MSU dominates FCS opponent in 40-0 rout

It was a beautiful day for football in East Lansing, as the 2-0 Michigan State Spartans hosted the Prairie View A&M Panthers as MSU looked to add another tally to the opening season win streak in front of the raucous crowd at Spartan Stadium. 

Even with an FCS opponent in town, Chiles said that this Spartan squad was not underestimating any opponent. 

“There are no trap games,” Chiles said. “Everybody’s gonna come out, play their hardest, and we just played a bit better today. It wasn’t a trap game.”

Michigan State blanked the Panthers 40-0, notching Michigan State football’s first shutout since a 52-0 rout of Akron in September of 2022. 

Despite Aidan Chiles coming off of a 363-yard, three-touchdown performance in College Park last weekend, Michigan State abandoned the pass for the bulk of their inaugural drive, keeping the ball on the ground eight times and six plays in a row, capped off by a six-yard scamper into the end zone by the 18-year-old to give the Spartans the lead. 

The sophomore gunslinger finished with 173 passing yards and two total touchdowns before being subbed out in favor of Macomb native Tommy Schuster with the game well out of reach. 

“We (MSU) are a dangerous team, but I don’t think people have seen quite how dangerous we really could be,” Chiles said.

For the guys in green and white, the injury report saw a laundry list of key players inactive for MSU ahead of the home tilt, including (position) Chance Rucker, Jaron Glover, Alante Brown, and Dillon Tatum.  With both Glover and Brown nursing injuries and unavailable for MSU, fellow wideout Aziah Johnson stepped up as a go-to target for Chiles in their absence.

Chiles looked Johnson’s way on third and six in the red zone, a pass which Johnson took 17 yards to the house to put the Spartans up two scores to close out the first quarter. A sizzling showing from Johnson saw the redshirt freshman lead all MSU pass-catchers with 50 receiving yards in the victory.

“They (Aziah Johnson and Nick Marsh) stepped up big. They came to play,” Chiles said. “I feel like we have depth in the receiver room and we could use a lot of these guys in many different ways.”

MSU’s defense held strong all afternoon, forcing the Panthers to punt on their first three drives, but Prairie View A&M would not let up. Cameron Peters and Trejon Spiller gave the depleted Spartan secondary trouble in the first half, driving down the field and having points in their grasp. 

The momentum for Prairie View A&M did not last long, as Guillermo Garcia Rodriguez’s field goal attempt hit the right upright, missing an attempt from 37 yards out midway through the second quarter. 

On the ensuing possession for Michigan State, the Spartans took advantage of Chiles’ negated turnover,  as Nathan Carter scored his first touchdown of the season on a 60-yard rumble to put the home team up three scores.

Mere minutes after senior cornerback Charles Brantley’s 35-yard pick-six was nullified due to a penalty, Brantley nabbed his revenge on Peters and the Panthers by picking off a pass in the end zone and returning it 106 yards for a score to put Michigan State up by 27 at the half. 

“I was thinking about putting a knee down,” Brantley admitted. 

Brantley’s interception return was the first pick-six for the Spartans since Brantley returned an interception for a score against CJ Stroud and Ohio State on October 8, 2022, and the longest defensive touchdown in program history.

While the offense attained north of 450 total yards against a porous Prairie View A&M defense, it was Joe Rossi’s defense that really dazzled on Saturday. The MSU defense kept the Panthers offense at bay, allowing a season-low 150 total yards, as well as three sacks and Brantley’s interception. MSU’s defensive line also allowed the Panthers to a measly one yard per carry in a masterful defensive performance for a shorthanded Spartan defense. 

“I was really pleased with the approach this week. The mentality they came out and played with obviously started on defense,” Smith said. “Start to finish, those guys were lights out, making it physical.”

Despite all of the positives, MSU still accrued double-digit penalties, something Smith emphasized as “something to clean up” as the schedule only gets more grueling for the Spartans.

Michigan State improved to 3-0 in 2024, but its toughest test yet is on the horizon with a road battle with currently-ranked Boston College looming in Chestnut Hill, MA.

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