Michigan State football box score warriors: Richmond edition

The box score doesn’t always tell the full story, but which stats stood out in the Michigan State football win over Richmond?

Box scores never tell the full story. They can give you a good idea of how teams played and give you an indication as to who might have won the game, but you always need to take them with a grain of salt. The “eye test” has its flaws as well, but you can’t draw reasonable conclusions about Michigan State football’s performance just from looking at the final box score.

With that being said, let’s dive into the box score from Michigan State’s 45-14 victory over Richmond last weekend. Without letting the on-field play impact our conclusions, let’s see what stats stand out to us on both sides of the ball.

Team stats

Offense

One positive thing jumps out to me from the offensive side of the ball. Noah Kim and Katin Houser combined to have an elite stat line throwing the ball. Completing 19-of-23 passes for 303 yards is amazing no matter who you’re playing. It’s all about execution when you play an inferior opponent, and this stat line shows our passing game executed to near perfection.

On the flip side, two negatives jump off the box score. Turnovers and time of possession. These are two stats I think we should dominate against an inferior opponent. If we want to beat Washington this weekend, we need to do extremely well in these categories. Two fumbles lost and splitting the time of possession with Richmond does not cut it. This is the second week in a row we have struggled with time of possession, and that’s something we need to fix fast if we want to be successful.

Defense

Only one thing stands out to me on the defensive side of the ball. That is our unit’s elite third-down defense. Michigan State held Richmond’s offense to only one third-down conversion on 12 attempts. That is what winning football looks like. Michigan State’s defense has been elite in third-down defense all season, ranking No. 2 in the country in third-down efficiency. MSU will have a good chance of beating Washington if it keeps this up.

Individual stats

Offense

Nate Carter had another amazing game on Saturday — 19 carries for 111 yards and three touchdowns is an amazing stat line. Has Michigan State football found its next great running back? I think so. Tre Mosley also stands out to me on the box score. In last week’s edition of Box Score Warriors, I discussed how it was unfortunate to not see any wide receivers statistically separate themselves from the group. Mosley was able to do that a little bit this game. He caught five passes for 84 yards and a touchdown against Richmond. The next closest player to Mosley was Christian Fitzpatrick with three receptions. Mosley didn’t separate himself too much, but he is beginning to show that he is “the guy” in this wide receiver group.

Defense/Special teams

Can we give some major props to kicker Jonathan Kim? He has been perfect on the year so far, including knocking in a 52-yard field goal on Saturday. I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s really refreshing to see some consistency at kicker so far this year.

Sophomore defensive lineman Zion Young also stands out to me on the box score. He is the only defender credited with more than one sack and tackle for loss this game. With 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss, he is really starting to make his presence felt.