EUGENE, Oregon – Here are the Michigan State football players who helped or hurt their stock in the Spartans’ 31-10 loss Friday night at No. 6 Oregon.
Winners
Charles Brantley
A stellar season continues for the senior, who entered the portal twice but opted to stay at MSU. Brantley’s nine tackles against the Ducks are his career-high in a Big Ten game and his most since making 10 against Western Michigan in 2022. However, his biggest play came on an interception at the line Dillon Gabriel’s field goal, where Brantley diagnosed the play, read the Oregon quarterback’s eyes, timed his throw and perfectly cut off receiver Tez Johnson’s route for his third pick of the season and fifth of his career . Brantley has five assists and 23 tackles.
Malik Spencer
Gabriel immediately tested the health of Spencer and nickelback Angelo Grose on the first play, firing deep to Johnson with which the MSU junior continued to advance on the incompletion. From there, Spencer was all over the field, making a diving interception of another Gabriel pass in the end zone before flying down the field on special teams and bringing down Johnson. Since having to leave in the fourth quarter of the Boston College game, Spencer has recorded seven tackles in consecutive games, and his 29 stops are the second most for Boston College. Spartans behind linebacker Jordan Turner’s 37.
TE Jack Velling
The Oregon State transfer was a familiar assignment for the Ducks, having played against them the past two seasons under new MSU coach Jonathan Smith, with the Beavers. Still, Velling matched his season high with six catches on six targets, for 53 yards. In his debut with the Spartans, Velling had 19 catches for 238 yards, but has yet to catch a touchdown after scoring eight last year and 11 in two seasons at Oregon State.
Losers
Offensive line
The Spartans’ success this season has always been about understanding the game at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, especially after attrition in the transfer portal decimated depth on the offensive and defensive lines. While MSU was able to add experienced depth to a young mix of prospects and veterans on defense, the offensive line entered the year with only one veteran who played significant snaps at MSU (Brandon Baldwin), a transfer with major conference experience (Tanner Miller) and a position-changing lower division All-American (Luke Newman). Losing two starting right guards to season-ending injuries in the first three games erased all depth, forcing true freshmen Rakeem Johnson and Rustin Young to act out of necessity. But the current construction has been abysmal in protecting Chiles and has allowed a flood of on-field pressure that has prevented Nate Carter and Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams from making the first move on a handoff, let alone looking for nonexistent holes .
QB Aidan Chiles
The sophomore continues to struggle with decision-making and securing the ball, especially as pressure surrounds him more frequently and quickly. Chiles is completing 56.5 percent of his passes (86-for-152) for 1,212 yards with five touchdowns, but committed his 11th turnover of the season with his third fumble and second in two weeks inside the red zone. His fumble near the goal line against Oregon ended the only positive offensive drive the Spartans produced through three quarters. The Ducks sacked Chiles four times for 21 yards lost, but he also ran for 50 yards on his other eight carries. Chiles is MSU’s third-leading rusher with 115 yards on 45 attempts, including 74 yards lost while being sacked 13 times.
LB Cal Haladay
The senior’s career struggles with pass coverage continued Friday, as Oregon identified the weakness and attacked Haladay repeatedly in the short passing game with sophomore Jordan Hall unavailable for play after having undergone warm-ups. Haladay produced just four tackles for the third time in the last four games. After averaging 7.6 tackles per game last season, Haladay is averaging just 4.7 per game with the emergence of Hall and Wisconsin transfer Jordan Turner. Haladay has yet to record a sack against a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent and does not have a tackle for a loss in any of MSU’s four games against Power Conference foes.
Contact Chris Solari: [email protected]. Follow him @chrissolari.
Subscribe to the “Spartan Speak” podcast for new episodes every week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And find all our podcasts and daily voice briefings on freep.com/podcasts.
This article was originally published on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football winners and losers: Aidan Chiles needs to improve
