EAST LANSING – Here are three things to watch as Michigan State football prepares to host Eastern Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 12, after beating Toledo in Week 1, 30-20, at Spartan Stadium.
Michigan State injuries
Only one game into the season, and the upper levels of Pat Fitzgerald’s depth chart are getting tested by injuries. How severe remains to be determined.
The Spartans lost a number of key players to in-game issues in their season-opening win over Toledo on Friday, starting with linebacker Jordan Hall (right arm), left tackle Ben Murawski (lower body), running backs Cam Edwards and also Marvis Parrish (both lower body), wide receiver Chrishon McCray (right leg) and defensive tackle Ben Roberts (right leg).
Fitzgerald said much of the problems were due to cramping
with a humid night game, and players said hydration was a significant focus heading into the opener. And with a trip to No. 5 Notre Dame coming the following week and Big Ten play opening Sept. 26 at home against Nebraska, it will be interesting to see how Fitzgerald approaches his offensive and defensive rotations in Saturday’s game with EMU.
Red zone growth
The Spartans’ offensive line put together a tone-setting, season-opening drive in which the ground game was on full display. Murawski and left guard Conner Moore paved the way for Connecticut transfer Edwards to plow for 34 yards and a 2-yard score on that possession and 56 yards on his first 10 MSU carries in the first quarter.
Then everything dried up. The second possession fizzled with pulling guard Nick Sharpe losing his leverage and allowing Edwards to get slammed for a 4-yard loss. The Spartans settled for a field goal on that trip, then came a Moore hold on the next drive that forced a field goal after getting set up in Toledo territory by a Kenny Soares Jr. interception. A Moore whiff got quarterback Alessio Milivojevic sacked on the following MSU possession and was pivotal in a third straight field goal, and a hold on right tackle Rakeem Johnson and Milivojevic tripping for another sack just before halftime gave Boyd his fourth 3 points of the opening period.
MSU led 19-7 at halftime but left as many as 16 more points on the field with those mistakes. Still, the Spartans scored on all four of their red-zone chances, though it took a calculated gamble calling a sprint-out pass on fourth-and-inches from Milivojevic to Rodney Bullard Jr. for a 5-yard, game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter. That came after Edwards got stopped on fourth-and-short at the Toledo 29 on the previous trip on fourth-and-short.
Noah Kim’s arc
The parade of former MSU starting quarterbacks begins with the return of Noah Kim, who is in his second season at EMU and sixth season in college. The Virginia native began his career at MSU in 2020 as the final quarterback recruit of Mark Dantonio before he retired in February that year, and Kim saw action in nine games for the Spartans, going 105-for-179 for 1,264 yards with nine touchdowns and six interceptions.
Kim started MSU’s first five games in the 2023 season before a season-ending injury. He completed 56.9% of his passes for 1,090 yards with a team-leading six touchdowns along with six interceptions before ceding the job first to Katin Houser (now at Illinois) and then Sam Leavitt (now at LSU) under interim coach Harlon Barnett after Mel Tucker’s firing.
Kim left MSU and transferred to Coastal Carolina in 2024, then went to EMU last season. He started all 12 games, going 247-for-402 for 2,817 yards with 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions passing while adding six rushing touchdowns. Kim and the Eagles went 4-8 under coach Chris Creighton, who is now in his 13th year in Ypsilanti.
One of his team’s captains, Kim opened this season going 27-for-38 for 279 yards with two touchdowns passing and another rushing in a 28-17 MAC win over Sacramento State on Aug. 29, then was 24-for-43 for 174 yards with a touchdown and an interception in Friday night's 27-21 loss to San Jose State.
MSU is 10-0 all-time against EMU, but the two schools have not played since a 73-14 blowout in 2014. The Spartans have won those games by an average of 39 points; not counting three wins between 1898-99, MSU has outscored the Eagles 344-65 since the rivalry resumed in 1996.
The Spartans also will host Houser and Illinois on Oct. 10 and Northwestern and Aidan Chiles on Oct. 17.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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Next up: Eagles
Matchup: Michigan State (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten) vs. Eastern Michigan (1-1, 1-0 Mid-American Conference).
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 12; Spartan Stadium, East Lansing.
TV/radio: Big Ten Network, WJR-AM (760).
Line: Spartans by 16½.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State's injuries already a concern heading into EMU game
