After months of waiting, Michigan State football made it’s 2019 debut and its home opener against the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes.
The Spartans opened up the game with an impressive nine play, 73-yard drive that was capped of by a 15-yard pass to Connor Heyward, who dove into the end zone to put MSU up 7-0.
Michigan State’s highly anticipated defense made it’s 2019 debut with two thunderous hits on Tulsa receivers and stifled the Golden Hurricane’s opening drive.
Though the offense showed improvement, MSU didn’t score again until early in the second quarter on a 38-yard Matt Coghlin field goal. Penalties caught up with the Spartans for the rest of the quarter, hampering the offense but not preventing Coghlin from banking in a 47-yard field goal off the right upright early in the quarter and hitting a 44-yard field goal at the end of the quarter.
The Michigan State defense, on the other hand, stayed consistent and made sure that Tulsa never got comfortable. The Spartan defense opened the quarter by blocking a Tulsa punt which lead to a scoring drive for Michigan State. From that point on it was a turnover feast for Michigan State.
The next two Tulsa drives the Spartans capitalized on two high snaps by the Golden Hurricanes; recovering one and forcing a safety on the other. In the Tulsa drive following the safety the defense made up for the offense stalling by forcing and recovering a Zach Smith fumble for a touchdown. Linebacker Antjuan Simmons rounded out the run with an interception at mid-field to set up another Coghlin field goal.
Tulsa would score before the end of the half to make it 25-7 in part because of defensive penalties that propelled Tulsa down the field.
The MSU offense continued to stumble out of the half as penalties killed any hope of a promising drive. The Spartans look like they had re-focused on their next possession as they orchestrated a 17-play 73-yard drive, but that drive was derailed by penalties and Coghlin once again was called up for another field goal making it 28-7 late in the third.
The Spartan defense continued to smother the Golden Hurricanes and got after Tulsa quarterback Zach Smith sacking him six times.
Brian Lewerke went 21/37 for 192 yards and 1 TD he was also sacked once. Darrell Stewart was the Lewerke’s leading receiver with 56 yards. Heyward lead the Spartans on the ground with 15 rushes for 45 yards.
Penalties became a problem early and often for Michigan State; stunting several drives for Spartans. Michigan State committed 14 penalties costing them 122 yards and the team addressed the issue postgame.
“We were way too sloppy tonight,” said senior linebacker Joe Bachie. “(We) can’t shoot ourselves in the foot...we’ll learn and get better.”
The penalty stagnanted offense had some fans reliving the offensive struggles from the 2018-19 campaign and some boos rang out at Spartan Stadium.
“We have a lot of stuff to clean up,” Brian Lewerke said. “My mindset is positive... we can’t control the crowd.”
Mark Dantonio also weighed in on the crowd’s reaction to the offense saying, “We had a great crowd, everyone has to voice their approval or disapproval so I’m good.”
The Spartans will remain at home for their matchup next weekend against Western Michigan. Kickoff is set for 7:30pm.
