Michigan State falls to Boston College 23-19 for first loss of the season

The undefeated Michigan State football team traveled to Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College for one final tune-up before playing in-conference games the rest of the way. The Spartans were extremely short-handed at receiver, as Alante Brown, Nick Marsh, Antonio Gates Jr, and Jaron Glover were all ruled out. 

MSU won the toss and elected to defer, and after forcing a three-and-out on BC’s first drive, the Spartans drew first blood on a 41-yard field goal by Jonathan Kim. Boston College moved the ball on their next drive, but Cal Haladay forced a fumble recovered by Wayne Matthews to keep the score 3-0, as Michigan State’s defense stepped up again. However, after an MSU three-and-out, the Eagles scored the first touchdown of the contest on an 11-yard touchdown run by Turbo Richard.

The Spartans responded immediately with a few big plays, including an Aidan Chiles rush for 11 on third and long and a 40-yard dart to Montorie Foster Jr. to set MSU up in the red zone. Chiles punched it in on a QB sneak to give the Spartans the lead back and give MSU some momentum.

The Spartans bounced back defensively the next drive, forcing a three and out, and started their next drive on offense in a promising spot. The drive highlighted an amazing 22-yard scramble from Chiles, but the drive ended in disappointment after Chiles threw an interception to Carter Davis of Boston College just three plays later.  

“Turnover pace, we’ve gotta get better there, we gotta get better in the run game staying away from negative yardage,” coach Jonathan Smith said. 

The Spartans’ defense forced another three and out, capitalized by another sack from Khris Bogle and Jalen Satchell. MSU received the ball after a punt, and drove down the field for three, as Kim netted his second field goal of the night to end the first half. MSU took a 13-6 lead into halftime.  

The Spartans were set to receive in the second half, but an untimely Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams fumble on the return gave BC possession at the five to start the second half. Michigan State’s defense came up huge again, holding the Eagles to a field goal to make the score 13-9.

Another costly interception from 19-year-old Chiles gave Boston College another possession, resulting in a touchdown courtesy of a 36-yard touchdown run from Treshaun Ward to give the Eagles the lead 16-13. BC scored ten points in the first 2:40 of the half.  

“Just a couple of glaring misses tonight, I don’t know if it was footwork or if (Chiles) just overthrew a couple of them,” Smith said on Chiles. “We’re looking for some consistency out of him but at the same time he’s working with a side of the ball where we were down a few guys tonight  . . . it’s a lot on his shoulders and we have to find ways to continue to help him.”  

After Chiles missed Foster on a wide-open look down the sideline that could have given the Spartans the lead back, Michigan State salvaged points on the drive, on a Kim season-long 51-yard field goal. 

The two teams exchanged punts before  BC drove into the red zone at the end of the third quarter. On the second play of the quarter, the Eagles fumbled but recovered, bringing up fourth and goal at the one. The Spartans made a huge stop on a QB rush on fourth and goal to stop BC at the goal line, as Jordan Hall snuffed out the play and forced a loss of three.

“Response, effort, the goal line stand, the early turnover in the red zone, we put them in a couple bad spots . . . I thought those guys battled throughout the night,” Smith said.

Aziah Johnson broke off for 26 yards on a big third-down conversion deep into BC territory to start the ensuing drive for Michigan State. After a 12-yard sack on first down, MSU fought back and got another first after a fourth-down conversion from Lynch-Adams. 

Lynch-Adams had another big play rushing for a first down on 3rd and 15, but the Spartans would have to settle for their fourth field goal of the night after a drop in the end zone on third down from Nate Carter. For Kim, it was his fourth field goal of the game and made the score 19-16 MSU.

“I did think Jonathon Kim came up huge for us,” Smith said. “These elements weren’t ideal for kicking a ball and snapping and holding and all that so I was pleased with it.”

The Eagles got the ball back with 4:12 to go in regulation, and came out aggressive with the ball, only running six plays and capping it off with a 42-yard strike from Thomas Castellanos to Lewis Bond. 

The Spartans got the ball back with 1:28 to go and got two first downs on three receptions to Jack Velling before Chiles tossed his third interception of the day into the end zone to end the drive. Max Tucker got the game-sealing pick for BC, and the throw by Chiles was right into double coverage.

“On our end, there are a few plays here or there we gotta be able to make,” Smith said on the loss. “We did not play well enough to win the game, we’ve got plenty to clean up but I do like this team, I do like the work ethic they’ve got. We’ll be back to work tomorrow.”

MSU lost the game 23-19 while turning the ball over four times. Despite winning the time of possession battle, it had a better third-down success rate, got more first downs, and attained more yards from scrimmage. Michigan State football will return to East Lansing for a matchup against the number three-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes next Saturday at 7 pm.

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