Michigan State Football: 5 key plays in loss to Boston College

Michigan State football lost a thriller in Chestnut Hill 23-19 against Boston College. Check here for a few of the key plays in the game.

Though it wasn’t the result that Michigan State football fans were looking for, the Spartans put up a great fight against a Boston College team that has started off very strong. Against a team that was ranked last week, the Spartans kept it close down to the last drive.

As we go through this game, the biggest thing to look at are mental mistakes that cost the Spartans a 4-0 start. While it is still early, the Spartans are now entering their toughest stretch of the season.

Let’s take a look at five key plays that determined the 23-19 loss for the Spartans.

1. Jonathan Kim field goal at 9:16 in the first quarter

Going into the game, it was going to be a uphill battle for the Spartans. They were underdogs against a Boston College team that barely lost to a top-10 team in Mizzou last week. That is why scoring first in the game was essential. It is also important to remember that this was the “Red Bandana” game, which provided extra incentive for the Eagles to come in with more momentum. Jonathan Kim has solidified himself as a big part of the offense and provides the Spartans with a big leg that provides Jonathan Smith the ability to kick from almost anywhere on the field. Especially on days where the offense struggles, this only adds to his worth. Spartan fans cannot sing enough praise for the impact that he has on this team.

2. Aidan Chiles 1-yard TD rush at 8:10 in the second quarter

Aidan Chiles did not have his best game on Saturday. At this point in the rebuild, that is OK. He is still very young and very talented. The only thing that needs to happen is working on consistency. When he is on, he is a top quarterback in the Big Ten. He can do a lot of damage against any team. On this play, he took the ball in for the first Spartan touchdown of the game. It gave the Spartans a 10-6 lead. The team had some good rhythm on the drive and Chiles capped it off with a great run to put momentum in favor of the Spartans.

3. Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams fumbles on second-half opening kickoff

Michigan State football had a 13-6 lead going into the second half and looked to build off of a good start. Unfortunately, the poor weather conditions had other plans. While taking the ball out of the end zone, Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams was hit by sophomore Carter Davis and fumbled the ball close to the goal line. Though the Spartans held the Eagles to a field goal, it really killed any good momentum. The defense stepped up big time to make sure that it was only a field goal. No play was more important there than Jordan Turner sacking Castellanos to prevent any more damage.

4. Lewis Bond 42-yard TD 1:55 in the fourth quarter

LEWIS BOND, Y'ALL 🤌

📺 @accnetwork x @BCFootball pic.twitter.com/YQLWATKkpT

— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) September 22, 2024

While the Spartan defense did a good job holding the Boston College offense, it wasn’t perfect. It is hard to play at a high level in the conditions those guys were playing in. It is also worth mentioning that in the second half, the Spartan defense spent a lot of time going back on the field because the offense was struggling to get any rhythm going. When that happens, one play is almost guaranteed to break, and it did. With a miscommunication in the secondary, Lewis Bond got free and was able to take the pass from Castellanos in for a touchdown. That made the score 23-19 in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.

5. Aidan Chiles interception with 36 seconds left in the fourth quarter

While the two-minute drill was working well for the Spartan offense, it went off script when Aidan Chiles dialed up a bomb to the end zone. That pass went into the hands of the defender, and ended the game. The pass was into double coverage and was not a great pass to make in that situation. It put a damper on a drive that started off very well with a few passes to Jack Velling. The Spartans had the Eagles defense on their heels and Aidan just tried to do too much. This is not to say that he can’t learn from this. For a 19-year-old, Chiles is incredibly mature as a leader and puts a great deal of the teams performance on himself. Nobody will be angrier about the interception than Chiles. That should give fans hope for the future because it shows that he is a hard worker who is determined to get better.

Overall thoughts

It was not a pretty game, the players will be the first ones to tell you that. This team still has a lot of growing to do to win games like this. The promising thing though is that this rebuild seems to be a bit further along than many people anticipated. Yes, they lost, but against a very good Boston College team that has turned heads so far this year. It doesn’t mean much if the team gets the job done, but it is progress. It will be interesting to see if this scrappy Michigan State football team can at least keep it close against Ohio State next Saturday. That game will be airing at 7:30 p.m. ET on Peacock.