Michigan State football improved to 3-0 following a 40-0 win over Prairie View A&M. Here are five plays that shaped the win for the Spartans.
After a resounding 40-0 win against Prairie View A&M, there is a lot to look at for 3-0 Michigan State football. While many could have predicted the outcome of this game, it showed a lot of the good, and the concerning things about this team.
Here are five plays that helped shape the game between the Spartans and the Panthers.
1. Ken Talley sack on first Prairie View A&M drive (12:30 in the 1st)
There is never a guaranteed win in college football, it is never that simple. On any given day, even an FCS school can rise to the challenge of a Power Four team. There have already been four FCS upsets this year against FBS opponents. All of those schools were Group of Five schools, though. Against Power Four schools, though, one only need look back to last season when Stanford lost to Sacramento State. I say all of this to praise how the Michigan State defense showed up early and set the stage for the big win.
On the first drive, there were two sacks, but the one by Ken Talley ended the first Prairie View drive. The sack established the fact that this team was not going to fall for the “trap game”. Even though this was the only tackle that Talley ended up having in the win, it was an important one to set the tone for the game.
2. Aziah Johnson first career TD (0:07 in the 1st)
The team mentioned in the press conference that they have a strong “next man up” mentality. That was exemplified in the game by sophomore Aziah Johnson stepping up in the depleted receiver room this week. With both Alante Brown and Jaron Glover out with injuries, Johnson was one of the guys that needed to take advantage of his opportunity. He did just that during the game by leading the team in receiving yards with 50. The more impressive part of his day was his will to finish on his touchdown reception. After catching the ball at the 10-yard line, he fought through three defenders to finally reach the end zone for the first time in his college career. It looked like he might be stopped by the defenders before the end zone, but he punched it in. It was well deserved and hopefully, the first of many touchdowns to come.
3. Cameron Peters pass to Trejon Spiller for 26 yards (13:00 in the 2nd)
It is important to note that while Prairie View A&M is an FCS school, that doesn’t mean that their guys can’t play football. The Panthers were able to move the ball a decent amount against a very stingy defense. The one of the bigger concerns that I noticed from this game concerning the defense was the number of big plays that were allowed through the air. The Panthers had three plays of over 15 yards through the air. Two of those went for 26 yards. While none of them led to any points, the pass to Trejon Spiller from Cameron Peters was the closest. The catch brought the ball to the 6-yard line and put A&M in a good spot to score, but the defense forced a field goal. That field goal missed and prevented the Panthers from scoring. Every team will get off a few big plays, it just seemed that the big plays were due to mental lapses by the defensive backs. Obviously this didn’t lead to any points, but it might be more concerning later on in the season against stronger opponents.
4. Charles Brantley pick-six called back on penalty (3:30 in the 2nd)
Charles Brantley had a great day in coverage and got a number of high quality chances. One of those plays would have resulted in a pick-six for him, but there was a penalty on Angelo Grose. There is no doubt that this team desperately needs to clean up the penalties and limit the self inflicted wounds. The team had 11 penalties which gave up 88 yards. That brought the average penalty yardage down to about one hundred and nine yards per game. It is one of the worst averages in all of college football. Against a team like Prairie View, the team won’t get exposed too much by that, but if this continues over the next five games, Michigan State football can go from 3-0 to 3-5 very quickly. It will be crucial to play clean ball over the next few weeks. Smith made mention of this in his press conference and said that limiting penalties will be a focus this week as they prepare for Boston College next week.
5. Charles Brantley 100-yard pick-six (0:42 in the 2nd)
Luckily for Brantley, he got another chance at a pick-six after his first got taken away from him. His second interception did not leave any doubts. On the same Prairie View drive he intercepted a pass from Peters in the end zone. While he could have kneed the ball there for a touchback, Brantley saw an opening, and took it. Brantley then proceeded to bob and weave his way around the field to go end zone to end zone and break the Michigan State record for a defensive touchdown play. The previous record was 99 yards and set in 1978. Brantley beat that by one yard for an even 100 (end zone yards don’t count in college). It was the first pick-six in Spartan Stadium since 2022 when Brantley returned an interception against Ohio State.
In the press conferences later, Brantley said, “I haven’t ran that far on one play since high school.”
It was nice to see him have that moment and gain some more confidence as the team enters its toughest stretch of the season.
Overall thoughts
The game was not perfect, but it was still a 40-0 victory. Many of the players will celebrate for 24 hours and then move on to the next opponent. That next opponent is Boston College who narrowly lost to Missouri this week. This will be an important test for Michigan State football to demonstrate just how far this team can go. There are a lot of things that need to be fixed, but there is also a sense of building off of a good start, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Michigan State will kick off from Boston College at 8 p.m. ET on Sept. 21.
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