What was supposed to be a recurring event never materialized after that initial McDowell offensive-line-shedding run down. Furman exploited the middle of the MSU defensive line, churning through the line untouched before having to be stopped by the linebackers or secondary.

“As far as the runs up the middle, that's something we're going to have to look at the film,” fifth-year senior safety Demetrious Cox said. “I'm not really sure what was going on there, but we've got to take care of that as well. We're just going to get better and move on.”

MSU football defeated Furman Friday night, 28-13, a closer than expected battle delivered on the wings of sloppy offensive-stalling penalties and a tentative defensive line bailed out by Cox, the rest of the secondary and the linebackers.

The Spartan linebacking corps accounted for 25 of the team's 66 tackles and the secondary picked up 23 others. McDowell and his fellow defensive linemen, Raequan Williams and Demetrius Cooper, all finished with three tackles a piece. Evan Jones also made two stops.

As for McDowell, he was interchanged throughout the line, plugged into different spots to generate pressure from other areas in order to spark the defensive line. For the most part, Furman did not generate much on the run, amassing only 87 yards on the ground.

The Furman offense, however, did surprise MSU by throwing packages together that left MSU off-balance and slow to react on the defensive line.

“What you can see from interior line play, you really get it off the film,” head coach Mark Dantonio said. “Who did what? How did they attack you? They ran an influence trap sometimes. They whammed us sometimes. Things that we had not seen.”

After Furman established its ground game it went through the air. With the defensive line struggling to keep Furman runners at the line of scrimmage, the secondary gave up some passes, though no deep balls as it did against Alabama the last time it was on the field.

In the red zone, Furman mustered just one touchdown in three attempts, settling for field goals the other two times. The MSU secondary thwarted the Furman pass attempts to the end zone, including back-to-back Darian Hicks break ups during the second quarter. 

“I mean, everyone gave a lot of effort,” Cox said about the secondary in the red zone. “I can't ask for anything else. We got out levered on some of those plays, those option plays. But like I said, we are going to get in the film room, correct it and move on.”

Andrew Dowell came through in the fourth quarter with a momentum-shifting interception for the Spartans, who turned the pick into points just less than five minutes later to increase the lead for good.

“For him to make that play, I think we are going to see more of that,” Dantonio said. “That guy is only a sophomore. I think we are going to see more of that as time goes on.”

The defense stepped up when needed, and it was just enough to hold MSU to victory.

“We bent a little bit tonight, but we didn’t break,” Bullough said of the defense. “It’s the first game, so you can kind of expect that.”