Michigan State’s battle with Toledo may have come down to the wire despite it feeling like a lopsided game for about 45 minutes, but it wasn’t even the most talked-about Big Ten vs. MAC game of the weekend. That honor goes to Michigan with its “win” over Western Michigan as time expired — actually after time expired.
The Spartans did play much better against the Rockets than the score insinuates, but it wasn’t even only close because Michigan State’s defense gave up two long touchdown plays. In fact, almost 50 percent of Toledo’s total yardage came on two plays.
There’s a lot to clean up obviously, but there’s also a lot to like.
Which Spartans saw their stock jump after the season-opening win over Toledo.
1. Liam Boyd
Arguably the best player on the field in the opener, Liam Boyd was nearly perfect on six field goal attempts in his first game as a Spartan. His only miss was a blocked attempt in the third quarter and a completely missed blocking assignment off the edge. Boyd hit a 51-yarder and made his other four field goals look easy.
Michigan State has itself yet another really good kicker. Buy stock now.
2. Alessio Milivojevic
While the offense seemingly couldn’t finish drives in the end zone, Alessio Milivojevic was moving the ball with ease. He was 26-for-34 with 247 yards and a touchdown as he was the Big Ten’s fifth highest-graded quarterback in Week 1, according to PFF. All the metrics are pointing to Alessio being one of the top performing quarterbacks in all of college football after one week.
He looked confident, poised, and he didn’t make many bad throws nor did he make mistakes in the turnover column. Milivojevic looked to have taken a step.
Next step? Taking some shots down the field.
3. Tre Bell
The defender who stood out the most on Friday was Tre Bell and it’s because it was so refreshing to see a cornerback play at a high level. It’s been a couple of years since Michigan State had a cornerback capable of locking down and stepping up to make plays in the run game or in blitz packages.
Bell had a couple of tackles for loss, including a big sack in the second half on a perfectly drawn-up blitz. He lived up to all the offseason hype, and then some. He looks like an All-Big Ten corner.
Honorable mention: Rod Bullard, Jayden Savoury, Brady Pretzlaff
Honestly, you could add Trent Fraley, Eli Coenen, and Michael Richard to this list, too, but the three players who really stood out outside of the three mentioned above were Rodney Bullard Jr., Jayden Savoury, and Brady Pretzlaff. All three guys were instrumental in the win and Michigan State probably doesn’t hold on as easily without each of them.
Bullard was clutch with his late touchdown catch and 2-point conversion, Savoury had a big first game with four catches for 36 yards, and Pretzlaff finished second on the team with five tackles.
These guys all improved their stock this weekend.
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