It was a hard-fought game, but turnovers ended up costing Michigan State.

Boston College won a defensive battle, 23-19, over Michigan State on Saturday night. The Spartans suffered their first loss of the 2024 season, and now sit at 3-1 overall (1-0 in Big Ten play).

The Eagles improve to 3-1 overall (1-0 in ACC play) on the 2024 campaign.

Michigan State emphatically lost the turnover battle. The Spartans gave the ball away four times and Boston College turned it over just once. MSU quarterback Aidan Chiles was responsible for three of those turnovers (interceptions), including the game-sealing pick with just 36 seconds remaining on the game. The Eagles would run out the clock with three kneel downs after that.

Chiles ended the day 17-for-35 passing for 241 yards and the aforementioned three interceptions. He added 57 yards and one touchdown with his legs. Wide receiver Montorie Foster Jr. led the Spartans in receiving with 87 yards on four catches. Tight end Jack Velling added 77 yards on six receptions. Running back Kay’ron Lynch-Adams was the leading rusher with 61 yards on 15 carries.

Michigan State out-gained Boston College 368 total yards to 292. The Spartans also had more yards per play than the Eagles (5.4-4.9).

In the end, turnovers were the story of the game.

Michigan State’s red zone defense was a bright spot. Boston College only scored on two of its four trips inside the MSU 20-yard line.

One of the other bright spots for the Spartans was that the penalties were cleaned up. Both Michigan State and Boston College ended the game with three penalties each.

Michigan State won the coin toss and deferred its choice to the second half. Boston College went three-and-out to start the game. Defensive lineman Quindarius Dunnigan had a big third-down sack to force the punt.

The Spartans began their first possession at the Boston College 49-yard line. After a nine-play, 26-yard drive, kicker Jonathan Kim hit a 41-yard field goal to give Michigan State the early 3-0 lead.

Boston College responded with an eight-play, 58-yard drive. However, in the red zone, linebacker Cal Haladay forced a fumble on BC running back Treshaun Ward and the Spartans recovered.

At the end of the first quarter, MSU had a 3-0 lead. However, Boston College out-gained the Spartans 81 total yards to 33.

The Eagles got on the board with an 11-yard touchdown rush by running back Turbo Richard early in the second quarter. That capped off an 11-play, 64-yard drive that chewed up over six minutes of clock. Nine of the 11 plays on the drive were rushing plays. Kicker Luca Lombardo missed the extra point attempt for the Eagles to keep the score at 6-3.

Michigan State looked like it was going three-and-out after two incompletions, but Chiles scrambled for a gain of 11 yards for a first down on third down. Following a healthy dose of Lynch-Adams, Chiles hit Velling for a 12-yard gain and then he hit Foster on a deep shot for a 40-yard gain.

Chiles scored on the very next play on a quarterback sneak to give the Spartans a 10-6 lead.

Michigan State took over again after a Boston College three-and-out. On the ensuing drive, Chiles scrambled for a 22-yard gain and he hit Foster for a 17-yard gain. Chiles followed that up with an interception on a pass intended for Velling.

The Spartans had one final possession to close out the first half after forcing another three-and-out, thanks to a combined sack on quarterback Thomas Castellanos by rush end Khris Bogle and defensive tackle Jalen Satchell.

MSU took over at its own 41-yard line. The Spartans had three consecutive plays of 12-plus yards to set them up in the red zone. Michigan State ended up stalling out and Kim tacked on a 26-yard field goal.

Heading into the locker room for halftime, Michigan State led Boston College 13-6.

In the second quarter, Michigan State out-gained the Eagles 156 yards to 27. Through 30 minutes of football, the Spartans only had one penalty for 15 yards.

Michigan State received the opening kickoff, but Lynch-Adams coughed up the football on a big hit and Boston College recovered. The Eagles took over at the MSU 5-yard line.

However, the Eagles were only able to get three points. On third down, Castellanos was sacked by linebacker Jordan Turner for a loss of 13 yards. Lombardo was able to hit the 39-yard field goal to cut Michigan State’s lead to 13-9.

The bad start to the second half continued with a false start penalty on offensive tackle Stanton Ramil and then an interception thrown by Chiles. Boston College only needed one play to score. Ward dodged tacklers on his way for a 36-yard touchdown. The Eagles took a 16-13 lead.

Chiles and the Spartans answered back. Michigan State had an eight-play, 42-yard drive ended by a Kim 51-yard field goal to tie the game. However, the Spartans felt like they could have had more. Chiles missed on a throw to a wide open Foster who could have walked into the end zone for six points. Instead, MSU had to settle for a field goal.

Following punts by both teams, the Eagles had a sustained drive highlighted by a 27-yard pass from Castellanos to wide receiver Jaedn Skeete. Boston College was set up with a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line following a Castellanos fumble that the Eagles recovered. On the fourth down, linebacker Jordan Hall went unblocked and stopped Castellanos on the designed run in the backfield for a turnover on downs.

Backed up in its own territory, Chiles hit a big pass on third-and-6 to wide receiver Aziah Johnson for a 26-yard gain. Michigan State later converted on a fourth-and-1 in its own territory to keep the drive alive. On the next play, Chiles found Johnson for a 19-yard pickup. Lynch-Adams also stepped up with a 19-yard gain on a third-and-15.

The 18-play, 89-yard drive stalled out in the red zone. Kim hit a 27-yard field goal to give Michigan State a 19-16 lead.

Boston College only needed six plays to respond. Castellanos found wide receiver Lewis Bond open down the field for a 42-yard touchdown. Lombardo hit the extra point to give the Eagles a 23-19 lead with 1:28 remaining in the game.

Michigan State opened the ensuing drive with three-straight completions to Velling to set the Spartans up in plus territory. Then, Chiles forced a deep shot to Foster, who was in double coverage. It was picked off in the end zone by defensive back Max Tucker.

Boston College kneeled out the rest of the game to get the win in the “Red Bandanna Game.”

Next up for the Spartans, Michigan State hosts Ohio State in East Lansing on Saturday. The game is set for a 7 p.m. Eastern Time kickoff and will broadcast exclusively on Peacock.

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