“You’ve got to go out and you’ve got to make plays, and that was our thing,” said senior safety Marcus Hyde, who made a second-half interception. “You’ve got to go out and make plays when you’re in position to make the play, and it will help us out overall as a team.”

On the Broncos’ third possession of the game, MSU senior linebacker Greg Jones separated Western Michigan’s ball-carrier from the ball, which was scooped up by sophomore defensive end Tyler Hoover to put MSU in business after the Broncos had driven into field goal range.

With the score tied at seven later in the half, Western
Michigan quarterback Alex Carder lost the football and MSU redshirt freshman linebacker Denicos Allen quickly recovered it, which set up MSU’s second touchdown and helped ease the tension in
the crowd.

Late in the third quarter, Hyde made a nice play to intercept a pass in the red zone and stopped the Broncos from having a chance to pull within
14 points.

All three plays came at key moments in the game and the forced turnovers bode well for games down the road.

Last season, MSU was second-last in the Big Ten in turnover margin (-0.46 per game) and second-last in interceptions (6).

“One of the things we continue to emphasize this entire year after last season was turnovers,” MSU head coach Mark Dantonio said.

“We came away with three turnovers, which was great to see.”

Jones led the team with nine tackles, but missed on an opportunity early in the game to intercept a pass in the endzone.

Jones was able to knock the ball away, but after spending time in the offseason working on his pass-catching skills, he said he could’ve done better in that area.

“A lot of work went in on the offseason,” Jones said. “I could’ve come up with an interception. … I think the first step was getting in the right spots.”

In addition to Jones’ making plays, Hyde’s interception highlighted an improved effort from the secondary, which allowed 238 passing yards against the WMU passing offense but few big plays.

Freshmen update

MSU saw several contributions from true freshmen Saturday, and it was more
than running back Le’Veon Bell’s historic 141 rushing-yard, two-touchdown performance.

Freshman defensive end William Gholston recorded a tackle in limited action and safety Isaiah Lewis saw playing time early in the game.

Linebacker Max Bullough and running back Nick Hill, both of whom enrolled in the spring, saw the field as Bullough made two tackles and Hill went two yards on his first career carry, which was his only of
the game.

Bell’s performance didn’t come as a surprise to his teammates, but several MSU fans weren’t aware of the freshman’s abilities.

Bell enrolled early in the spring and has impressed the coaches since, and made the performance of Saturday memorable.

“(Friday), I told Le’Veon before the game not to go out thinking too much — just have fun, relax and do what you do,” sophomore running back Edwin Baker said.

“I think he did a wonderful job.”

Conroy handles field goals

After weeks of competition in camp, both sophomore kicker Dan Conroy and redshirt freshman Kevin Muma saw action Saturday.

Conroy handled extra points and field goals, nailing all five point-after attempts and making a 38-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Muma handled kick-off duties, where he struggled with the heavy winds at Spartan Stadium, but
showed potential.

“I think right now, (Conroy) got the edge because he kicked better at the end of fall camp,” Dantonio said. “I thought he kicked very well. I thought Muma kicked off very well, but into the wind of a couple of times, which was very difficult.”