Throwback to the 2007 Champs Sports Bowl
Boston College (2-1) is back home and welcomes Michigan State (3-0) for the annual Red Bandana Game. Sparty under new head coach Jonathan Smith is off to a solid start. They had a close call against Florida Atlantic in the opener, and came from behind to beat Maryland a few weeks ago before taking care of business against FCS Prairie View.
Quarterback
Boston College plays against yet another former Oregon State quarterback in Aidan Chiles. Chiles backed up DJ U last season, but it was only Chiles who Smith brought along to East Lansing. His career in the green and white began with an interception on his very first throw, but he keeps bouncing back. Spartan fans have credited him with his resilience, but he still has thrown four interceptions and he has lost the ball a couple times too. Overall, he’s thrown for 650 yards with a 56.8% completion rate. Chiles is very young though, still just 19 years old. He’s tall, has a strong arm, and isn’t afraid to sling it deep. He’s ran in for two scores as well and is a dual-threat there.
Receivers
True freshman Nick Marsh is the team’s leading receiver with 232 yards most of which were in a dominant performance against Maryland – eight catches for 194 yards. He’s added the middle name “Megatron” to his bio and has already backed it up on the collegiate level.
Senior Montorie Foster led the team with 576 yards last year and has eclipsed the century mark on 13 catches operating from the slot. WR Jaron Glover is week-to-week, and Smith is optimistic on potentially having him suit up. Glover is one of the top options in this overall younger receiving corps. At Maryland he added 84 yards and a touchdown.
One of the big stars, or hopeful stars of this team is transfer tight end Jack Velling, another part of the Beaver transfer package. He led the nation in touchdown catches for a tight end last year, but has been awfully quiet for the Spartans. He’s fourth on the team with 82 yards on six catches, and is a strong run blocker.
Running backs
The ground game is led by the duo of Nate Carter and Kay’ron Lynch-Adams. Carter led the team with nearly 800 yards and four touchdowns. Carter was expected to dominate the backfield, but Adams has proven to be too effective to let sit back. He transferred over from UMass (Rutgers prior) and ran for over 1000 yards. He excels at run after contact and ran for 11.2 yards per carry in the opener including a 63 yard touchdown, while Carter was more effective in the other two games. Michigan State will ride the hot hand. Both caught 20 passes last year for a little over 100 yards, but haven’t done much damage this year.
Offensive Line
The group now features just one returning starter and two transfers. Center Tanner Miller received plenty of accolades for his 2023 season at Oregon State. The injury bug has not made things easy however. Glover’s outlook does not hold true for right guard Gavin Broscious. He was already stepping in for the original starter hurt in the season opener and now may be facing a long recovery. All of a sudden, a true freshman will be starting at guard.
On top of that they’ve been a heavily penalized team, a number of which stem from the line. If you thought Mizzou was bad, Michigan State is the second most penalized team in the country with 33 already. The Eagles defensive line will have ample opportunity to find the weakest point on this line that has already been struggling having allowed four sacks.
At Oregon State, Smith’s team was a solid rushing unit averaging 167.1 yards a game, but were critically best in the nation in terms of red-zone efficiency (97.6%). This season, they’re similar from a rushing standpoint, but the Spartans have been struggling in the red zone- 5 touchdowns and a couple field goals on 12 trips. This is a good coaching staff with sound play-calling. Tim Lewis’s side might not have to do anything special, but just more sound against the run. There should be opportunities for takeaways which BC came oh so close to last weekend.
Stay tuned for a look at where BC can attack the Sparty defense tomorrow.