Instant Recap: Injuries Mount for MSU in 41-24 Win Over Youngstown State

After Michigan State won the toss and deferred, Youngstown State got right to work behind quarterback Beau Brungard. Youngstown converted three third downs plus a fourth and short en route to a 15 play, 7 minute, 39 second game-opening drive. Brungard threw for 40 yards and ran for another 19 to put Youngstown deep in Spartan territory. The MSU defense finally held on a third and long to stop Brungard and the Penguins on their own ten before an Andrew Lastkova field goal gave YSU the early 3-0 lead.

Makhi Frazier picked up 5 yards up the middle to start Michigan State’s first drive. Then, Aidan Chiles connected twice with Nick Marsh to put the Spartans in Youngstown territory. Marsh took a short out from Chiles, spun out of a tackle, and turned it into a 28 yard gain. Then Chiles found Marsh again on a rollout to the right for 10 more yards. Marsh absorbed a huge hit from a YSU defender but held onto the ball, and stayed on his feet, for another first down.

Later in the drive, MSU faced a fourth and 8 from the YSU 37 and decided to go for it. Chiles hung in the pocket for a bit and evaded the rush before running to pick up 10 and extend the Spartans’ opening drive. Chiles then found Omari Kelly on the sideline to pick up 15 to the YSU 12 and then Frazier picked up 5 more up the middle.

An end-around to Rodney Bullard was almost stuffed for a huge loss but Bullard slipped out of a foot tackle in the backfield and went down the left sideline into the end zone to put MSU up 7-3 with 1:13 to go in the first quarter.

Michigan State responded to the Penguins’ first drive by forcing a three and out the second time YSU had the ball. The Spartan offense then took over at their own 13 after a nice punt by Brendan Kilpatrick.

It looked like Youngstown was working hard to stop the run on MSU’s first drive and that continued the second time the Spartans had the ball. Chiles, however, was able to take advantage through the air and was aided by impressive yard after catch gains by MSU’s receivers.

Two more Chiles to Marsh completions moved the ball to MSU’s 46. A couple of plays later, it was Chiles to Kelly at the YSU 40. After completing his first 6 passes of the game, Chiles missed Kelly over the middle but then responded with two completions to Jack Velling. The first one converted a third and 7 as Velling took a short completion over the middle and rumbled to the 20 yard line.

After a Chrishon McCray end around went nowhere, Velling made a great catch by reaching back to the sideline for the ball to put it at the YSU 3. After a substitution penalty on Youngstown, Frazier took a pitchout and ran it in for a 14-3 MSU lead with 8:07 to go in the half.

It didn’t take Youngstown long to respond though. After Ryan Eckley’s kickoff went out of bounds - a rare special teams mistake for MSU this year - YSU started on their 35. Brungard was stopped for a loss of 2 on the first play but Jaden Gilbert took it 66 yards to the MSU 1 on the next play. Two plays later, Gilbert had it in the end zone to cut the MSU lead to 14-10 with 5:59 left in the half.

Chiles to Marsh got MSU moving again on the Spartans’ third drive. Marsh turned another short pass into a long gain to the YSU 49. A false start penalty would put the Spartans behind the sticks though. On third and 11, Chiles found Chrishon McCray for eight yards to make it a manageable fourth down attempt. Unfortunately for MSU, Luka Vincic went down on this play and needed some help off the field after taking a hit to his knee.

After the break for Vincic, Chiles looked deep for Velling but there appeared to be a miscommunication between the two as the ball wasn’t really close to Velling and was nearly intercepted by Youngstown.

The Penguins took over on their 41 with 3 minutes to go in the half. After a couple of short gains, MSU had a chance to get off the field on third and 6 but Brungard found Tomczak for 17 to extend the drive.

Two plays later though, Armorion Smith made a great read to drive on a Brungard pass to pick it off and end the Youngstown threat. The Spartans took over at their 24 with 1:21 to go.

Nick Marsh didn’t join the Spartans on the field for the last drive of the half, however. He was shown on the sideline with his gloves off and a wrap near his knee.

The Spartans were able to work it all the way to the Penguins 1 yard line without Marsh but couldn’t find the end zone again to end the first half. Chiles to Bullard converted a third and 5 to the YSU 24 and then Chiles to Velling over the middle got it almost to the goal line. However, instead of using their last timeout here, MSU tried to hurry to the line to spike it. But MSU didn’t get set, took a five yard penalty, and ended up using the timeout to avoid the 10 second runoff. With the ball back at the 6, Michigan State went with the field goal attempt from Martin Connington to make it 17-10 at the half.

Chiles was 16-21 for 213 yards at the break but Michigan State only picked up 53 yards on the ground in 15 carries. Marsh had 94 yards on 6 catches before sitting out the last drive while Velling hauled in 4 passes for 59 yards. Youngstown had 159 total yards at the half, with most of that coming on their first drive and on Gilbert’s long run that led to the Penguin’s touchdown.

It wasn’t the dominant start the Spartan faithful were hoping for and possible injuries to Vincic and Marsh were even more cause for concern. Also, after two big returns last week against Boston College, Alante Brown was not returning kickoffs today. The Big Ten Network announcers reported that he was ruled out prior to the game with an undisclosed injury.

Second half adjustments would be important again for MSU but they didn’t appear to make any on their first drive of the second half.

After a touchback to start the second half, two more Frazier runs went nowhere. On third down, Frazier took a pass in the backfield and was immediately dropped for a 6 hard loss.

Eckley’s first punt of the game had YSU starting at their 33. The Spartan defense looked like they paid attention at halftime and forced a quick three and out with Josh Eaton defending a sideline pass on third and 8 to get MSU off the field.

The Spartans special teams and Omari Kelly created the first excitement of the second half with Kelly bringing the YSU punt back 83 yards to the Penguins’ 4 yard line. It took exactly one play from there to make it 24-10, Spartans, as Tullis took a pitchout into the end zone.

Michigan State’s defense was locked in again and continued the momentum with another quick three out without yielding a single yard.

MSU took over and, at first, it didn’t look like the positive momentum would continue. Marsh remained out and two Tullis runs produced minus 3 yards. No problem for Chiles though. He found Kelly for 20 to continue the drive and then Velling for 8 more. A tough run by Tullis picked up another first down at the YSU 29. Then, Chiles took a short drop, hung in the pocket, and found a wide open Michael Masunas in the end zone. Connington’s kick made it 31-10, MSU, with 6:21 to go and had Spartan fans breathing a little easier.

The moment of relaxation didn’t last long. YSU took over and Brungard found tight end Austin Bray for 23 yards on a third and 8. On the very next play, it was Brungard to Gilbert down the seam for 39 more and first and goal at the MSU 9.

Later, on fourth and goal at the 3, Brungard quickly found RK Dandridge and it was back to just a two-score lead for MSU at 31-17 with 1:17 to go in the third quarter.

After cutting into the lead, Youngstown immediately created an opportunity to draw even closer. MSU took over and Chiles dropped back, apparently looking to go deep with it. Pressure came up the middle though and got to Chiles as he released the ball. His pass was deflected and immediately went into the hands of Youngstown’s Cameron Cunningham - Chile’s first interception in 176 pass attempts going back to last year.

Youngstown started on MSU’s 17 but couldn’t go anywhere. Nikai Martinez, in his first game for MSU this year, made the third down tackle on Brungard. YSU had to settle for a 37 yard field attempt which went just wide over the right upright to preserve the two touchdown lead.

After the stop, MSU finally found a little traction in their run game but even this had a drawback. Frazier started by going for 5 and then Chiles went for 15 more. Then it was Tullis for 9 and Tullis for 6 more and a first down at the YSU 45. MSU switched back to Frazier here and he was dropped for a loss of 1. Worse, for MSU, he stayed down and came off the field with help, unable to put any weight on his left leg.

After Frazier left the field, Chiles was able to continue the drive with a 24 yard draw on third and 9. He tried to hurdle a couple of defenders at the end LeVeon Bell style but the coaches would probably like him to just slide in that situation.

The drive stalled from there though when MSU faced third and goal at the 6. Chiles faced some pressure but had Omari Kelly wide open in the end zone. Chiles couldn’t get his feet set though and sailed it past Kelly. The Spartans settled for another Connington field goal and 34-17 lead with 8:44 to go.

Youngstown certainly wasn’t ready to quit faced with a 3-score deficit. The Penguins faced a fourth and 4 at the MSU 48 when Brungard found Tomczak on a crosser that went for 26 yards. The conversion made YSU 3-3 on fourth downs. A few plays later, Kylon Wilson took a quick screen into the end zone as it looked like MSU didn’t have enough guys on the right side of the field to stop it. It was back to a 10 point game, 34-24, with 3:05 to go.

In addition to giving up another touchdown, Brady Pretzlaff also came off the field on this drive favoring his shoulder in yet another injury setback for the Spartans.

Youngstown went for the onside kick but Wayne Matthews was there for the Spartans to cover it. The Spartans took over for what would be their final drive with Aidan Chiles still in the game - something no Spartan was hoping for in this game.

This time, Michigan State ran mostly behind Elijah Tau-Tolliver who would score on a 22 yard run with 1:48 to go when MSU was just trying to run out the clock. It was Tau-Tolliver’s first score as a Spartan and it produced what would be the final score of 41-24.

Interestingly though, MSU called Chiles’ number to pick up a key third and short on a QB run coming out of the 2 minute timeout. It was one thing to do that for the tying touchdown in the second overtime last week but it might be a warning sign when you think you need that play to get a late game first down against an FCS opponent.

In the end, a lot of credit has to go to Youngstown State who came ready to play and presented MSU with a lot of challenges. However, the Spartans must have been hoping for an easier path here.

Chiles finished 22-29 for 270 yards. He also led MSU in rushing with 8 carries for 76 yards while the Spartans improved the run game late in the game, finishing with 174 yards and 5.3 yards per carry.

Brungard finished 24-34 for 242 yards and 2 touchdowns for Youngstown but was limited to just 17 yards on 14 carries.

Michigan State improved to 3-0 but will begin preparations for USC with several key injury concerns. If there was one thing, besides a win, that everyone wanted out of this game the most it would have been coming out healthy. But now the Spartans face injury concerns with Nick Marsh, Makhi Frazier, Connor Moore, Luka Vincic, and Brady Pretzlaff.

If MSU had trouble running the ball in the first half against Youngstown, USC is sure to look for similar success against the Spartans run game. It’s probably going to fall heavily on Aidan Chile’s shoulders again next week and he’s going to need all of his offensive weapons available to him.

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