3 takeaways from Michigan State football's win over Prairie View A&M
Three up, three down. Jonathan Smith has gotten the job done in each of his first three Michigan State football games as the Spartans cruised to a 40-0 win on Saturday afternoon against Prairie View A&M in East Lansing.
Michigan State didn't exactly need to pull out all the stops to beat the Panthers as this game felt over from the opening kickoff. You could tell this was about to be a one-sided affair.
The Spartans raced out to a 27-0 lead at halftime and then added 13 second-half points while blanking Prairie View A&M, locking up a rare shutout win. Not too bad of a start for Joe Rossi at Michigan State, holding two of his first three opponents to 10 points or less.
What did we learn from Michigan State's 40-0 win on Saturday?
3. A different target emerges every week
Through three games, Michigan State has had three different leading receivers. While some may consider this concerning that there's no true No. 1 target, I think it's actually a great sign.
Before the season, it was fairly obvious that Michigan State lacked depth in its receiving corps and some young guys were going to have to step up. Now, three weeks into the season, two freshman receivers have led the team in receiving in a game -- Nick Marsh in Week 2 and Aziah Johnson in Week 3.
Johnson had a big game with Jaron Glover out, catching two passes for 50 yards and his first career touchdown. Antonio Gates Jr. also had a solid showing with three catches for 42 yards.
Maybe this team is deeper at receiver than we thought.
2. Nate Carter is gaining steam
Seeing Nate Carter go off for 91 yards and a touchdown on eight carries was reassuring.
Everyone expected him to have a breakout season with a new offensive line and a head coach dedicated to running the ball, but that hadn't quite happened through two weeks. He was struggling to really get going, but he did have a better Week 2 showing (59 yards on 11 carries) than he did in Week 1 (19 carries for 49 yards). Carter improved once again in Week 3.
The junior running back led all rushers and showed that he is an explosive back who is a threat to break a long run off at any moment. The Carter doubters are feeling a little silly now.
1. A consistent Aidan Chiles is a scary thought
It's pretty simple to see that Aidan Chiles is the straw that stirs Michigan State's drink. The Spartans go as he goes. That much is fairly obvious.
That proved to be the case once again on Saturday against Prairie View A&M. The team really feeds off his play so when he's staying clean in the pocket and passing for 173 yards and a touchdown on 12-of-19 passing, the rest of the offense flows better and the defense plays more motivated.
When Chiles excels, Michigan State excels. When Chiles struggles, this team just can't do much.
Now all the Spartans need is some consistency out of Chiles.