We are going to introduce a new weekly feature to The Only Colors. After each game (or should this only be after a win?), we are going to give out a game ball to the player of the game. I will go back to week 1 and say that Makhi Frazier would have earned the award from the opener for his 103 yard, 1 TD effort.
Week 2’s double-overtime shootout against Boston College has a few possible candidates. It could be the quarterback. Aidan Chiles threw for 4 TDs and added another with his legs. It was one
of his better performances in his MSU career. But I am holding him back because only 2 of the TDs came in regulation; also, he only had 207 yards passing in regulation. I need to see more production and he still needs to gain some accuracy on the deep ball before I recognize him as the difference-maker.
Wide receiver Nick Marsh is also under consideration. He caught 5 passes for 68 yards including 2 TDs. The first score was an 11-yard catch where he was wrapped up around the 7 but refused to be tackled and carried multiple defenders on his back until he broke the plane. And the second touchdownfor Marsh was a 41-yard corner route where Marsh got behind the defense and caught it unchallenged.
Defensively, I do not have a nominee. A few guys had a big play or two. Jordan Hall and Wayne Matthews were there usual selves leading the team in tackles. David Santiago was in on a tackle for loss and also deflected a pass at the line of scrimmage. But we gave up nearly 400 yards in the air and could not get the stop late in regulation, allowing a game-tying FG to send it to overtime.
You could certainly make a case for Martin Connington who kicked his first ever field goal attempts, first crushing a 50-yarder and later chipping in from 39. Both kicks put MSU up by 3. This performance calmed many nerves throughout Spartan Nation.
But there is one more player that needs to be mentioned, and this is the player who is getting the game ball from me. Punter Ryan Eckley had been superhuman. On his three punts against BC, he averaged 54.7 yards, improving on his already-impressive 51.3 against Western Michigan in the opener. Those 3 punts had distances of 60, 55, and 49. The two later punts were both downed at the BC 1-yard line. Eckley is the reason MSU is controlling the field position battles. In those two drives from their 1, the Eagles managed 18 yards and 1 yard (at the end of regulation). I joked in the recap of game 1 that Eckley has put his name in the Heisman conversation after a pair of punts were downed at the 2. Now, I am saying it with a little more earnestness: Eckley For Heisman.
What about you? Who is your player of the game?
