Defense stole the show on Friday night as Michigan State
blanked Western Michigan for about 56 minutes, but a late pick-six thrown by Alessio Milivojevic ruined the shutout.
The defense still gave up no points; the only times the Broncos got deep into Michigan State territory, they missed a field goal and turned it over on downs. They didn't move the ball with ease like they had hoped, and Jordan Hall and the Michigan State defense dominated.
Hall led all Spartan defenders with eight tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and a sack. He was all over the field and really defended at a high level, living up to the preseason hype.
Many were pleasantly surprised by the defense's performance against the Broncos, but Hall is not getting complacent after arguably the best showing in years.
Jordan Hall: "This is a good starting point for our defense. Not allowing any points defensively is something we will hold on to. There is still a lot to improve. I like the way we responded in situations today."
— Emmett Matasovsky (@E_Matasovsky57) August 30, 2025
There wasn't a ton that Michigan State's defense could've done differently, but clearly Hall felt differently. He feels that the defense played well and he's happy about not giving up any points, but "there's a lot to improve", in his words.
Hall is right, though. The defense really responded well to a couple of tough situations in which the secondary got lost on some deep passes. They responded by not giving up anything else, holding the Western quarterbacks to 16-of-33 passing for 188 yards and an interception. That's not too shabby from a relatively inexperienced secondary.
The run game only gave up 29 yards on 26 carries, so Hall did his job.
I like the mindset that the junior captain has, however. Just because they didn't give up any points and just over 200 yards, there's a lot to work on.