What To Watch For: Michigan State vs. Richmond
East Lansing, Mich. – When Michigan State faces Richmond at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, the Spartans will be in a unique position. First of all, they will be facing the Football Championship Subdivision’s Spiders for the first time ever. Secondly, Michigan State will be facing – if you believe what you read on paper – a team they should handily beat.
The Spartans’ matchup (BTN) with Richmond will be the eighth time the program has faced an FCS opponent.
Michigan State enters Saturday’s matchup with a 7-0 record against the NCAA’s Division I lower division, with the team’s last victory over an FCS team coming over Youngstown State, 42-14, in 2021.
No matter what the margin of victory turns out to be, the Spartans just want to make sure they play well from beginning to end, instead of the second-half push that defined last Friday’s 31-7 victory over Central Michigan.
And while this could just be a case of the Michigan State (1-0) stomping the itsy bitsy Spiders, at least, according to Richmond.com, the previously No. 16 ranked Spiders (0-1) are set to get a check totaling $650,000 for their troubles.
Maybe that will somewhat soften the blow of a 17-10 season-opening loss to previously unranked Morgan State to begin the season last Saturday.
“It’s on all of us,” seventh-year Richmond head coach Russ Huesman said after last Saturday’s debacle. “We all gotta take accountability. We can play better than that. We will play better than that.”
To do that, the Spiders will need to score more than 10 points on offense. And that may prove difficult against an improved Michigan State defense.
Richmond’s redshirt sophomore quarterback Kyle Wickersham may remind the Spartans of their Week 1 opponent under center because like Central Michigan’s Bert Emanuel Jr., Wickersham is both a running and passing threat.
In the opener, Wickersham led the offense with 39 yards on 21 carries and one touchdown, while throwing for 169 yards and one interception on 23-of-30 passing.
Richmond’s top receiver is redshirt junior Nick DeGennaro, a transfer from Maryland, who has played against Michigan State before. DeGennaro caught six balls for 46 yards in the opener.
When the Spiders do hand the ball off, redshirt senior Savon Smith seems to be the running back of choice after gaining 30 yards on 10 carries last Saturday.
Defensively, because of Emanuel Jr’s RPO talents last Friday, the Michigan State secondary was forced to play a prominent role in containing the CMU run game.
That performance may need to repeat itself Saturday afternoon.
Although redshirt junior Cal Haladay led Michigan State in tackles with 10, five of the Spartans top seven tacklers came from the secondary with redshirt sophomore corner Malik Spencer leading the way with nine stops.
Michigan State ran a combined rotation of defensive lineman and defensive ends where 10 players had at least one tackle.
Offensively, first time starter and redshirt junior Noah Kim spread the ball around, connecting with nine different targets – five wide receivers, two tight ends and two running backs – for 279 yards and two TDs without surrendering a pick.
Redshirt freshman wide receiver Jaron Glover led the way with four catches for 75 yards. Redshirt sophomore running back Nate Carter led the ground game with 113 yards on 18 carries, while reaching the endzone once. Carter also had one reception for 21 yards.
Michigan State totaled 406 yards of total offense after a slow first-half start against CMU, with 279 of those yards coming from the passing game.
On the offensive line, expect the Spartans to try and give more opportunities to its younger and inexperienced linemen if the team can put the Spiders away.
“Their players are big, physical and can run,’’ Huesman said. “We’re playing an excellent football team.’’
Michigan State will want that excellence to show itself early and often.
If Richmond’s defense wants to have any chance of slowing down or containing Michigan State’s offense, it will need another strong performance from its top tackler, redshirt senior linebacker Tristan Wheeler, who opened his season with 17 stops last week, which included three for loss.
Wheeler, a legitimate NFL prospect, has started 38 consecutive games and is a two-time captain.
Nobody else on the Spiders’ defense had more than six tackles last weekend.
Richmond has experience back on its defensive line with Marlem Louis and Jermiah Grant. Both Louis and Grant were all-conference selections last season. Louis recorded 8.5 sacks in 2022.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
MSU: If Michigan State can’t score at least 40 points on Saturday, there may be some cause for worry, especially with a remaining schedule that will include meetings against at least four ranked teams. In cooperation with that, if the Spartans give up more than 10 points to a Richmond offense that compiled just under 100 yards rushing last week, that may not be a good sign either.
RICHMOND: The Spiders don’t want to get into a shootout with the Spartans, but they also don’t want to accumulate a ton of 3-and-outs. Realistically, Richmond’s best chance to win this game is if Michigan State makes an avalanche of uncharacteristic mistakes and the Spiders can hold the ball for long periods of time on offense.
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