Michigan State rolls past Richmond, 45-14, injury questions mount

East Lansing, Mich. – Things will be much tougher for Michigan State next week, but the Spartans enjoyed themselves for the moment in a 45-14 victory over FCS opponent Richmond, Saturday at Spartan Stadium.

Michigan State (2-0) will face No. 8 Washington next week at home, a year after losing to the Huskies 39-28 in Seattle.

Spartan quarterback Noah Kim was smooth and hot most of the day. He finished 18 of 22 for 292 yards and three touchdowns. He completed his last 15 passes. 

“I thought we played hard, we played fast,” Kim said. “We wanted to keep working. We wanted to have a complete game on offense. There are little things, here and there, little mistakes that we need to clean up. Moving forward, we should look to start a little faster as an offense but I think overall it was a good win.”

Nathan Carter rushed for 111 yards on 19 carries, including three touchdowns – all of which came in the third quarter. He has broken the 100-yard mark in each of Michigan State’s first two games.

Tre Mosley led Michigan State with five receptions for 84 yards, including an 11-yard TD grab which opened the scoring. 

Michigan State’s first-string defensive front dominated most of the game. The Spartans had seven sacks on the day, including 1.5 from sophomore defensive end Zion Young.

JACOBY WINDMON INJURED

The victory might have come at a cost for the Spartans. Middle linebacker Jacoby Windmon was lost to an upper body injury in the first half. He was not in shoulder pads in the second half. Head coach Mel Tucker did not give an update on Windmon’s health status.

Michigan State has rotated Windmon, Cal Haladay and Aaron Brule at the inside linebacker positions this season, with help from true freshman Jordan Hall. With Windmon out, Haladay slid to Mike linebacker, but the Spartans are much better when Windmon is available.

Second-string running back Jalen Berger went out with a lower body injury in the first half and did not return, leaving Michigan State with severe questions at back-up running back.  

Third-string running back Jordon Simmons fumbled on his first carry of the season, early in the fourth quarter. Richmond’s Aaron Banks returned it 47 yards for a touchdown, spoiling the Spartans’ shutout and cutting the lead to 38-7.

Simmons was replaced by redshirt-sophomore Davion Primm at running back after the fumble. Primm had four carries for 17 yards before he fumbled midway through the fourth quarter. Richmond capitalized on that fumble with a 25-yard TD drive against Michigan State’s reserve defense, cutting the lead to 45-14.

Primm was replaced by walk-on running back Joseph Martinez at running back. 

South Florida transfer Jaden Mangham has not played in the first two games due to an undisclosed injury. 

HOW IT WENT DOWN

Michigan State made it 45-7 on Kim’s 45-yard TD pass to Antonio Gates Jr. on a deep post with 11:33 to play. That was Gates’ first reception of his college career. 

Carter broke free for a 44-yard touchdown run to give Michigan State a 31-0 lead with 8:25 left in the third quarter. Reserve tight end Jaylan Franklin sprang him free with an excellent combo block, combining with left tackle Brandon Baldwin to win the edge, and then Franklin kicked out the play-side linebacker to give Carter extra room. 

Carter delivered his third TD of the day with a 6-yard run around left end, getting a good seal block from second-string left guard Kevin Wigenton to give Michigan State a 38-0 lead. Earlier in the drive, Kim was lucky to avoid an interception when his third-and-seven pass attempt for Tre Mosley was deflected by a Richmond defensive back and into Montorie Foster’s hands for a gain of 8. 

On the next play, Kim delivered a pretty 26-yard strike to Mosley on a slot out to the wide side of the field.

WHEN IT WAS OVER

Michigan State sent the game into blowout mode with a touchdown drive on the opening possession of the second half, capped by a 2-yard TD plunge by Carter. Wide receiver Jaron Glover hauled in a gutty 29-yard catch on a deep post, absorbing a hard hit from the Richmond safety while hanging on.

Michigan State took a 7-0 lead on Kim’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Tre Mosley on the Spartans’ third possession. Richmond’s fumbled punt, recovered by Michigan State long snapper Hank Pepper, giving the Spartans a short field at the 19-yard line. 

Michigan State pushed the lead to 14-0 on Kim’s 13-yard TD pass to tight end Tyneil Hopper, early in the second quarter. The Spartans rallied back from a Spencer Brown holding penalty on the first play of the drive. Kim’s 31-yard pass to Jaron Glover for 31 yards keyed the drive, along with a Kim 7-yard run on a quarterback draw on third-and-five.

Hopper and Franklin had good games as blockers, while starting TE Maliq Carr was hot and cold in that area again. To Carr’s credit, he had an apparent 31-yard catch for a touchdown called back due to a holding penalty by right tackle Spencer Brown. Brown had two holding infractions in the first half and did not start the second half, being replaced by sophomore Ethan Boyd.

The Spartans led 17-0 at halftime after Jonathan Kim kicked a 52-yard field goal, getting a friendly bounce across the crossbar. 

Richmond threatened late in the first half, but Andrew Lopez’s 32-yard field goal attempt missed off the right upright. That drive was keyed by a 20-yard gain on a fake punt.