Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith is 1-0 to begin his tenure in East Lansing, but it didn't come easy.

The Spartans narrowly defeated Florida Atlantic to kick off the 2024 campaign by a final score of 16-10. The Spartans' play was sloppy throughout the game — leaving points on the board, turning the ball over and amassing 12 penalties for 140 yards.

Smith knows there is a lot to fix, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, but the defense stood tall against the Owls (outside of the penalties) and the head coach was proud of the way his entire team competed for 60 minutes of football.

"Obviously, you try to win the game and we got that done, so pleased with that," Smith said following the victory over FAU. "I do think the crowd was awesome. (The crowd) actually impacted the game — I look at us defensively, some of those stops, third down, fourth down, crowd noise, the energy into it. So, really appreciate everybody coming out and helping us there. Game one, you're going to learn a lot about your team, and we've got a lot to work on. What I did learn and what I was pleased with is that there's a response in this group. We are going to play for four quarters, and win the game in the fourth quarter, and we were able to do that."

While Smith was elated his team found a way to win and praised its resiliency, he is well aware that the level of performance is going to need to increase significantly as the Spartans get deeper into the schedule.

Smith also credited Florida Atlantic, led by head coach Tom Herman, for the issues the Owls were able to cause the Spartans.

"It's game one, we have a lot to learn/work to clean up," Smith explained. "I look at this offensively — obviously, some things that we want to do a whole lot better. First, taking care of the ball. I mean, we've got three opportunities, really, in the red zone, and we turn the thing over or don't get a fourth down conversion ... we're feeling quite a bit different (if we capitalize on those opportunities), that's 21 points. I want to say, too, I'll give some credit to FAU. I thought those guys played really hard. That defense contested, especially on the back end. The quarterback extended, plays with great effort. He was a challenge back there. And so there were two teams playing really hard, that we came out on top."

As mentioned, Michigan State's offense struggled. The Spartans totaled just 293 yards, and gave the ball away three times. MSU also converted just three of its 13 third-down attempts (23%).

The Spartans did find some success on the ground, accumulating 37 carries for 179 rushing yards (4.8 yards per carry) and two rushing scores. MSU's rushing attack was led by running back Kay'ron Lynch-Adams, who totaled 101 rushing yards on just nine attempts (11.2 yards per carry), including a 63-yard touchdown scamper. Although, Smith knows the run game can be better.

However, the passing game struggled. Sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles completed just 10 out of his 24 passing attempts (42%) for a mere 114 yards with zero passing touchdowns and two interceptions. Chiles also fumbled the ball, but was able to recover it. Additionally, he recorded 28 rushing yards and a rushing touchdown.

Following the game, a visibly frustrated Chiles said that he takes "full responsibility" for MSU's offensive woes on Friday. Of course Smith and Chiles' teammates know that there is plenty of blame to go around for the struggles on offense.

"I think on Aidan's end, yeah he wants to play better, well I think the other 10 guys on offense want to play better," Smith said. "We gotta help the guy out. We were hit and miss there — whether we're missing a blocking scheme, route, and they challenge, FAU, those guys can test in the back end. Our run game's not where we wanted it to (be), and that's gonna help the quarterback. So, there's a lot we can do to help him out. I know (Chiles will be) back to work and looking to improve in Week Two."

Smith went on to break down Chiles' game further.

"I think (Chiles) saw the field decent out there — you know, coverage, recognition," Smith said. "He could have been (more) accurate a little bit on a couple of easier throws that he (had). I do think he competed out there, ran with the ball, showed up a little bit. We gotta keep the (ball) locked up because he put it on the ground. I think he got confused on the interception. He thought it was one coverage and it wasn't. And that's, again, first game. There's a bunch of learning out there and I know he'll learn from it."

Smith, a former quarterback himself at his alma mater, Oregon State (where Chiles transferred into Michigan State from), knows what it is like to struggle through you first start.

"I think about myself," Smith said when asked how he directs Chiles toward the positive aspects of his game. "My first start, we're playing at home, I had five turnovers. I think I threw three picks, fumbled the ball twice and we lost the game by one. It goes back to response, this thing ain't easy. It ain't all on him, and he knows this ... He's competitive. He did some good things, enough good things for us to win the game. He's 1-0, undefeated as a starting quarterback."

Offensively, Smith also noted that the Spartans have to run the ball better in the red zone and be more efficient in that area of the field.

One of Smith's calls that fans questioned was his decision to go for it on fourth-down-and-a-long-1 up 16-10 early in the fourth quarter. A made field goal would have given the Spartans a nine-point lead and made it a two-possession game with under 11 minutes to play. However, MSU opted to hand the ball off to Lynch-Adams up the middle, who was stuffed by the FAU defense for a two-yard loss. The play resulted in a turnover on downs.

Smith said the Spartans want to be aggressive, but admitted that he potentially would have done things differently if given that opportunity in that situation again.

"Obviously, we'd love to have gotten that fourth and I think it was about a yard-and-a-half," Smith said. "And some of that's going to be a little bit of mentality, and I preach it to the team that the difference between seven and three points is huge. And so that opportunity arose. That was probably overly aggressive (to go for it) because ... if you kick the field goal, if you make the thing, yeah, you're up two scores. So hindsight 20/20, probably would have gone the other direction."

There was another strange point in the game that came deep in the fourth quarter with Michigan State leading 16-10. FAU quarterback Cam Fancher slid close to the first-down marker on fourth-down-and-1. Initially, the play was called a first down and, MSU linebacker Jordan Turner was called for targeting and unsportsmanlike conduct, which would have resulted in 30 penalty yards and moved the Owls deep into Michigan State's territory. However, officials reviewed the targeting call and it was reversed, but a late hit penalty still stood. Upon the replay, the referees also determined that Fancher was short of the line to gain, resulting in a turnover on downs. Since both fouls occurred after the play in which Fancher was already ruled short of the first-down marker, MSU got the ball back. But the penalty yardage for the unsportsmanlike conduct and late hit were then applied to Michigan State's starting field position.

There was a lot of confusion about this sequence (for further explanation on these calls, check the Spartans Illustrated Message Board). Here is how Smith said it was explained to him:

"All of a sudden we got the ball. I finally got the explanation. But after review, (FAU) quarterback goes to slide when he gives himself up, he's then declared short of the line of gain. We hit him late, well, it's already, it's a dead ball foul. So the line to gain has not been gained. So we hit him late, that's 15 (penalty yards), and then all of a sudden we've got some emotion, which I love our guys playing with emotion, but we've got some emotion, there's another 15 (penalty yards). So, it's all after the play. So that's how it chops up — 30 yards (in penalties) and we got the ball."

While Smith said he appreciates when his guys compete with passion and show emotion, he knows that the penalties — particularly the personal fouls — can't happen. Although, he knows it can be difficult to defend quarterbacks who may slide late.

"Too many, without question," Smith said about the penalties. "Again, we want to play with some aggression, but we've gotta have some technique at the same time. So it's not just always a late hit, we got a horse-collar (tackle) here. We gotta be smart around the sideline. We knew going into the game, the quarterback was gonna be athletic and aggressive. Get out, but he likes to slide, we've gotta be aware when that's taking place. I will say that's not easy because as you're going to go tackle a guy, it's really proper technique — you want to go low, you want to tackle low, and then all of a sudden he's coming down right in that slide. It's not easy, but we've got to coach it better and get better at it."

While Smith noted that there will be some "urgency" to get things cleaned up, he is not in a panic. He noted that “Week one is kind of ‘Overreaction Saturday,'" and the team will be going back to work immediately.

Next up, Michigan State will travel to College Park to take on Maryland. That contest is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time and will broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

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