EAST LANSING– Following a disappointing 5-7 campaign in 2024, Michigan State football came into Friday night looking for a positive reset against Western Michigan. To kick off year two under head coach Jonathan Smith, the Spartans hit the ground running in the first half and found their way into a 23-6 week one victory.
“Obviously, some things we want to play more consistently with. I do think defensively that was a pretty good effort, helped by our crowd. I thought our crowd was great tonight, energy, student section packed, it was a great atmosphere,” Smith said. “We’ll take a deep look at this tape, there’ll be a ton to improve on and learn from … but overall, you found a way to win the game.”
Much of this victory can be attributed to an elite MSU defensive performance, but the Broncos came out firing from the first snap. Junior quarterback Brady Jones hit graduate wide receiver Tailique Williams up the west sideline for a 35-yard gain.
While the Spartan defense was tested early by WMU’s transfer duo, they did not break as senior defensive back Ade Willie forced a pass break up and a fourth down stop. This set on both sides of the ball for MSU, something the program may have been missing from past opening nights.
“We’re always buckled up, things don’t always go our way every play, but that’s a foundation of what our defense is,” junior linebacker Jordan Hall said. “That’s the kind of identity that our defense wants to be, to be able to understand that things won’t always go our way but we’re going to succeed at being able to respond.”
The Spartans opened their first offensive possession with a commanding ground game from sophomore running backs Makhi Frazier and Brandon Tullis. The new look offensive line found push and opened some gaps for the backs, most notably in a 28-yard burst from Frazier. After Frazier found daylight, Tullis finished off the drive on a 12-yard rush for his first career touchdown. The two backs finished the night averaging 7.4 yards per carry.
“I really say the o-line opened the way for the holes and they really created everything, so it was easy for me to go out there and do my job and just stay consistent,” Frazier said. On that same topic, Tullis commented, “the o-line made it easy for us to trust our reads and go out there and have fun, play with no fear.”
MSU’s next opportunity with the ball saw junior quarterback Aidan Chiles and the receiver room take center stage. Chiles picked apart WMU’s secondary while senior wide receiver Omari Kelly found opportunities for highlight catches.
Kelly, a transfer and new outside weapon on this roster, immediately connected with Chiles and finished with seven catches for 75 yards. After hitting Kelly for most of the drive, Chiles found his number one from last season in sophomore receiver Nick Marsh for six.
“This is one of the best feelings in the world, just getting out there and getting to go against somebody that’s not our defense and just going out there and getting a chance to compete,” Kelly said. “The atmosphere, coming from Middle Tennessee it’s crazy. It’s such a big difference and the fans really made it special as well.”
Speaking on the immediate link with Kelly, Chiles said, “when a veteran guy knows how to get open it makes my job pretty easy. He does his job, he runs his route right, he gets open, it makes my job pretty simple.”
As for a Broncos attack that started out threatening, the Spartans front seven and linebackers shut them down completely. Jones finished the first half on 7-14 passing for 63 yards and an interception.
He finished the night by going 11-23 for 97 yards while splitting the second half with sophomore Brandon Lowry. Things weren’t much better on the ground either, as the Broncos ‘rush attack could only muster 11 yards on ten rushes in the first half, and finished the day with 29 yards.
The defensive frontrunners for the green and white were Hall and another linebacker in senior Wayne Matthews III. The pair combined for 14 tackles and three tackles for loss. Hall also contributed a sack while Matthews came away with a pick. The defense’s overall pass rush also showed signs of improvement with four total sacks and eight QB hurries.
“Definitely things we need to do to improve on throughout the season, but this is definitely a good starting point for us,” Matthews said. “The guys responded really well and it felt like we were out there playing together. Something we need to do every week, day in, day out.”
Speaking on the unit’s improved pass rush on the night, Hall explained “it’s something we’ve been emphasizing throughout since Rutgers of last year, we’ve been wanting to get to the quarterback and excel and be good at it. I think we did a pretty decent job of that today.”
This performance allowed the Spartan offense to add on, as a five-yard dash from Frazier towards the end of the second quarter gave MSU a comfortable 21-0 lead at half. Frazier finished the night as the team’s leading rusher with 103 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown.
The second half never saw either offense light up the score board. While MSU still looked solid on the ground, they found some difficulties through the air. The Spartans pass protection saw some breakdowns and Chiles had a few inaccurate throws. The Broncos defense came away with four sacks, two takeaways, and allowed zero second half scores.
“Give ’em’ some credit, they got some good coaches over there and made some halftime adjustments,” Smith said. “They did a nice job on our tackles a couple of times, we had a couple of deep shots open we just couldn’t get the ball off, so give ’em’ credit some of the pressure they were able to create on the quarterback.”
Despite a slow second half, Chiles finished the night with 17-23 passing for 155 yards and a touchdown. A vastly improved performance when compared to his debut last year against FAU. A few major differences between that start and this one is a whole year of experience and feeling “a lot more comfortable.”
“I felt like I belonged, I felt like I was just ready to go, I could just sit in the pocket and throw the ball, I could escape when I had to escape,” Chiles said. “It just felt like I was dictating the game, it felt like the game was under my control.”
The lone Spartan score of the second half came after a 41-yard punt from Ryan Eckley spotted WMU inside their one-yard line. Junior defensive lineman Alex VanSumeren on the very next play stacked up junior running back Jalen Buckley in the end zone for a safety. While the offense failed to capitalize on the ensuing possession, MSU pushed the lead to 23-0 going into the fourth.
A pick six thrown by backup freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic and made by graduate safety Tate Hallock was the only scoring in the final frame. The Spartans come away with the opening victory at 23-6 with zero points allowed by the defense.
MSU will return home next Saturday and aim to enact revenge on Boston College. Kick is set for 7:30 p.m. with Jacob Maurer and Kyle Keegan airing the live radio broadcast on Impact 88.9 FM.
