On a beautiful 72 degree evening at Spartan Stadium, jam packed with 74,516 members of the Spartan faithful, the MSU football team opened their 120th season by defeating FCS opponent Furman 28-13. MSU's first offensive drive was impressive and included six carries for 68 yards, capped off by sophomore L.J. Scott's one yard scamper for seven.
The offense was sluggish and slow after their first scoring drive in the first half, producing numerous three-and-outs and a missed field goal until senior quarterback Tyler O'Connor connected with sophomore Felton Davis III for a 13 yard touchdown on their last drive of the second quarter. The offense failed to wake up from their first half slumber, fumbling away their first second half possession before engineering two scoring drives resulting in touchdown catches by senior tight ends Jamal Lyles and Josiah Price.
O'Connor was up and down for parts of the game but finished with decent numbers: 13-18 passing for 190 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
Scott and Davis III were breaths of fresh air for the otherwise lackadaisical Spartans offense. Scott finished the game with 20 carries for 105 yards and one touchdown, as he garnered 15 more attempts than the next closest running back for MSU despite three co-starters being listed on the depth chart. Davis III was one of the leading receivers for MSU, snagging 3 catches for 40 yards and a touchdown.
Shelton did not return to the game following a hit in the first quarter, but in his place, senior receiver Monty Madaris had a bit of a reintroduction to Spartan fans as well. He led all Spartan pass-catchers with five receptions for 85 yards with a long of 31 yards.
MSU was led defensively by the linebackers, even without junior linebacker Jon Reschke for the entirety of the football game. Collectively, the starters (senior Riley Bullough, junior Chris Frey and sophomore Andrew Dowell) finished with a combined 25 tackles, with Frey leading the way with nine. Dowell and Bullough each had eight, and Dowell also had a one-handed interception in the fourth quarter.
Senior captain and safety Demetrious Cox led the secondary unit with seven tackles, while senior Darien Hicks recorded two tackles and three pass breakups at cornerback. Sophomore Vayante Copeland returned after missing the majority of last season with a neck injury and finished with six tackles.
The MSU defensive line caused little disruption for the majority of the game as Furman runners would consistently reach the second level. The top seven tacklers for MSU were either linebackers or secondary players and MSU only recorded one sack and four tackles for loss in the game.
Another killer for MSU was penalties, as 10 flags were thrown against MSU for 120 penalty yards.
For Furman, they were led on offense by freshman running back Darius Morehead, who more than backed up coach Bruce Fowler's decision to start the freshman in a hostile environment to begin his young career. Morehead rushed for 83 yards on 20 attempts and had two receptions for 25 more yards. Quarterback P.J. Blazejowski completed the night with a stat line of 15-30 passing, 123 yards and one interception
Defensively, the Paladins were carried by their stud safety in senior Trey Robinson, who ended the night with 13 total tackles, nine of them unassisted. Linebackers Byron Johnson and Carl Rider were also flying around the field making plays for Furman, as Johnson grabbed an interception and nine tackles while Rider wrapped up eight tackles and one sack.
The 1-0 MSU Spartans will be on their bye week before traveling to South Bend, Ind. to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on September 17th.
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