It was a great night for football in East Lansing, with the kickoff temperature at 63 degrees and the student section jammed well before the 7 PM start. The Western Michigan Broncos received the opening kick and the game started with an emphatic thump on the kickoff return as MSU stonewalled the Bronco return man at the 15.
The MSU defense trotted onto the field and the Spartans opened in a 4-2-5 defense. The announced starters were Quindarius Dunnigan, Alex VanSumeren, Ben Roberts, and Isaac Smith on the line, Wayne Matthews III and Jordan Hall as the linebackers, and a secondary of Malcolm Bell and Joshua Eaton at the corners, Ade Willie as the nickel, and Armorion Smith and Malik Spencer at safety. Quite some variation from our preview series, but MSU ended up playing a lot of their depth in this game.
Unfortunately, the first play from scrimmage was a beautiful pass by Brady Jones for 35 yards up the left numbers. Eaton was in coverage. Two plays later, WMU picked up another 1st down through the air on a rollout. The Spartan defense finally shored up when WMU tried three straight running plays, and that forced a 4th down attempt from the 26, and Ade Willie came up with the pass breakup to cause the turnover-on-downs.
The starting offensive line for the Green & White was, from left, Stanton Ramil, Gavin Broscious, Matt Gulbin, Caleb Carter, and Conner Moore. At the skill positions, Nick Marsh, Omari Kelly, and Alante Brown were starting at WR, while Jack Velling was the TE and Makhi Frazier was the starting running back. MSU started with a run by Frazier, then picked up their 1st first down with a screen to Omari Kelly. Nick Marsh got his first catch on another screen for 8 yards, and Jack Velling got involved with a dump off to the right side to move the chains. On 1st down, Chiles was forced to scramble around the backfield and then took a deep shot to RB Brandon Tullis, who bubbled out wide, but the pass was just past an open Tullis. Frazier, who got the start, then broke through a hole for 28 down to the 15. Two plays later, Tullis – the big-bodied running back – rumbled through a hole into the endzone, his first career touchdown. Walk-on kicker Blake Sislo added the extra point to the relief of all of Spartan Nation. SPARTANS 7-0.
The special teams showed up again with another big hit on the return, this time at the 22-yard line, where the Broncos began their second possession. WMU continued with the run game and had a 3rd & 2, which they picked up with a short pass. The next series began with a four-yard loss on another run. On 3rd & 9, Anelu Lafaele came around the right side of the O-Line and swiped the ball out of the QB’s hands. The Broncos would recover the fumble, but were forced to punt, which was fair caught at the 25.
Omari Kelly dropped into the zone coverage for 14 on 1st down, which was followed by a 7-yard rush by Frazier. On 3rd and short, Chiles pulled a Bronco defender to jump offside which earned MSU the free 1st down. That play would be the end of the 1st quarter.
Elijah Tau-Tolliver got the call to begin the 2nd, but he was tracked down for a loss of 5. On 2nd & 15, Chiles went to the far side to Kelly for 10. Chiles kept the ball on a 3rd down RPO but only got 1 yard. MSU went for it on 4th, and once again Chiles went to Kelly to the right sideline to move the chains. Chiles went deep to Marsh and drew a pass interference penalty, which moved MSU to the 21. Another Frazier run and then a pass to TE Mike Masunas led to a 1st & goal at from the 7. Play action to Tullis and then a crossing route to Nick Marsh gave MSU another score. The pass was behind Marsh and he had to slow down to wait for the ball but still secured the catch. Sislo hit the extra point, and MSU fans forgot about the other kickers who were supposed to be competing for the job. SPARTANS 14-0.
The Spartan defense forced a 3 & out in 31 seconds, allowing no yards, and got the ball back to Aidan Chiles. A pair of Tullis runs followed by Kelly’s fifth reception had MSU just short of the 50. But two straight negative plays put MSU in 3rd & 22. Frazier was given the ball to get some of the yards back, but MSU settled for the punt, playing the field position game. Ryan Eckley’s first punt pinned Western at their 2.
On 2nd & 9, MSU looked like they were going to get the safety, but WMU’s QB, Brady Jones, flung it away as he was going down. Amazingly, it was not called as an intentional grounding, which would have resulted in the safety being rewarded. Instead, it was 3rd & long. The pass got tipped but still completed, though short of the sticks, and MSU hauled in the punt at their 46.
Omari Kelly got his 6th reception. The big play, though, was a Chiles scramble for 26 yards down to the 9. The run was a career long. On 1st & goal, Makhi Frazier got the call and found paydirt as he zigged and zagged through the middle of the defense and stretched out to get the ball over the line. Sislo added another one. SPARTANS 21-0.
Another three & out, topped out with a Grady Kelly batted pass, and an Omari Kelly return past the MSU 40 gave the Spartans a chance to add more points before halftime. But a strip-sack on 1st down, which the Spartans recovered, led to a 2nd & 27. MSU burned WMU’s timeouts from there and punted away with less than a half minute left. Eckley’s 2nd punt pushed the Broncos back to the 15. Two plays later, Wayne Matthews came up with an INT on a tipped pass, and MSU took back over with ten seconds from their 28. After one play netted zero yards, MSU called timeout with 3 ticks on the clock. MSU sent out the punter Eckley for a 46-yard FG, which he missed way left. MSU led 21-0 at the break. In the first half, Aidan Chiles was 11-13 for 75 yards and MSU also added 130 rushing yards, including 76 by Frazier and 39 by Tullis. Omari Kelly had 6 catches for 54 yards. The offensive line was creating holes, on both sides really but especially to the right, and the defensive line was creating pressure, recording three deflected passes and a pair of sacks, which should have been a third for a safety.
Michigan State got the ball to begin the 3rd quarter. It was a quick 3 & out as a Tullis run was stuffed and then Chiles was off the mark on a pair of passes.
Western made a switch at quarterback for the 2nd half, bringing out Broc Lowry. After one incompletion, Lowry took a deep shot and hit his receiver for 42 yards to get the Broncos down to the MSU 29. The drive immediately stalled after that, and a 4th & 12 effort came up a half yard short of the line to gain.
Taking over at their 20, MSU started with a handoff to Frazier, who had a beautiful cutback behind the line to pick up 16. Chiles kept it on the next play and pump faked his way for another first down past midfield. That would be as far as the Spartans would get, and they punted three plays later. Eckley pinned another punt down at the two and has entered his name in the Heisman conversation.
On the first play, WMU predictably tried to run up the middle and they got caught in the endzone for the safety. Jalen Thompson was the first defender on the ball. After the kickoff, MSU’s offense did nothing. Chiles was off the mark on a third-down pass and MSU had to punt.
The visitors finally looked to settle into a rhythm on offense, picking up three first downs, including two chunk plays, and got to the Spartan 23. From there, a throw away on a bad snap and a sack led to a 3rd & 17. After an incompletion, Western attempted a field goal from 46 yards, but it was nowhere near being good.
Aidan Chiles would finally get his first completion of the 2nd half to begin the next drive, getting it to Marsh. Three straight passes went to Marsh, but after a run by ET-T that was snuffed out, it was 3rd & 7 as the 3rd quarter came to a close with the score 23-0 Michigan State.
On the first play of the 4th quarter, the Broncos brought pressure and forced Chiles to try to run, but he was quickly contained. Eckley came out to punt and put it through the endzone.
Brady Jones was back under center for Western and he threw for a pair of 1st downs. MSU got quarterback pressure on three straight plays after that, including an intentional grounding call on 3rd to force the punt unit onto the field. MSU fielded the punt at their 20.
After a false start early in the drive, MSU was facing a 3rd & 12, but Chiles had his best play of the half to keep the drive going. The pass to Omari Kelly went for 21 yards. A pair of ET-T runs picked up another 1st, and then Chiles went deep to get Chrishon McCray his first reception as a Spartan. Another ET-T carry and a pass to Masunas took it down to the 14. But after another false start, Western sent a blitz from Chiles’ right, which was untouched and unseen, which resulted in a strip-sack recovered by the defense to end the MSU attack.
Once again, the Broncos were unable to do much, picking up just one first down before being forced to punt. With just over three to play, MSU put in Alessio Milivojevic at quarterback. On his first pass attempt, former MSU CB Tate Hallock stepped in front of the receiver for the interception and ran it back for the pick-six. The former Spartan ruined the shutout that the current Spartans had going. The two-point conversion was no good.
Western attempted and recovered an onside kick. The Spartan defense did not allow the Broncos to do anything, and Chance Rucker knocked down a 4th down heave. MSU came out and lined up in victory formation. The final score was 23-6.
The MSU defense did not allow any points, so that is definitely a big positive. As a unit, they had four sacks and 4 deflected passes. They also had 12 TFLs.
The offense can only be described as a tale of two halves. After putting up 21 points in the first half, they did not score any points after the break. This is the biggest concern, especially after last season when MSU was regularly outscored in 2nd halves. It was not a case of them taking their foot off the gas; MSU simply was not as sharp after they came back out of the locker room. Chiles missed a number of passes, the running game was less effective, and a WMU defender, James Camden, was giving the MSU blockers all sorts of issues.
Time to see what adjustments Coach Smith and company make for week 2 when they host Boston College.
GAME BALL:
The player of the game has to be running back Makhi Frazier. After running for a total of 21 yards in 2024 as a freshman, Frazier went for 103 tonight on 7.4 yards per carry and one TD.
Honorable mentions go to punter Ryan Eckley and LB Jordan Hall, who led the team with 8 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, and 1 sack.
VICTORY FOR MSU!!!