“They were pretty critical. I mean, they helped the two drives the first half. Really frustrating, not my character. It’s out of suit for me to get two penalties. I can argue the calls all I want but they still called them.

“Conversation on the sideline is just, can’t do it. It hurts our team, hurts our offense and it really stalled us in the first half when I think about it. If I wouldn’t have had those two penalties, we might have scored a couple more times in the first half.”

MSU incurred 10 penalties for 120 yards, stalling the offense on drives that might have hung extra points on the board. 

Co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner on the team making uncharacteristic mistakes on offense:

“From an offensive standpoint we had some holes. I don’t know how many personal fouls we had, I guess we had two of them at least. I hope that as we evaluate this film, but we won’t get together until Sunday with our team, but I certainly hope as we sit down and watch this film as an offense guys understand that now, the relevance of making sure we don’t shoot our self in the foot. Hopefully it’s a wake up call, hopefully we learn from it and move forward and improve and get to the point where we’re not doing those things.”

MSU's defensive line had trouble stopping the run, causing MSU's defensive backs and linebackers to be the main run stoppers. Furman quarterback P.J. Blazejowski, however, praised the defensive line's skill. 

Furman quarterback Blazejowski on MSU’s defensive ability:

“The defensive line was really great, like they were saying Michigan State has one of the best defenses in the nation, they have All-Americans on their defense, they are huge, fast, they're quick, all sorts of things.”

Fifth-year senior linebacker Riley Bullough and the rest of the linebacking corps accounted for 25-plus tackles in the MSU victory. Keeping Furman at bay in the first half, the defense struggled with different Furman packages in the second half. 

Riley Bullough on making adjustments going forward in the season:

"We can't beat ourselves. A lot of those drives kept going on because of penalties. You just can't do that over and over in the game, you've got to correct yourself. We'll look at the film and see what we agree with and what we didn't agree with but in the end, the refs call the game."

A bright spot on offense, fifth-year senior quarterback Tyler O'Connor went 13-of-18 for 190 yards and three touchdown passes and established fifth-year senior wide receiver Monty Madaris as a primary target. 

O'Connor on Madaris' play against Furman:

"I think you saw speed, I think you saw a guy that we need to get the ball in his hands as much as possible. We didn't throw the ball outside of, I think he had a couple catches down field maybe, but for the most part I think when inside five yards or something he made somebody miss and took it for 20 or something like that, so I think he showed something to the coaches tonight, but he's always had wheels and we've known that.

"But for him to go out and preform at a high level and really make some plays, I think you can expect that a little bit more."

Sophomore running back LJ Scott emerged as the starter on Friday, churning out a 20-carry, 105-yard and a touchdown performance. Madre London also saw time at running back, but Scott picked up where he left off last year, establishing himself as MSU's best option at running back. 

LJ Scott on more playing time:

"It made a huge difference. I was able to catch my rhythm. I was hauling it for a while. I was asking for it every time. Once I got us going, then the offense got going. I had to set a tone."