EAST LANSING– The Michigan State Spartans kicked off their season against the Florida Atlantic Owls at Spartan Stadium.
It was the highly antiquated debut of Spartans’ head coach Jonathan Smith, bringing his West Coast style to East Lansing. After a 2-0 first quarter, the Spartans’ offense broke through, scoring two touchdowns in the second quarter.
It seemed like the Spartans would run away with the game in the second half, but the offense stalled, allowing the Owls to stay in it until the end. Ultimately, the Spartans walked away with a win, 16-10, despite not playing their best football.
Here are my takeaways from the season opener:
Sloppy offensive play
There was a lot of offseason hype for the revamped offense. Despite the off-season, the offense looked a lot like the past few years, unorganized, committing sloppy mistakes, and not taking care of the football.
Quarterback Aidan Chiles took responsibility for the shortcomings of the Spartan offense.
“It’s me, I’m taking full responsibility for everything that happened today,” Chiles said. “I play football for a living and I didn’t come out and play to the best of my ability today.”
Chiles was held to 10 completions on 24 attempts, with two interceptions. Chiles was still an effective runner despite the mistakes, scrambling for 28 yards and a touchdown.
Smith took the pressure off of Chiles postgame:
“It ain’t all on him and he knows this, Smith said. “I love the kid and that he’s competitive, he did enough good things for us to win the game and he’s 1-0, undefeated as a starting quarterback.”
Smith believes the red zone offense needs to improve for the Spartans.
“We just have to be more efficient offensively and then finish, like in the red zone if we score 21 points versus zero this thing is totally different,” Smith said.
Defensive discipline
The Spartans were aggressive on the defensive side of the ball. They might have been too aggressive, committing seven penalties for 75 yards.
“We did not play clean,” Smith said. “It was a bunch of 15-yarders too, we’re not just talking about offsides. We’re fortunate because there is a lot of sloppiness in those numbers.”
Defensive back Angelo Grose led the team in tackles with eleven tackles and also came away with an interception in the second quarter.
“Last year man, last ride, I got to do everything, make plays,” Grose said.
Defensive lineman Khris Bogle led the Spartans’ dominant defensive line with 2.5 tackles for loss and contributed 1.5 sacks.
“We practice how we play and we’ve been making plays in practice so we knew that would translate to the game,” Bogle said.
FAU quarterback Cam Fancher was unable to get anything going in the passing game against the Spartans, but he used his dual-threat ability to his advantage as he ran for 67 yards on 25 attempts.
Fancher put his body on the line, drawing multiple personal fouls for late hits and targeting.
“[Fancher] is a great quarterback and he slides a lot so we have to be disciplined and try not to get those targeting calls,” Bogle said.
The Spartans locked down the Owls on third-down attempts. Out of 14 tries the Owls were only able to convert twice. Limiting third-down conversions is a crucial stat for elite defenses.
Ground Game Led by Transfer Running Back
Running the ball was a bright spot in a rather frustrating game for the Spartans. Both touchdowns were scored on the ground and Michigan State amassed almost 180 rushing yards.
Transfer running back Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams had a breakout performance in his first game in the Green and White.
Lynch-Adams, previously at UMass, tore up the Owls defense, leading the game with 101 rushing yards.
Lynch-Adams is a very hard runner, similar to an Isiah Pacheco type. In the first half, he scored a touchdown that was called back due to forward progress.
“I heard the whistle but I was just out there trying to run,” Lynch-Adams said.
Late in the second quarter, Lynch-Adams got his revenge busting out for a 63-yard touchdown. The offensive line created a gaping hole for Lynch-Adams, who scored untouched by the Owls.
“That was the offensive line’s touchdown, that crease opened up and just did what I was supposed to do,” Lynch-Adams said.
All things considered today was not a fantastic performance by the Spartans, but they did enough to come away with the first win of the Jonathan Smith era. There is still a lot to be desired on both sides of the ball.
MSU will have an extra day of rest this week before they travel to College Park to face the Maryland Terrapins on Saturday, Sept. 7, in their first Big Ten matchup of the season.
