Michigan State football stock watch after Youngstown State win

Another week, another win in the books for Michigan State football. This one wasn’t as dominant as expected, but stocks are rising.

Week 3 has come and gone, and it ends with another win for Michigan State football.

Even with the 41-24 win over Youngstown State, it was not the performance that fans or players wanted. From the defense struggling to crucial injuries, the Spartans are going into next week hoping the injuries aren’t serious, but fortunately, others stepped up in their absence on Saturday.

Because of that, let’s take a look at the Week 3 stock watch.

Stock up

• Aidan Chiles

Another really great game for Aidan Chiles. He made the right reads and throws throughout this game and his one interception shouldn’t even count. Chiles continues to show growth in his game and if he continues to play this well, he will help this offense continue to rise.

• Nick Marsh

When he played, Nick Marsh was a problem for Youngstown State. He was breaking tackles left and right and when Chiles saw he had a one-on-one matchup, he attacked that corner. We continue to see why Marsh is one of the best wide receivers in the country, and hopefully his injury is not long term.

• Passing attack

This was by far the best part of the offense on Saturday, and it has been all year. When Chiles has time, he is able to find his wide receivers and tight ends and he is making the right decisions. Guys like Marsh, Omari Kelly, and Jack Velling all had great games against the Penguins.

Stock down

• Defense

The defense struggled again on Saturday afternoon. There were some moments that you can see flashes of a defense that can be effective, but this team continues to struggle in the pass rush category. If the Spartans can’t get pressure on the quarterback in Big Ten play or get off the field, the offense will need to win shootouts.

• Clock management

The ending of the first half was something that was less than desirable. When you get the ball down to the 1-yard-line with seven seconds left, call the timeout. Michigan State did not do that, spiked the ball and not everyone was in their stance. Because of that, Michigan State got a 5-yard penalty and was lucky enough to still have that timeout so the game didn’t go to halftime right there. This was a great opportunity to score a touchdown and the Spartans had to settle for a field goal.

• Injuries

This was a game that the Spartans felt really good about winning, and they wanted to leave without injuries. Well, that was not the case and they might have lost some key starters heading into the toughest part of the schedule. Unfortunately, you can’t prevent injuries, but this was the worst-case scenario you can have if some of these are long term.

In this game, there was some good and some bad. We won’t know about the injuries for a little while, but if Michigan State football avoided long-term injuries, that would be the best-case scenario.

Overall, not a great win but a win nonetheless, and now Michigan State prepares to head out west.