Michigan State football was 1 of just 3 Big Ten defenses to allow 0 points in Week 1

The Michigan State football defense opened the 2025 season with a bang, holding Western Michigan to zero points, and scoring two of their own on a second-half safety (they almost had two).

The Spartan defense out-scored Western Michigan's offense 2-0 on Friday night, leading to a season-opening win in a buzzing East Lansing on a holiday weekend. They suffocated Brady Jones and Broc Lowry, holding the two quarterbacks to a total of 188 yards and an interception on 16 combined completions on 33 attempts. It was a great defensive showing.

It was so good, in fact, that it was one of just three Big Ten defenses that didn't allow a single point in Week 1, along with Wisconsin and Purdue.

Illinois was the only other Big Ten team to not allow a single touchdown defensively in Week 1, showing that there are some potentially dominant units in the conference.

Ohio State had the best showing of the week, allowing seven points to the No. 1 team in the country, and UCLA had the worst outing, giving up an astounding 43 points to Utah.

Michigan State, however, was the only team in the conference that had a defense out-score its opponent offensively in Week 1. The Spartan defense, as stated earlier, out-scored Western's offense 2-0, and the only score by the Broncos was a pick-six late in the fourth quarter on a poor read by Alessio Milivojevic on an Alante Brown out route.

The Spartans' defense will look to have this same type of success against Boston College in Week 2, but obviously the opponent will be tougher to slow down -- the Eagles scored 66 points in Week 1.