Michigan State coach Mel Tucker pleased, but says ‘We have a lot to clean up’
East Lansing, Mich. – Following a mostly-satisfying 31-7 victory over Central Michigan in the season opener at Spartan Stadium on Friday night, Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker was asked why it took so long for the Spartans to gain control of the game.
Central Michigan led 7-3 late in the second quarter, and might have led 14-3 if a fourth-and-goal situation at the 2-yard line on the Chippewas’ opening drive hadn’t resulted in a slip-and-fall by CMU quarterback Bert Emanuel Jr.
“I just thought we had some jitters,” Tucker said. “First game, new team, new season, at home – a lot of nervous energy.
“We have a lot to clean up. Give Central Michigan credit. Coach (Jim) McElwain is an outstanding coach and those guys played hard.
“We started slow but we kept chopping and we were able to execute in all three phases to get the win.
“The players were happy after the game. So were the coaches. It’s always good to get a win. It’s not easy to get a win. I told them I was proud of them and also the coaching staff but now we have to turn the page and get ready for the next one. It’s just one game. I told them this is just the beginning. It’s a new season, a new team, a good start. Let’s take the next step. Let’s build.”
PHASE LEADERS: NOAH KIM
Noah Kim led the Spartan offense with 279 yards passing, completing 18 of 31.
“I thought Noah played well,” Tucker said. “I told the coaches I liked the way Noah was playing. He had some drops early. Give Central credit. They have some good players and they came out playing hard and it was physical early and they were getting after us.”
Kim beat out redshirt-freshman Katin Houser for the starting job. Tucker provided precious little information on that competition through the spring and August camp. Following Friday’s game, Tucker was able to open up a little bit about the competition.
“It was close,” Tucker said. “He (Kim) consistently performed day-in and day-out. We need our quarterback to run the offense and not try to do too much, and get us in and out of the right plays, throw the ball to the open man, or check it down, run it, throw it away, make good decisions, be a team guy and we need to play around him.
“Throughout the course of time, he won the job. This is his fourth season with us so he knows the offense. We know him very well. We feel like he can go in there and play winning football for us.
“He is a very talented young man. He has a strong arm and can run and is smart. I thought it was a good start for him.”
PHASE LEADERS: JARON GLOVER
Redshirt-freshman wide receiver Jaron Glover sparked Michigan State’s first touchdown drive with catches of 10, 32 and 32 yards in helping Michigan State take a 10-7 lead late in the second quarter.
“Big play,” Tucker said of the first 32-yarder. “Explosive player. You need to have some explosives. He is a player that we recruited because he has a really good skill set. He’s fast and he has really good hands and he had a good spring and good fall camp.”
Glover got the first start of his career, joining Tre Mosley and Montorie Foster as the first-string wide receivers.
“We were expecting him to make some plays,” Tucker said. “That was one of the questions going into the season: What receiver do we have that can make some big plays? And obviously he did that.
“It was really good to see and we weren’t really surprised because he has done that in practice quite a bit.”
Second-string receivers Christian Fitzpatrick (three targets, two catches for 70 yards), Tyrell Henry (three targets, two catches for 25 yards) and Antonio Gates Jr. (one target) also saw action.
Mosley and Carr led Michigan State with six targets apiece. Mosley had three catches for 39 yards and Carr had one catch for eight yards.
Running back Jalen Berger was targed four times and had four catches. Glover was targed four times and had three catches for a team-high 75 yards.
PHASE LEADERS: NATHAN CARTER
Running back Nathan Carter, a transfer from UConn, was dangerous in his Spartan debut. He rushed 18 times for 113 yards, including a 2-yard touchdown.
Carter broke out for a 31-yard run on Michigan State’s first play of the game on a zone read handoff. Michigan State optioned the defensive end while left guard J.D. Duplain sealed a defensive tackle.
“I thought he came in and was running hard,” Tucker said. “He showed a good burst. He was explosive. It was exactly what we’ve seen in practice and what he showed on film at UConn.”
Carter averaged 6.2 yards per carry for UConn in 2022 but played in only four games. He missed the last eight games with a shoulder injury. He rushed for 405 yards, including 190 yards against Utah State.
“He runs hard and he cares,” Tucker said. “He’s a really good teammate. He’s very unselfish. He just does what we ask him to do. We just have to keep him healthy and he is going to be a very productive player for us.”
PHASE LEADERS: JONATHAN KIM
Place kicker Jonathan Kim, a senior transfer from North Carolina, provided a huge lift with a 47-yard field goal to give Michigan State a 3-0 lead with 6:55 left in the first half.
Up to that point, Central Michigan had been the better team. But a shanked Chippewa punt, and a 23-yard pass from Kim to Tre Mosley put the Spartans in field goal range to break the scoreless tie.
Kim was a kickoff specialist for the Tar Heels but never had a chance to be the field goal kicker. He came to Michigan State for that opportunity.
“He’s got a huge leg,” Tucker said.
SHORTCOMINGS
Michigan State was stopped on fourth-and-one on two occasions in the first half, with Carter getting stuffed both times on inside zone runs.
Center Dallas Fincher, who started in place of regular center Nick Samac, allowed a half yard of penetration to the Chippewa nose tackle on the first stoppage. Also, left tackle Brandon Baldwin didn’t entirely close the B-gap.
Samac came on to occasionally relieve Fincher, but the Spartans had to play most of the day with their second-string center, and he had an uneven performance.
On the second fourth-down stoppage, Duplain was beaten by Central Michigan defensive tackle Jacques Bristol. Duplain looked like he was bracing to take on Bristol head-on, anticipating Bristol to two-gap him.
Bristol initially engaged as if he were two-gapping, and then quickly transitioned to a one-gapping approach with a swim move while Duplain was caught powering forward.
CMU also got quick, strong support from the strong safety as the unblocked defender. It was good defense by a unit which has ranked among the nation’s leaders in tackles for loss over the past two seasons.
“That’s an area we need to improve,” Tucker said of the short-yardage stoppages.
Michigan State was playing without big back Jaren Mangham, who is expected to be a strong short-yardage candidate this season. Mangham was out with an undisclosed injury.
ALANTE BROWN, OFF THE DECK
Alante Brown, a wide receiver transfer from Nebraska, appeared to be knocked cold while blocking on the opening kickoff. He was taken off on a stretcher, but was cleared by medical personnel and was back on the sidelines later in the first half. He returned to the playing field for one play on special teams and returned a kickoff 16 yards.
“It’s a medical decision,” Tucker said. “He was cleared to come back. And then we took him out. He is in good spirits.”
THE PENALTIES
Michigan State had four personal fouls on defense, including three facemasks and one unsportsmanlike conduct by defensive tackle Derrick Harmon. Harmon’s penalty came after Michigan State had stopped Central Michigan on third down in the red zone. But the penalty gave CMU an automatic first down, and four more cracks in a goal-to-go situation.
Michigan State stopped CMU on fourth-and-goal at the two when Chippewas QB Bert Emanuel slipped and fell on his dropback. Michigan State was fortunate that Harmon’s penalty didn’t lead directly to seven points for the Chippewas.
Michigan State had eight penalties for 66 yards Central Michigan had seven penalties for 75 yards.
“We did have some penalties that we need to clean up,” Tucker said. “We don’t want to give yards away.”
PARTING COMMENT
“It’s a good start for us. Now we have a 24-hour rule and we’re going to get back to work and get on Richmond and we expect to be a better football team next week.”
The post Michigan State coach Mel Tucker pleased, but says ‘We have a lot to clean up’ appeared first on On3.
