistle from the far side of the field short-changed Kay’ron Lynch-Adams on his hit-and-scamper into the end zone.
The D again looked up to the next challenge with a TFL for Halladay and a three-and-out overall thanks to an effort-play stop by Martinez again as he subbed in for Spencer in the safety spot.
The offense looked really good on its next play – a one-play 63-yard rush drive by Kay’ron Lynch-Adams. Up the gut behind some excellent blocking by Tanner Miller, it looked like the offense was settling into a groove.
Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK
The D looked to match energy, despite some fancy Fancher slides, and kept FAU out of the end zone. The Owls grabbed a field goal.
The 7th series for the offense started with a shott gain by Carter and a completion to Velling, though not in stride and he needed to go down to collect it. A couple of disconnects with Glover, who got a lot of run in this game, led to another punt. This time, special teams rolled through the returner at the 10.
When the MSU D came back out, FAU managed to gash for 9 yards to get to the 2 minute warning… er, TV timeout. They completed a few passes, but Bogle again came through on 3rd and 2 with a TFL which basically took us to halftime.
The third quarter started with Fancher connecting on a couple more passes, a PI call, and an escape into the red zone. Though this time Talley and Bogle combined to almost, quite literally, rip Fancher’s head off – though they only got his helmet on the sack, setting up a field goal miss for FAU.
MSU responded on offense with a couple of missed passes to Carter, a snap infraction, Chiles scramble, and a 61 yard punt by Eckley. Do I hear a Heisman calling? (too soon?) Fortunately the 48 yard run back on the punt was called back due to excessive tickling – either that or a block in the back, not sure as the ref’s mic was still on the fritz and my lip reading is terrible.
Talley made another play in the QB’s face to help ring up another three-and-out for the D on the next series. Which led to a couple more short runs for Carter, but at least one had a silky smooth hurdle. But No, announcer person, he’s not Le’veon yet.
Chiles hit Aziah Johnson on a nice move during his rollout to move deep into the red zone. Unfortunately, the FAU defender on a next play read the telegraph to Foster, jumped the route and took the pick 58 yards.
FAU did eventually put the ball in the endzone on the ensuing series. Good for them. I didn’t like it. We’ll just say that D’Quan Douse picked up a facemask penalty somewhere along the line and let them have their points.
Rolling into the 4th Quarter, Foster nabbed a catch before the break. While Tanner Miller and Aiden Chiles teamed up for a quick snap and free play with a shot at Glover down the sideline – which drew a PI of its own.
Kay’ron looked really good on this series – with a run of 10 following Miller, another gash of 14, then 4. Then Carter for no gain, then Kay’ron right into a blitz for a loss on 4th and 1 and turnover on downs. Booo. The points would have lowered collective blood pressures for the rest of the 4th quarter. At least FAU did the same on their own series – went for it on 4th with MSU’s Anthony Jones notching the sack.
The remaining offensive series for MSU were pretty unremarkable as far as results, but they did show a couple of things. Chiles has some freedom to play aggressive, but some discussion may come this week about tucking the ball and running for minor yardage – especially if he and the receivers aren’t yet in sync on what they need to do when he scrambles. Or, just planting his feet and driving the ball. The team continued to hand Carter the ball – but for the game Lynch-Adams looked much more the part, even going over 100 yards on 9 carries while Nate hovered around 48 on 19. We’ll see how this competition continues to develop over the season. The offense looked really crisp at times, and a little too lax at others. The line was passable. No doubt Chiles has what it takes to do some really good things in this league – but getting on the same page as his receivers is going to require a bit more focused work in the weeks ahead. And will make all the difference in the world.
The defense looked much more prepared for this game – not perfect by a long shot, but good enough to cover for offensive mistakes. With 7 sacks, 10 TFL, and two INTs… the team has potential. The 12 penalties for 140 yards, though, killed opportunities. Granted, FAU QB Cam Fancher’s “unorthodox” slide contributed to a bunch of those – but the mental mistakes overall need to get cleaned up.
Special Teams – well, Eckley is the Guy now… or at least should be, let’s see if another Spartan punter gets hosed on that award at year-end.
Photo by Adam Ruff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
We’ll take the win. We all would have liked to have seen more from the offense. However, let’s give a cheer for Jonathan Smith’s first win and a decent start to the program rebuild. Not much time to celebrate, let’s see what the team can clean up before UMd next weekend (and there’s a lot to choose from).
Go Green!