Michigan State football: What offensive snap counts against USC reveal

Michigan State football had their first conference road test of the season on Saturday, where they fell to the USC Trojans, 31-45. While not the result the Spartans would hope for, it was the first chance to see how the Spartans dealt with both a shorter travel roster, along with how their rotation played out in conference play.

Overall, the Spartan offense was on the field for 60 plays on Saturday night. As always, starters will be italicized. For last week’s snap counts against Youngstown State, please click here.

Quarterback

Aidan Chiles: (60) 100%

Chiles played a turnover-free contest on Saturday, and added plays with his arms and legs to keep the Spartans in the game. For the second time this season, he was not the only one attempting passes, as Brian Lindgren called up two trick plays with Omari Kelly passing the ball, once where Chiles was the target.

Unfortunately, the quarterback’s worst throw of the night came on a fourth-and-long, overthrowing Kelly and turning the ball over on downs inside MSU’s 30-yard line.

That said, the improvement from Chiles is obvious. In his first hostile environment of the year, he performed excellently. My biggest complaint for the game is that the staff did not put the ball in his hands more.

Running back

Brandon Tullis: (30) 50%

Makhi Frazier: (24) 40%

Elijah Tau-Tolliver: (6) 10%

Tullis received his first career start on Saturday, with Makhi Frazier still recovering from injury. That said, Frazier’s limited pitch count did not dissuade from the notion that he is the best back in the room. Frazier’s vision was on display from the start, and he was a driving factor behind when the Spartans added 14 points in the third quarter.

Tau-Tolliver added a good play where he maintained his balance for a first down on a pitch, but for the most part, Frazier is the clear No. 1 option at RB for Michigan State football.

Fullback

Jay Coyne: (2) 3%

Coyne was on offense for a season-low two snaps on Saturday. The Spartans stayed away from power formations against the Trojans. Part of this may also be from the Spartans missing two starting linemen, Luka Vincic (season) and Stanton Ramil, by the end of the first quarter.

Wide Receivers

Nick Marsh: (59) 98%

Omari Kelly: (57) 90%

Chrishon McCray: (35) 58%

Rod Bullard Jr.: (6) 10%

Evan Boyd: (1) 2%

There is a clear pecking order for Michigan State football’s receiver room. Chrishon McCray got his second starting assignment and responded with a touchdown on the first drive of the game. Kelly had his own breakaway touchdown late in the contest, and Marsh played all but one snap, in spite of being “not 100%,” per coach Jonathan Smith.

Bullard saw some action late when the Spartans were looking for deep shots to draw closer to USC. Boyd came in for a goal-line play. The other receivers making the trip with Alante Brown out for a long-term injury were the freshmen trio of Braylon Collier, Bryson Williams, and Charles Taplin.

Tight Ends

Jack Velling: (41) 68%

Michael Masunas: (32) 53%

Brennan Parachek: (7) 12%

The Spartans were back down to three tight ends on offense on Saturday, with Velling and Masunas each playing more than half the snaps. Velling caught his first touchdown of the season, and second as a Spartans. Masunas, in his first non-start of the season, hauled in a 12-yard Omari Kelly pass on a trick play.

Masunas continues to reign as a top-10 tight end in the nation among PFF grades, too. Parachek came in for heavy run sets mostly, only running two routes in his seven snaps. It is also worth noting that freshman tight end Jayden Savoury played some special teams snaps, too.

Offensive Lineman

Conner Moore: (60) 100%

Matt Gulbin: (60) 100%

Rustin Young: (51) 85%

Caleb Carter: (49) 82%

Kristian Phillips: (38) 63%

Gavin Broscious: (33) 55%

Stanton Ramil: (9) 15%

Jonathan Smith implied that the rotation would go down among offensive linemen, especially with Vincic’s season being over, and that played out on Saturday. Stanton Ramil suffered an injury early in the second drive and did not return, and redshirt freshman Rustin Young filled in and finished the contest.

Gavin Broscious was the highest graded lineman on Saturday, and outplayed Kristian Phillips. Granted, it appears that Phillips was dealing with injury too, as he was spotted without his helmet for a few drives. Caleb Carter was consistent, as always.

The biggest concern was Moore’s struggles in pass blocking, as the junior put up the worst pass block grade among all lineman against USC.

Michigan State football gets a week off this week, before heading out to Nebraska to take on the Cornhuskers. That game will kick at 4 p.m. EST.