EAST LANSING– Following a statement win against Boston College last week, Youngstown State hoped to play spoiler against a confident Michigan State squad. While the Penguins played with poise throughout the day, MSU’s offensive talent proved to be too much as they pulled away with a 41-24 final.
“I mean we don’t treat anybody different. We talk about it all the time you know, respect all, fear none. Everybody’s a nameless, faceless opponent. That’s what it is,” junior quarterback Aidan Chiles said. “We come out and we play football against whoever’s in front of us that day. We see everybody as an obstacle to achieving our bigger goal and they were an obstacle, and we got through it today.”
On the game’s first drive, YSU seemed to take a page out of BC’s game plan against the Spartans. The Penguins were able to find space with underneath passes, screens towards the sideline, and a few quarterback runs to the boundaries courtesy of junior Beau Brungard. MSU was then caught flat footed on a double reverse where Brungard found junior tight end Alex McDonald for 23-yards. This highlighted the time-consuming, 7:39 possession but the Spartans limited the early damage to a field goal.
When Chiles and the Spartan offense got their chance with the ball, they showed power through the air. Sophomore wide receiver Nick Marsh immediately found open space, ripping off yards after the catch on a 28-yarder. After a fourth down scramble for Chiles to keep the drive alive, senior wide receiver Rodney Bullard Jr. shed an ankle tackle in the backfield and caught the corner of the endzone for the score. Not only was this Bullard Jr.’s first score as a Spartan but it was his first touchdown at the DI level, transferring in from DII Valdosta State.
“The momentum from last week just came in and we played football how we play football and went out and scored,” Chiles said. “I don’t think there was much to it, it was just we got out there and competed.”
The Spartans continued this aerial assault on their next drive with Marsh continuing to break tackles and carry defenders. He finished as MSU’s lead wideout with six catches for 94 yards. Sophomore running back Makhi Frazier punched it into the endzone off a toss to the right side to finish off the drive. Marsh’s day was cut short as he had a wrapped leg after the first half and never returned to the game.
“Halftime, took a look at him [Marsh]. Kinda inconclusive. Just wasn’t ready to go for the second half,” head coach Jonathan Smith said about the star receivers’ status. “We need to take a longer look at them, and I’ll definitely let you know where that goes.”
Just when the Penguins looked buried, though, sophomore running back Jaden McDonald brought them right back to life. McDonald broke through the MSU front seven, shook some ankle tackles from the secondary, and was finally tripped up near the goal line on a 66-yard dash. He was contained otherwise with 72 yards on seven carries but earned a touchdown two plays later. After YSU swung momentum in its favor, the Penguins looked to totally steal it after an MSU turnover on downs.
The Penguins, now with a chance to take the lead going into half, came out aggressive and found some weak coverage spots. Yet senior defensive back Armorion Smith came up big and took advantage of an errant Brungard throw. He secured his first interception of the year as the MSU defense avoided disaster. The Spartans then found time to get down to the YSU goal line after junior tight end Jack Velling hauled in a 23-yarder over the middle but only had enough ticks for a field goal. Giving MSU an uneasy 17-10 lead going into the half.
“Yeah, it’s great. I am really happy for him [Armorion]. I think he saw it from his teammates. When he’s out there and making plays like that, the contribution, he continues to overcome,” Smith said. “He’s a guy to be celebrated on this team and our guys do celebrate when he has success.”
Both teams traded three and outs after the break, but tensions continued to mount inside Spartan Stadium. The building then found some relief in the special team heroics of senior wide receiver Omari Kelly, breaking open a Penguins punt for 83-yards and getting pushed out at the four yard-line. All sophomore running back Brandon Tullis had to do was walk in a toss to the left side for six on the one-play drive.
“It was a good feeling, it’s actually like my fourth ever punt return,” Kelly said. “It feels good, good to have my teammates blocking for me and everybody trusting me back there.”
MSU, sparked by Kelly’s long return, got the ball right back and looked to the tight end room to keep them moving. Velling had his best game in the green and white with six catches for 70 yards, including a nice grab to get MSU deeper in Penguin territory. Chiles then tapped into the other junior tight end Michael Masunas with a wide-open touchdown grab up the west sideline for 28-yards. This was his only catch of the game and Chiles only passing TD of the day. He followed masterclass performance last week with 270 yards on 22-29, including the score and a tipped interception.
“You know, me and Aidan were on the same page today, and hopefully, we will continue that in the future,” Velling said. “O-line protection was great, all the receivers ran great routes, whether it is to take safety or to get another guy open. And then just next man up kind of theme.”
While this quick scoring flurry put the game out of reach and MSU’s offense had a successful end of the day, the Spartans defense remained somewhat unconvincing. Brungard flipped his usual script against the Spartan defense, finding slants and quick releases for big gains on the day.
The MSU rush defense locked down the extremely mobile QB for 17 yards on 14 attempts after he gashed Robert Morris for 265 yards and four touchdowns last week. However, Brungard carved up the secondary by going 24-34 for 242 yards with two touchdowns and the pick at the end of the second quarter. His favorite target being senior wideout Max Tomczak who secured seven catches for 78 yards.
“I think that they’re a great team. They did a lot of things schematically that kind of took us some time to get used to. I think overall there’s a lot of room for improvement on the defensive side of the ball,” senior linebacker Jordan Hall said. “I think communication lacked today, especially on some of those big plays. Which again is something that has to, and will be, cleaned up going into next week.”
Unfortunately, the Spartan offense lost a key skill piece with Frazier exiting the game off an injury in the second half. While Frazier did exit in the last 30 minutes, Smith does not anticipate “anything long term” on the injury.
Senior running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver, transferring in from Sacramento State, took over in the fourth. He got his first touchdown in a Spartan uniform and the last of the game on a 22-yard scamper to the endzone. When it was all said and done, the Spartans took care of business against a quality FCS opponent and will head into B1G play with confidence.
“It’s next man up. When you have to have that mentality you know, there should be no fall off from hoping starters come back, it is what it is,” Chiles said. “Things are going to happen in the game of football. Injuries happen, people get banged up, and it’s always going to be next man up.”
The Spartans move to 3-0 but will have their first road test and challenge against a conference performance at USC. MSU will do battle at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum next Saturday with Jacob Maurer and Kyle Keegan on the call. The live broadcast is available at 88.9 FM locally or streaming at https://impact89fm.org/.
