EAST LANSING – Liam Boyd lined up for his first field goal attempt and drilled it straight and true, right through the uprights, from 32 yards away.
A few minutes later, he backed up from 42 and knocked through another. And then a little farther, from a career-long 48 yards out.
By the time Michigan State football’s 30-20 win over Toledo ended Friday, Sept. 4, the transfer kicker had half as many field goals in his Spartan debut as he had in three other stops over the past four seasons combined.
“I was just telling him that I was looking for him every time he came off the field after making a kick,” wide receiver Rodney Bullard Jr. said. “I told him that he was saving us. We had a lot of times where we couldn't capitalize when we should have and
he had our back.”
Boyd extended his personal record with a 51-yarder late in the fourth quarter to seal coach Pat Fitzgerald’s opening-night win with MSU. It was part of the strong night of play in the third phase by the Spartans in their first game under Fitzgerald and new special teams coach LeVar Woods.
“I think with special teams,” Fitzgerald said, “you can see the method to my madness tonight.”
Even with the program's long history of successful specialists, Boyd's career high was the most by any MSU kicker in his debut and just the fifth time in school history a Spartan booted five field goals. Only Jonathan Kim, with six against Woods and Iowa in 2024, had more in a single game.
Boyd and Kim just missed being teammates at North Carolina. Boyd, a fifth-year senior, began his career at Clemson in 2022 and transferred to the Tar Heels in 2023 after Kim left to join the Spartans. Boyd made his only field goal try and all seven of his point-after attempts in 2024 at UNC in three games.
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound native of Ashville, North Carolina, transferred again to Charlotte last season and arrived at MSU after going 9-for-12 with the 49ers, including a long field goal of 42 yards, and connecting on all 15 PATs.
“It means the world,” said Boyd, who arrived after MSU's 2025 kicker Martin Connington transferred to Kansas. “I’m just so happy to be here and be surrounded by great teammates and great coaches. And they all put me in a position to succeed, and I’m really thankful for that.”
The only blemish for Boyd came on a 54-yard attempt in the third quarter that was blocked. Still, it was a decision Fitzgerald rationalized afterward as what he wants to be a program-defining ethos moving forward.
“I got a little aggressive with the long field goal, but scared money doesn't make money. I'm not here to win a punting contest,” Fitzgerald said. “Maybe I have to in a game, I got that. But I wanted to be aggressive tonight – not reckless, but I wanted to be aggressive. I'm looking to make money, if you know what I mean.”
That time to punt came one possession after Boyd got blocked. New punter Rhys Dakin, who arrived from Iowa with Woods, dropped a perfectly placed, high-arcing boot for 44 yards on his lone attempt that pinned the Rockets at their own 8-yard line later in the third quarter.
It flew with enough hang time to have his coverage team in place to prevent a potential return and necessitate a fair catch. Dakin also serves as Boyd's holder, and Oregon transfer long snapper Nick Duzansky delivered the ball quietly and swiftly all night.
After Toledo scored its first touchdown midway into the second quarter, the Spartans got a much-needed response when Nebraska transfer return man Kenneth Williams took the ensuing kickoff 47 yards to the Rockets’ 45. It was his only attempt, as Toledo kept the ball well away from him on its other three kickoffs.
Wide receiver Chrishon McCray handled punt return duty and got 30 yards on three returns, showing wiggle and vision to potentially pop one moving forward.
But Boyd’s big day was most essential for MSU, particularly as the offense faltered repeatedly in the Rockets’ side of the field after an impressive season-opening drive that looked a lot like how Fitzgerald wants the Spartans to play – a 13-play, 63-yard march that gnawed 7:14 off the clock.
Yet with his team down a point early in the fourth quarter and facing fourth-and-inches at the Toledo 5, Fitzgerald did not turn to Boyd again. Instead, he opted to keep the ball in Alessio Milivojevic’s hands and also eschewed a sneak or run play.
The sophomore quarterback rolled to his right and hit Bullard in the back of the end zone wide open for the touchdown. Boyd again stayed on the sidelines as Bullard soared over two defenders to snatch the ensuing 2-point conversion with 10:37 remaining.
“There was really no discussions,” Milivojevic said. “We knew we were going for it. We knew it was fourth-and-1 – it was time to go win the game.”
Then as MSU’s offense sputtered again while attempting to close out the game, Fitzgerald summoned Boyd one final time from 51 yards out. The career-best kick sailed through to make it a 10-point lead with 1:55 left.
“They give me four downs. I don't like giving away possessions unless we have to,” Fitzgerald said of going for it at that point. “But again, I'm not gonna be reckless. But I am gonna be aggressive.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MSU's retooled special teams might be the game-changer Spartans need
