close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

    • Michigan State Defense, Review Rescue Jonathan Smith Debut vs. FAU
    news

    Michigan State Defense, Review Rescue Jonathan Smith Debut vs. FAU

    Vaseline Posted on

    play

    EAST LANSING — This was far from the beginning Jonathan Smith had in mind.

    It was far from the start Michigan State football expected from Aidan Chiles.

    It was far from the decisiveness defensive coordinator Joe Rossi expected from his players, with penalties and late hits on Florida Atlantic quarterback Cam Fancher.

    But the Spartans somehow survived all the costly blunders and mistakes, with one key call in a game full of flags going their way.

    Jordan Turner appeared to be penalized for targeting with 3:27 left in the game and FAU near midfield. But officials reversed the call on review, despite also issuing the MSU linebacker a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct after he lobbed Fancher and knocked his helmet off for the second time in the game.

    Officials said replays showed Fancher starting his slide just before first down on fourth-and-1, giving the Spartans the ball back. The other penalties were called after turnovers on downs.

    Rossi’s defense, which played well all night until the penalty shootout, held firm and held off the Owls, who claimed a 16-10 victory Friday night at Spartan Stadium.

    The offense went to three-and-out after the call was reversed, but MSU’s defense was able to stop the ball one more time in the final 90 seconds to secure the victory.

    The Spartans open Big Ten play next Saturday at Maryland (3:30 p.m., Big Ten Network).

    The Terps host Connecticut on Saturday afternoon at 12:00 noon as the opening game of the season.

    Clearly, there is still much work to be done for Smith and his staff to address the very visible issues, namely the offensive inefficiency and abundance of penalties that proved problematic throughout the evening.

    Problems with punishment

    MSU committed 11 penalties for 124 yards. Starting safety Malik Spencer was ejected after a targeting flag was called for a head-to-head hit on Fancher that knocked the FAU quarterback’s helmet off early in the second quarter.

    Fancher’s late slip-ups caused a lot of problems for the Spartans’ defense, but they were able to make some key plays that gave their struggling offense the momentum it couldn’t get.

    Few could have predicted that a sack safety would start the scoring, but D’Quan Douse put the Spartans on the board midway through the first quarter. Angelo Grose and Nikai Martinez intercepted passes to halt Florida Atlantic drives.

    MSU tackled Fancher seven times despite committing seven of the Spartans’ 11 penalties, limiting the Owls to 248 total yards. Their lone TD was a 10-yard Fancher pass with 7 seconds left in the third quarter on a blown coverage, setting up the drama of the fourth quarter.

    Aidan Chiles’s Shocking Debut

    With all the preparation for his first career start after playing nine games as a true freshman at Oregon State last year, this was a very inauspicious debut for Chiles.

    The second-year quarterback transfer who succeeded Smith from Oregon State finished 10-for-24 for 114 yards, no TD passes and two interceptions. Lynch-Adams had 101 yards in his MSU debut on nine carries, while Nate Carter added 48 yards on 19 attempts. The Spartans managed just 293 yards of offense.

    Chiles looked every bit the part of an 18-year-old rookie starter. His first pass on MSU’s first play of the season was intercepted, flopped by receiver Montorie Foster, and the ball was intercepted with a toe tap. The officials reviewed and ruled it a turnover just 7 seconds into the game.

    Chiles, who threw an expected second interception near the goal line to thwart a third-quarter scoring opportunity, showed his potential with an 11-yard touchdown run in the second quarter after Martinez’s interception.

    Kay’ron Lynch-Adams, who transferred from Massachusetts, scored a 63-yard run on MSU’s next drive to give the Spartans a 16-0 lead with 9:17 left in the first half.

    MSU had a chance to go up by three with a field goal early in the fourth quarter, but offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren instead decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 at the FAU 9-yard line. Lynch-Adams was stopped and lost 2 yards.

    Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.

    Subscribe to the “Spartan Speak” podcast for new episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And listen to all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

    Vaseline
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like