Michigan State Football: 3 takeaways from shutout of Prairie View A&M

Michigan State football was back in Spartan Stadium today for the calm before their five-game stretch of battles, and what did we learn?

Following a gritty victory in their Big Ten opener, Michigan State football returned home this week.

The Spartans’ opponent was lowly Prarie View A&M, and Vegas gave them their biggest spread since 2014. The Spartans opened as 40.5-point favorites and shut out Prarie View 40-0. Vegas was almost scarily accurate on Saturday.

Regardless of the betting, there was still some to be learned. However, most of my takeaways are future-focused, as the Spartans should have (and did!) easily taken care of business on Saturday. I also enjoyed seeing the benches emptied for the Spartans, as many Spartans got their “firsts”. Expect an article on that later.

For now, though, what did we learn?

1. MSU needs to clean up the penalties

I have kept this out of my takeaways for the first two games, giving Jonathan Smith time to coach up the team. On Saturday, however, penalties were again a problem. Now is the time to address them.

During the final minutes of the second quarter, the Spartans had two drive-ending plays whistled back due to penalties when they were on defense. The first, a pick-six by Charles Brantley, was called back for an Angelo Grose roughing the passer penalty. On the next third down, Ken Talley was called for a facemask when Wayne Matthews III blitzed in for a sack. The Spartans got the last laugh, with a Brantley pick-six that counted, but that will not fly against Boston College, or really anyone in the next five games.

Offense was not exempt from this, either. An Aidan Chiles interception was whistled back for roughing the passer, but Ashton Lepo was too far down the field, resulting in just a replay of downs. The Spartans had four penalties for 38 yards at the half.

Out of the half, a five-yard Chiles pass to Michael Masunas was instantly called back by an Ademola Faleye false start. Lepo got another penalty, this time for a late hit, on another play where the Spartans would’ve had first-and-goal. To compound things, Brandon Baldwin got whistled for a hold. It was nearly comical with how many good plays were blown dead due to mental errors. Smith talked about the penalties post-game, so his frustration was clear. As it should be.

MSU finished with 11 penalties for 88 yards. Shockingly, the 88 yards was a new season low. MSU is averaging 11 penalties a game heading out to Boston. If they are whistled 11 times next week, they will not win. Bookmark it, and put it on record.

2. Aidan Chiles will determine the team’s success

In spite of the Michigan State football ground game beating the passing game at half (117-106), it is clear that Aidan Chiles is the X-factor of the offense. He looked good and played with a lot of poise and patience on Saturday. He did not have a ton of situations where a clutch play was needed, but in those few moments, he provided.

Chiles had a 6-yard scramble on a third-and-4 and had multiple third-down throws where the now-19-year-old came up clutch.

He had a few beautiful passes on Saturday, with the main highlights being his passes to Aziah Johnson. Chiles fit the ball into a tight slant to Johnson for his first passing touchdown of the game, and the receiver grabbed the ball and powered through a few players for his first career receiving score. On the other pass to Johnson, Chiles hit the receiver in stride over the shoulder on a corner route for a 33-yard gain.

Chiles also had a bad play that was luckily called back. Late in the second quarter, Chiles stared down Nick Marsh, trying to guide the receiver open. However, he threw it right at the corner covering Marsh. Luckily, a roughing the passer saved Chiles the interception.

He spoke on it at the press conference, saying that, while happy with his game (12-19 for 173 yards, one touchdown through the air, one on the ground), there were “some things that needed to be cleaned up.”

While the play was wiped out, a lack of a penalty could have flipped the game. Additionally, against an opponent like Boston College next week, a bad play like this might have sunk the Spartans. Chiles had a first half of the third quarter before being pulled for Tommy Schuster so the franchise quarterback could stay healthy.

Speaking of health…

3. Health plays a factor, again

In a tune-up game for a rough five-game stretch, the Spartans could not escape the injury bug. Nick Marsh, fresh off his 194-yard performance last week, had an early 20-yarder where he was banged up after taking a helmet to his knee. Marsh was back in two drives later, but it was a scary moment for Spartan fans.

The next player to go down to an injury was long-snapper Kaden Schickel. While not viewed as the most important position on the team, we saw the issue on the first PAT after his injury. Sam Edwards, a senior linebacker, stepped up to long snap, much like he did last year. However, his first snap was high and it resulted in a Kim PAT going off the upright. Thankfully, it appears Schickel’s injury was illness, as Smith disclosed that the long snapper had barely practiced this week due to an illness, and he alluded to him “battling out” the first half.

The third and final injury to talk about was also the most serious. Gavin Broscious, the replacement for Kristian Phillips (who was downgraded to a season-ending injury on the Big Ten injury report), went down in the third quarter. Immediately, you could tell it was bad. Jack Velling was one of the first players to run toward the sideline signaling for trainers. The second the trainers got there, Broscious threw his helmet, and the trainers signed for the cart. The MSU players gathered for a prayer and went out to wish good thoughts for the guard before he was carted off the field. Additionally, Prarie View A&M players also got close to the cart, but a trainer pushed them back.

Smith had no update for Broscious post-game, besides “it didn’t look good, I will update you when I get information.” Considering Smith’s candid approach to injuries, I fear we may have lost our second right guard for the season. Dallas Fincher filled in, much like how he had rotated in during the Maryland game. Smith also mentioned Rakeem Johnson as a player who played excellent when asked about how they approach the injuries to the guard position.

Michigan State football goes back to the East Coast next week to battle with the recently beaten Boston College (2-1). That said, the Eagles only lost by six to sixth-ranked Mizzou. I’ll be heading out to Boston and Alumni Stadium for the Red Bandana game. Make sure to get a good pregame nap in. It kicks off at 8 p.m. on Saturday on ACC Network.