That’s two wins in a row.
I felt a little worried after the first half, but they looked like a new team in the second. This was a fun win for MSU, and they showed improvement after their Week 1 win against Toledo. Coach Fitzgerald is now 2-0 as Michigan State’s head coach. Hopefully there’s a lot these guys can take away from this game as they prepare for next week’s matchup against the Fighting Irish.
Michigan State’s star LB Jordan Hall would be ruled out for this one, but upcomer Brady Pretzlaff
started in his place. It was a slow start to the first quarter, but a 31-yard punt return by Chrison McCray put MSU in great field position, and they took advantage. Just three plays later, Alessio Milivojevic found Frederick Moore for an 18-yard passing touchdown to put the Spartans up 7-0.
They were able to push the lead to 14-0 after an 18-play drive that resulted in another direct snap run and touchdown for Cam Edwards. Instead of attempting a 52-yard field goal from the 35-yard line, Coach Fitzgerald chose to go for it on 4th-and-11, and Milivojevic found Charles Taplin for 19 yards to keep the drive alive. It may not have been pretty, but they were able to extend the lead to two scores.
Noah Kim and Eastern Michigan responded with their best drive of the first half that ended in a 4-yard TD run by Kim to make it a one-score game again. MSU tried to sneak in a field goal before the half ended, but another dropped catch kept them out of field goal range. The Spartans went into the locker room at halftime with a 14-7 lead.
Honestly, it was somewhat of a disappointing first half, and one that didn’t seem like they were taking a step up from last week’s play against Toledo. EMU had more total yards, but also held a 107-to-60 edge in rushing yards over MSU. The Eagles averaged 5.6 yards per carry as the Spartan defense struggled to tackle. Milivojevic was 9-for-17 (53%) for 83 yards while Edwards added 38 rushing yards on nine carries. The offensive line may have been the position group I was most excited about on offense, but they were struggling. EMU won the half’s time of possession by more than six-and-a-half minutes.
The second half was a different story.
Edwards opened the half with a 33-yard run, and with a couple of consecutive plays from Cam Fancher, Edwards got another direct snap for his second touchdown of the day. It was MSU’s third consecutive drive of at least 12 plays as they took a 21-7 lead early in the third quarter.
Eastern Michigan got it over midfield on the following drive, but a Charles Brantley hit stick forced a fumble to get the ball back in MSU’s hands. Milivojevic capitalized and found Charles Taplin after a pretty route for a 38-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 28-7 halfway through the third.
EMU never got anything going offensively in the second half. A 46-yard catch by Jayden Savoury put Michigan State back inside the ten, but an Edwards fumble gave MSU their first turnover of the season. Edwards responded with a 40-yard run on his next touch, and Jaz Patterson was able to finish the drive with a touchdown of his own. With a 35-7 lead, the starters rested to finish out the game while some of the young guys got on the field for the first time.
The play from the Spartans in the second half is what I wanted to see out of this one. The first half felt disappointing, but they bounced back in a strong way in the third quarter. They extended their lead, then kept their foot on the gas to finish this one out. The defense showed major improvement after halftime and held EMU to -6 rushing yards in the second half. Edwards was able to break out a couple of deep runs, and I’d like to see more opportunities for Milivojevic to throw it down the field.
If this team’s identity is how they played in the second half, they might make some noise this year.
Bring on Notre Dame.
Go Green!
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