It\u2019s the Friday before Labor Day weekend. You know what that means. It\u2019s time for Michigan State football. We\u2019re back, baby. Jonathan Smith opens his second season in East Lansing against the Western Michigan Broncos.<\/p>\n
Here are three things to watch for on Friday, along with a wager and a prediction.<\/p>\n
Optimism fills the air this time of year for every college football team. And Michigan State feels no different. In particular, the buzz surrounding this offense has only grown as the summer has progressed. We\u2019re all anxious to see what quarterback Aidan Chiles looks like in season number two.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll have two of his favorite targets back in sophomore receiver Nick Marsh and senior tight end Jack Velling.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s where the similarities to the 2024 offense end.<\/p>\n
The Spartans brought in four receivers from the transfer portal. Omari Kelly (Middle Tennessee State) figures to operate as the number two behind Marsh. Chrishon McCary (Kent State) is a big play receiver that brings the speed that MSU lacked a year ago. Evan Boyd (Central Michigan), Rodney Bullard Jr. (Valdosta State), and 2024 holdover Alante Brown give MSU nice depth at the position.<\/p>\n
Similarly, along the offensive line, the coaching staff feels like they have nine or 10 dependable options. That wasn\u2019t the case a year ago, and MSU\u2019s offense sputtered because of it. Stanton Ramil (left tackle) and Matt Gulbin (center) feel safe as starters. The rest is far from certain. And that might be a good thing. I\u2019m assuming we\u2019ll see all capable options on Friday as Michigan State football tries to find its best five. At the very least, this group feels much deeper and better prepared to battle the challenges of a long season.<\/p>\n
The biggest unknown with this offense is at running back. Michigan State returns just 14 carries from its 2024 roster. Seven of those went to Brandon Tullis. The other seven went to Makhi Frazier. Those feel like your starters. But it\u2019s anybody\u2019s guess as to how those carries shake out. Elijah Tau-Tolliver (Sacramento State), and true freshman Jace Clarizio are also in the mix.<\/p>\n
The theme with this offense is depth. MSU\u2019s coaching staff has mentioned it as the biggest difference between this year\u2019s team and last. That was evident late in the season, when a depleted Michigan State football roster finished 1-4 with some ugly results. I\u2019m curious to see if there\u2019s merit in those comments, or if it\u2019s just coach speak. Because on paper, this offense has some juice. But it\u2019s time to see it on the field.<\/p>\n
If you read that carefully, you noticed that it reads \u201cquarterbacks\u201d, as in plural. The Broncos are rolling into week one with the dreaded \u201cOR\u201d designation on the depth chart. Last year’s backup Broc Lowry and JUCO transfer Brady Jones are both expected to play on Friday.<\/p>\n
At some programs, you could sell me on this being a positive. But forgive me for not believing this is a Tua Tagovailoa versus Jalen Hurts situation. In the MAC, if you have two quarterbacks, it usually means you are closer to having zero quarterbacks.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s important for a couple reasons. For starters, Western Michigan is going to have to score to keep pace in this game. MSU\u2019s offense is expected to be improved. And this is a Western Michigan defense that lost a lot from a year ago. Aside from their safety duo, this is almost an entirely new unit.<\/p>\n
Secondly, it\u2019s important to keep that in mind when watching this Michigan State defense. I\u2019ve been outspoken about my questions with the defensive personnel. And unless we\u2019re wildly wrong with our preseason read on the Broncos, I\u2019m not sure how much we\u2019ll really learn on Friday.<\/p>\n
The two quarterbacks for Western Michigan have combined to throw nine career passes at the FBS level. The Broncos rank 128th\u00a0in the country in returning production. They\u2019ll also be without one of their top playmakers, running back Cole Cabana. It could be a mess<\/em> of an opening night for Lance Taylor\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n There\u2019s an old saying in football: \u201cWeek 1 is the healthiest your team will be all season.\u201d<\/p>\n That could not be less applicable to Michigan State\u2019s kickers. It appears as if starter Tarik Ahmetbasic will be a true game-time decision. Reserve Martin Connington is definitively out.<\/p>\n That could leave redshirt senior Blake Sislo as Jonathan Smith\u2019s only option. Normally, you\u2019d feel OK about a redshirt senior stepping in to handle kicking duties in an emergency. But the problem with Sislo is that we \u2013 quite literally \u2013 have no game experience to go off. Amazingly, Sislo spent three seasons at Davenport University without playing at all. No kickoffs, punts, extra points, or field goals. Nada. Zilch.<\/p>\n How you\u2019re able to go from Division II Davenport to the Big Ten without a single kicking attempt is an article for another day. In the short term, though, this could be a problem for the Spartans. Having a kicker that you don\u2019t trust alters the way that you manage and coach a game.<\/p>\n Do the Spartans abandon field goals altogether and go for it on fourth downs? Does Jonathan Smith try to give Sislo some confidence by attempting another kick if the first one misses? Can Sislo even be counted on to hit extra points? These are all questions that need answers. And for Western Michigan, any chance at pulling the upset likely relies on MSU missing kicks or being highly inefficient on fourth downs.<\/p>\n Michigan State football was a 17.5-point favorite for most of the summer. The Spartans have taken some money this week and are now as high as 21-point favorites. The total for this game is 49.5.<\/p>\n It\u2019s always tough to know what to expect in Week 1. But from everything I\u2019ve heard and read about this Western Michigan team, I tend to think this one could get ugly. The Broncos win total has dipped to 4.5. They\u2019re also 16-1 to win the MAC. And over the years, even at their worst, we\u2019ve seen Michigan State handle MAC opponents with relative ease in the opener.<\/p>\n But 21 is a big number for a team that\u2019s breaking in a lot of new pieces on offense. The kicking uncertainty shouldn\u2019t be ignored. And with Boston College on deck, I could see Jonathan Smith parking the bus in the second half.<\/p>\n The old saying \u201cit\u2019s not who<\/em> you play, it\u2019s how<\/em> you play\u201d applies here. I\u2019m curious to see what the execution looks like. I\u2019m anxious to get a look at the newcomers. And most of all, I\u2019m just excited to have Spartan football back in our lives.<\/p>\n The wager I like in this game is a bit unorthodox. I\u2019d play Michigan State -6.5 in the first quarter. Smith is notoriously good at scripting the beginning of games. And I\u2019m certain there is nothing more important to this coaching staff than getting in the end zone early. Michigan State should be amped up behind the home crowd, and I\u2019d expect the offensive staff to lean into their best 8-10 plays early on.<\/p>\n When you throw in the quarterback uncertainty for Western Michigan, and all the turnover on their roster, I\u2019d be surprised if it doesn\u2019t take them some time to find their footing.<\/p>\n This should be a fun night at Spartan Stadium. MSU figures to have their way with a undermanned opponent. The Broncos are huge underdogs for a reason. MSU starts fast, and hits cruise control midway through the third quarter.<\/p>\n Final score: Michigan State 35, <\/em>Western Michigan 14<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Who wins?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":19053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[59,191,189],"class_list":["post-21564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-featured","tag-michigan-state-football","tag-michigan-state-spartans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spartanshadows.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}3. Michigan State\u2019s kicking<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Prediction<\/strong><\/h3>\n