A lot can change in a week.
Last Saturday's win as underdogs against Maryland was more than just a collective sigh of relief — it was sitting up in your chair, dusting off your glasses, and asking: is this team good?
Preseason excitement seemingly has returned - and with good reason. Aidan Chiles showed where his ceiling lies (very high), and Nick Marsh - for all intents and purposes - established himself as not only this team's best wideout, but one of the best freshmen in the country, with 194 yards, the 10th most in a single game in MSU history.
The Spartans return home this Saturday to square off against Prairie View A&M, Sept. 14 at 3:40 p.m. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
This game was originally scheduled to be against Louisiana before the Rajun Cajuns replaced Michigan State with Wake Forest on their calendar.
PVAMU is led by third-year head coach Bubba McDowell. The Panthers fell in their season opener against Texas Southern, 27-9, but bounced back with a road win at Northwestern State last Saturday.
MSU currently sits as 40.5 point favorites (DraftKings).
Let's take a look at the matchup in more detail.
2024 statistics review:
Michigan State:
Record: 2-0 (1-0 in Big Ten)
Offense: 393.0 YPG, 238.5 passing YPG, 154.5 rushing YPG
Defense: 293.5 YPG, 184.5 passing YPG, 109.0 rushing YPG
Third-down offense: 40.74%
Third-down defense: 40.63%
Points per game: 21.5
Points per game allowed: 17.0
Prairie View A&M University
Record: 1-1 (0-1 SWAC)
Offense: 354.0 YPG, 249.5 passing YPG, 104.5 rushing YPG
Defense: 314.0 YPG, 178.5 passing YPG, 135.5 rushing YPG
Third-down offense: 40.00%
Third-down defense: 28.57%
Points per game: 23.00
Points per game allowed: 29.00
Series History/All-Time Records
Michigan State all-time record: 731-487-44 (.597)
Prairie View A&M all-time record:: 592-81-34 (.861)
First meeting between teams
Key Matchups:
Shemar Savage vs MSU defensive backs:
The Panthers leading receiver Shemar Savage has exploded onto the scene in his sophomore campaign thus far, totaling 238 yards and a touchdown in two games.
MSU is dealing with a banged up secondary, losing Dillon Tatum and Khalid Majeed in week one, and Chance Rucker last week — all three are expected to miss significant time.
A unit heading into the season with depth, now finds itself clawing for stability.
The secondary was able to “bend not break” as Maryland leading receiver Tai Felton totaled 11 catches, 152 yards, and a score.
Savage will look to take advantage of the MSU secondary and continue his good play.
The task of slowing down Savage will be a group effort by Chuck Brantley, Nikai Martinez, Malik Spencer, Angelo Grose, and more. Most of all, though, this secondary needs to stay healthy in order to compete heading into the thick of the season.
Aidan Chiles mitigating mistakes
Imagine a kid (definetely not the author) gets an electric scooter for his 13th birthday — blue stripes — little seat to sit on, or stand if he was feeling “cool.”
He unboxes it, adjusts the seat he won't use, and takes it for a spin.
It’s fast, new, and of course, mangled, after a crash less than five minutes from leaving the driveway.
Which brings me to Aidan Chiles.
The test for Chiles as he develops is risk versus reward. If Chiles can find his safety valve option, consistently, those moments to "let it rip” will come, and last week's game was evidence that he’s capable of making big time plays at any moment.
Chiles through two weeks has stat lines of 10/24, 114 yards two interceptions and 24/39 363 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions and a fumble (recently changed from a INT).
The middle ground there is exciting, and if Chiles can lift that floor - and continue to flash his infinite ceiling - he could be special.
Game Info:
Date/Kickoff Time: Saturday, Sept. 14, 3:40 p.m. Eastern Time
TV: Big Ten Network
TV Announcers: Mark Followill (play-by-play), Anthony Herron (analyst), Dannie Rogers (sideline)
Radio: Spartan Media Network
Radio Play-by-Play: George Blaha
Radio Analyst: Jason Strayhorn
Radio Sidelines: Jehuu Caulcrick
Radio Broadcast Host: Will Tieman
Location: Spartan Stadium (74,866 capacity), East Lansing, Michigan
Weather Expectations: Partly cloudy with temperature settling around 82 degrees at kickoff. 5-10 mph winds, gusts up to 19 mph.
Should be “a beautiful day for football."
Final Thoughts:
Here’s some football math for you.
Prairie View A&M beat Northwestern State last Saturday 37-31. And last night South Alabama beat Northwestern State 87-10; they even cut the fourth quarter short, both sides agreeing to reduce it to a six-minute final quarter.
Pathetic?
Yes, but what does it mean to Spartan fan?
You should never overlook an opponent. Jonathan Smith said as much in his press conference this week. That being said — this game is about MSU continuing to build chemistry and cleaning up mistakes ahead of a massive test next Saturday on the road at Boston College.
Look for MSU to work on their run schemes, and possibly spread the wealth in the run game.
I believe soon we'll see if either Lynch-Adams or Nate Carter separate themselves as a lead runner. This will always be a timeshare backfield, but the door appears open for either to grab the rains and be option A.
Growth in the first few weeks of the season is a must in a rebuild, and wide receivers coach Courtney Hawkins said as much.
"We had great improvement from game one to game two," Hawkins said. "(That) was something that you want to see as a coach, and now we want to see improvement from game two to game three. But what happened last week, that’s the standard, that’s the expectation here at Michigan State - receivers (need) to go out and make plays."
Outside of Monterie Foster and Nick Marsh, the third option in the passing game is still up in the air. This is a game where plenty of opportunities to earn more targets are available. It will be interesting to see who rises to the occasion and cements themselves in the centerfold of this wide out crew.
Also, can MSU cut down on the penalties? They're averaging 11 for 120 yards per game.
All this and more — coming up tomorow afternoon at 3:40 p.m. in East Lansing.
