“I was more nervous playing here than I was in Cal,” said Anderson, referring to last week’s venture west against the Golden Bears.

“I actually looked in the stands for the first time in a long time and I had seen (my mom) and I wanted to wave but I was like, no, she’d probably say, ‘Why are you waving at me during the game? You’re supposed to be focused.’”

For redshirt freshman Joel Foreman, a starting spot for the home opener added to Saturday’s aura.

“To start is obviously a dream come true,” said Foreman, a Highland native who beat out senior Mike Bacon for the starting left guard spot.

“I’ve watched Michigan State growing up and always watched Big Ten football in general. To play in the first game and run out there with the offensive line, it’s just something that was unbelievable.”

Cousins sees action

Don’t expect a quarterback controversy after redshirt freshman backup quarterback Kirk Cousins appeared under center in the second quarter Saturday.

“We kind of said that in the second quarter we wanted to get him in there and get his feet wet, whatever the situation was,” offensive coordinator Don Treadwell said. “He performed very well and I’m very pleased with him going into the game.”

The Holland product handed the ball off four times and threw one pass, a 13-yard completion to sophomore tight end Charlie Gantt, during a 28-yard touchdown drive.

“It was fun to get to go in there early in the game as opposed to just mop-up duty, to get a chance in there when we were still kind of in the battle,” Cousins said.

Starting quarterback Brian Hoyer said he was excited for Cousins, who is his roommate during road games and when the Spartans stay at Kellogg Center the night before home games.

“I’ve been there before and I was happy to see him do well,” Hoyer said.

Running Wiley

Senior safety Otis Wiley couldn’t help but flash back to his high school days at Flint Carman-Ainsworth when pondering his five punt returns for 113 yards Saturday.

As a punt returner in high school, Wiley used to intentionally muff punts to allow the pursuit to challenge him.

Wiley’s days as a track hurdler also were conjured up when evaluating his two jumps over Eastern Michigan defenders during a 78-yard return to start the fourth quarter.

“You see an open lane and the blockers blocking, you’ve just got to go with the blockers and when people try to take your legs out from under you, you just jump,” said Wiley, who is taking the bulk of punt returns this year for the first time in his MSU career. “I looked like Javon out there sometimes.”

In 2007, MSU returned 31 punts. They totaled 126 yards, which is 13 more than Wiley had in one game this year.