In the first half of Friday's game, Jonathan Smith had to love what he saw from the offense as it scored 21 points with relative ease, but Michigan State went completely silent in the second half.
In the first 30 minutes, Michigan State was moving the ball consistently, but the Spartans were doing it without a ton of explosive plays. Unlike Western Michigan, the Spartans didn't have a single play of over 30 yards (Western had two of at least 35 yards). They moved the ball methodically, picking up 5-10 yards on darn near every play in the first half, it seemed.
Aidan Chiles threw downfield a couple of times, but one was a slight misfire to a diving Brandon Tullis, and the other was a miscommunication to Chrishon McCray that went over his head. Well, there was a third, but it was on a free play that looked like a jammed route by the defender.
The longest pass by Chiles on Friday night was 28 yards to Chrishon McCray followed by a 21-yarder to Omari Kelly.
On the ground, Makhi Frazier had a 28-yard run, and Chiles added a 26-yarder of his own. The offense wasn't exactly explosive, but it was consistent in the first half and then non-existent in the second.
Smith talked about that post game, and admitted that the offense has to work on getting more explosive.
Smith: “We have to get more explosive offensively.”
— Kenny Jordan (@Kenny_Jordan5) August 30, 2025
He's right. The offense needs to do better than four 20-plus-yard plays against a mediocre MAC team if it wants to make some noise in the Big Ten this year. That's not explosive enough.
The pieces are there in the passing game, and we know the Spartans have at least three capable runners (Tullis, Frazier, Chiles), so there's no reason the team shouldn't be more explosive than what we saw on Friday night. A lot of that is on Brian Lindgren.