ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Mila Holloway scored 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, added eight assists and seven steals and No. 13 Michigan opened the season with a 100-40 win over Canisius on Tuesday night.

Olivia Olson added 18 points and Ashley Sofilkanich, who transferred from Bucknell after being the Patriot League Player of the Year and surpassed 1,000 career points, and Te’Yala Delfosse both scored 14 for the Wolverines, who shot 52% and had 25 steals while forcing 45 turnovers.

Mary Copple (Brighton HS) had eight points to lead Canisius, which went 12 of 31 from the field (39%). Michigan had 13 field goals in the third quarter alone.

The Golden Griffins shot 57% in the first quarter but only got up seven shots because of 14 turnovers and trailed 23-14. It was 51-26 at the half when 23 turnovers became 26 points.

The Wolverines’ third game is the first against a Power 4 team, facing Notre Dame in the Shamrock Classic in Detroit.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Theryn Hallock and Grace VanSlooten combined for 37 points on 16 of 21 shooting, Kennedy Blair had a double-double and No. 23 Michigan State opened the season with a record-breaking 125-39 win over Mercyhurst on Tuesday night.

The Spartans set records for points in a game and margin of victory.

Hallock scored 19 points, VanSlooten 18 and Blair had 14, on 6-of-8 shooting, and 12 assists. Four other Spartans reached double figures. Rashunda Jones and reserve Amy Terrian both had 15, and backups Emma Shumate and Jalyn Brown had 14 and 13, respectively, off the bench.

Michigan State shot 62% with 13 3-pointers and had just three turnovers while turning 36 Mercyhurst turnovers into 62 points.

Lena Walz and Cici Hernandez both had nine points for Mercyhurst, under first year Erin Mills-Reid.

The Spartans scored the first nine points of the game and after the Lakers hit a 3-pointer reeled off 16 straight points. Mercyhurst knocked down another three and Michigan State finished the quarter with 11 straight points for a 36-6 lead.

The Lakers were 2 of 11 with 10 turnovers in the first quarter and Michigan State, which was 15 of 22 (68%), proceeded to score the first 13 points of the second quarter for a 24-point run. Add another 10-0 run and the Spartans were up 66-18 at halftime, a Breslin Center record for points in a half.

The Spartans have six-straight home games and don’t play a scheduled Power 4 opponent until meeting Wisconsin in a Big Ten Conference game on Dec. 7, their ninth game.

DETROIT — Three former Eastern Michigan men’s basketball players declined to cooperate with an NCAA investigation into potential sports-betting violations, the NCAA announced Friday.

The NCAA identified the three players as forwards Jalin Billingsley and Da’Sean Nelson and guard Jalen Terry. The NCAA said not cooperating with an investigation is a violation of NCAA rules, which could result in permanent ineligibility, but none of the three has any college eligibility remaining.

Eastern Michigan said its athletic department cooperated fully in the investigation.

“EMU remains committed to compliance with NCAA rules and preserving the integrity of competition,” athletic director Scott Wetherbee said in a statement to The Detroit News on Friday.

“Eastern Michigan fully cooperated with the NCAA staff and its investigators. The three student-athletes who chose not to participate in the investigation have exhausted their eligibility.

“With the matter behind us, we are looking forward to the upcoming season.”

The NCAA said in its report Friday that in January 2025, its enforcement staff received alerts from integrity-monitoring services about potentially suspicious first-half betting activity on Eastern Michigan’s Jan. 14 game at Central Michigan, won by CMU, 82-63.

On Jan. 29, the three players had their phones imaged by an NCAA enforcement vendor. The NCAA said its enforcement staff made requests to interview the players after their phones were imaged.

On March 17, 10 days after the team’s season ended, the players’ lawyers notified the NCAA that they would not participate in the investigation, and they requested the phone images be destroyed.

The NCAA said Friday that it was unable to determine if sports-betting violations occurred.

Not participating in an NCAA investigation is considered a Level I violation, if players have eligibility remaining. Instead, the NCAA’s only remaining recourse was to publicly name the players in question.

“When individuals choose not to cooperate — particularly when cases involve potential integrity issues — those choices can and will be met with serious consequences including prohibitions on athletically related activities, the loss of eligibility and/or being publicly named in an infractions decision,” the NCAA’s Division I Committee on Infractions said in a statement released Friday.

EMU finished the 2024-25 season with an overall record of 16-16, 9-9 in the Mid-American Conference.

Terry played in 31 games and led the team in scoring at 16.6 points per game, and also averaged 4.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists. Nelson played in 31 games and averaged 16.1 points and 5.7 rebounds. Billingsley played in all 32 games and averaged 10.5 points and 5.1 rebounds.

The publicly IDing of the former Eastern Michigan players comes one day after federal investigators arrested Miami Heat player Terry Rozier for allegedly rigging sports betting with his on-court actions.

The NCAA, the only major sports league in United States without commercial partnerships with sportsbooks, said this week that it has investigated about 30 current and former men’s basketball players for sports betting improprieties. NCAA athletes aren’t allowed to bet on any sports, but starting Nov. 1, they can bet on professional sports.

“We are grateful for federal law-enforcement’s efforts to stamp out illegal sports betting, and I am proud that the NCAA continues to have the most aggressive competition-integrity polices in place,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a statement this week. “The Association has and will continue to pursue sports-betting violations using a layered integrity-monitoring program for over 22,000 states.

“But we still need more states, regulators and gaming companies to help in this effort by eliminating risky prop bets to reduce opportunities for manipulation.”

If in mid-September you had forecast that Florida State would spend part of mid-October in the wee hours at Stanford frantically trying to avoid going 3-4 overall and 0-4 in the ACC while lunging toward the goal line on a final play that the referee then carefully reviewed for half an eternity, well, sure, you could have made a bloody fortune, but that wouldn’t have made you any less loopy. The truth around college football, after all, has gone loopy lately, even for college football.

Another one of those berserk weekends met its end after four top-10 teams lost and the Seminoles, 17.5-point favorites, fell, 20-13, to a program in a rebuilding decade. The drawn-out ending of Florida State-Stanford played like some slow-warping alternate universe as the game kept seeming to conclude but then not doing so as Stanford students in the stands mocked Florida State with tomahawk chops. Florida State Coach Mike Norvell wound up looking glum and puzzled again, his sixth Seminoles team appearing as if lost among the redwoods with a dead flashlight, still roaming the country without any ACC win since September 2024, across nine yawning losses.

And a final score from Tallahassee on Aug. 30, 2025 – Florida State 31, Alabama 17 – continued to mutate into some inexplicable oddity in the rearview.

Maybe somebody should just go ahead and delete it.

The Seminoles, who danced at the end of that 31-17 win to Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” as quarterback Thomas Castellanos fretted maybe they should temper the braggadocio, the team from the empire resuscitated, have now lost to Virginia, Miami, Pittsburgh and Stanford. Its good coach’s job teeters. Meanwhile, the Alabama team and its second-year coach presumed doomed and soft for a loud September week just reached 6-1 with a fourth straight win over a ranked SEC opponent, this time Tennessee by 37-20. Alabama looks like Alabama. It has beaten even Vanderbilt. “They’ve got an edge to them still and haven’t lost it since the beginning there, since Week 1,” Kalen DeBoer said of his players to reporters in Tuscaloosa. “That’s hard to do. That’s really hard to do.”

All around the land, a sport historically long on oligarchy has taken to dabbling in anarchy. Miami looks ironclad – no, wait. It lost Friday night to Louisville on a diving interception that doubled as one of the best catches ever by a linebacker, making Louisville quarterback Miller Moss say, “Holy s—,” and making the interceptor, Miami native T.J. Capers, say, “You know, I’d say it was surreal.” James Franklin looks gone – no, wait. There he sat as an ex-Penn State coach on the set of ESPN’s “College GameDay,” saying, “We’re just going to go win the national championship somewhere else now.” Two-loss Texas looks healed – no, wait. It got outgained 395-179 on Saturday night at struggling Kentucky, got out-first-downed 26-8, got out-possessed 39:23-20:37 and tussled into a 13-13 overtime, where it needed a touchdown-saving tackle by Jaylon Guilbeau, a goal-line stand and a 45-yard field goal to smile going home. “You know,” Coach Steve Sarkisian told reporters in Lexington, “once a year, you have a culture win, where the game’s not pretty but the team, because the team is so close, finds a way to win the game.”

USC returns – no, wait. Michigan sinks – no, wait. The only frigates sailing calmly above the fray seem to be Ohio State and Indiana, but the latter case feels refreshingly upside-down. UAB fired its coach last Sunday, then upended 21½-point favorite Memphis on Saturday. BYU dipped into deep trouble Oct. 11 at Arizona, wriggled out of that in double overtime and then bested loathed rival Utah, 24-21, on Saturday to reach 7-0 with the help of a ricocheting 22-yard touchdown run by a quarterback wearing No. 47 and named Bear (Bachmeier), all while Jason Benetti of Fox Sports called from the booth, “There’s a Bear on the loose in Provo!”

It’s a season in which Vanderbilt sits a legit 6-1 as lionhearted quarterback Diego Pavia helps beat No. 10 LSU, 31-24, with a fourth-down play in the third quarter on which a defensive end appears squarely in his windshield and Pavia buys himself two seconds with some sort of unteachable 360 move out of the ether before throwing. He also throws a touchdown pass to a blocking tight end, Cole Spence, who later chirpily notes it’s his first news conference and says, eventually: “Yeah, we’re not hiding it. We’re trying to go win a national championship. This is a big win, another step on the road, but if we end this season with six wins, we’re going to be pissed.”

In how many seasons do Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech stream toward the top 10 while ranked Virginia sits 6-1 after that nutty rarity, a game-winning safety, all while Texas Tech gets upset?

In one, pretty much. Assumptions keep croaking, so when you assume, you make – you know. An epitome of croaked assumptions occurred in that fresh harbor of fervor, Tempe.

You might know the populous Arizona State student body as having a bit of a reputation for appreciating that the campus is not, you know, dry. But as the newfangled college football with its 12-team playoff and its player mobility seems to allow more college towns a chance at non-delusional hoping, those Sun Devil students helped create one hell of a field-storming scene after a 26-22 upset of No. 7 Texas Tech. At one point, it appeared their grand blob of humanity engulfed a 6-foot-5, 295-pound lineman with an 82-inch wingspan, Champ Westbrooks from Los Angeles, except you can’t engulf somebody like that, so Westbrooks appeared to just grin amid the love.

Amid all the fine senselessness, both Texas Tech and Arizona State had visited Salt Lake City this year, the former whacking Utah, 34-10, and the latter getting whacked, 42-10, just last week. “I still don’t want to think about it,” Arizona State Coach Kenny Dillingham said, “because I’m so embarrassed by it.” So, of course, assumptions crumbled again.

“You’ve got to find solutions to problems,” said Dillingham, the 35-year-old native Arizonan who has returned the electricity to his alma mater. “[Losing 42-10] beat me up. It beat me up a lot. But I sat down. … I called two coaches that I knew that I had a lot of respect for and I said: ‘Hey, this is the situation we’re in. We’ve got some guys dinged up. … We’re not as physical as we were. We’re a veteran team. I’ve never been in this situation. Help?’”

Well, the embarrassed rise again in 2025, maybe even after some pad-popping practices, and so the Sun Devils led 19-7, trailed 22-19 with two minutes left and won on a 75-yard drive led by quarterback Sam Leavitt, including a hairy fourth and two when he darted toward the line but then flipped a pass to Jordyn Tyson along the sideline, leading to 33 yards of relieved roaring. Besides, everyone wants a quarterback who sobs when the leaves fall and he’s hurt and he can’t play, as happened at Utah.

“I remember we were driving on the bus on the way to the [Utah] game,” Leavitt told reporters in Tempe, “and obviously, we’re [based] in Arizona, so it doesn’t really get fall weather around here. So we get [to Salt Lake City] and leaves are falling and it feels like real football. So we’re on our way to the stadium, I’ve got my headphones on, and I just started bawling.”

In 2025, you can bawl one week and enthrall the next – or, of course, the other way around.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Michigan State’s best defense Saturday came when its defense wasn’t even on the field.

In a 38-13 blowout loss to No. 3 Indiana, Michigan State’s defense gave up touchdowns on its first five drives and got pushed into its red zone on the next two. But a whopping 19:12 of first half possession time kept Indiana’s offense off the field and made Saturday’s game competitive for at least a little while.

“Going into the game, especially in the first half, we wanted to put longer drives together,” MSU coach Jonathan Smith said. “Possess the ball, and there was a lot that we were able to execute besides just being able to flat-out match touchdown scores.”

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza threw for four touchdowns and 332 yards while leading his offense to a 464-367 lead in total yardage. Michigan State’s defense managed just three tackles for loss and no turnovers.

Such a stat line was to be expected against Indiana, who had the nation’s fourth-ranked offense and defense heading into the game. With explosive players all over the field, Indiana exploited talent mismatches against an increasingly banged-up MSU defense (it lost another, safety Malik Spencer, to end the game).

The Spartans’ defense didn’t have an answer for Elijah Sarratt, who scored two touchdowns on four catches, including one on a beautiful ball thrown by Mendoza right behind freshman cornerback Aydan West. In the run game, Indiana had whatever it wanted between the tackles, including Kaelon Black’s 29-yard touchdown through a significant chunk of the MSU defense.

Yet the Michigan State offense at least stayed on the field long enough to keep the game at a reasonable score — not the blowout most expected as the Spartans limped in off three straight losses. Four of eight drives lasted longer than four minutes, with the only touchdown drive going for 8:18 to take a second lead in the second quarter.

But Indiana just proved too much down the stretch for this defense.

“We knew what we were getting into,” VanSumeren said. “This is the Big Ten. This is what we came here to do, is to play these type of games, play these type of teams. It’s not like we were physically outmatched or anything like that. It’s just some things we gotta clean up at different positions, and we’ll get it right.”

Running woes strain Chiles’ limits

Aidan Chiles looked like he could do it all Saturday, throwing for 243 yards and a touchdown. He completed 27 of his 33 throws, including 20 straight at one point. He ran for 91 yards, including a 64-yard keeper in the second half. He even punted, the first MSU quarterback to do so since Rocky Lombardi in 2018.

But Chiles couldn’t do it all, held off the score sheet in the second half. And much of that had to do with the lack of a running game beside him.

Michigan State finished short of 100 yards rushing as a team for the third straight game, managing just 74 yards on 24 carries. It could’ve been even bleaker — Chiles’ 48 yards led the unit, and his total would’ve been a lot lower without that 64-yard call.

Transfer Elijah Tau-Tolliver ran for 13 yards on five carries to lead the running backs, starter Makhi Frazier bottled for a single yard on seven carries. Brandon Tullis, who showed improved pass protection compared to his early season form, finished with 3 yards on two carries.

Smith highlighted Indiana’s defensive front, led by defensive lineman Mikail Kamara (two tackles) and aided by the adept reads of linebacker Aiden Fisher (nine tackles) and Rolijah Hardy (eight tackles).

“We gotta get that solved, because we do — we want to be more effective with that,” Smith said.

Progress is fine, Spartans want results

There are no moral victories in football, even if the early fight Michigan State showed made the result a little easier to stomach.

Smith made it clear that though Michigan State showed progress in the loss, they’re still in the business of winning football games.

“We’re always looking to win the game, 100%,” Smith said, “and so that hasn’t lost our sight in any way. I mean, this is a good football team and all of that, but we want to be able to play winning football and haven’t done it the last few weeks.”

The lack of wins is weighing on Smith’s program. His four-game losing streak is the longest of his 19-game tenure at Michigan State, one that is in question given the way this season has gone. Performances like Saturday’s may have been expected, but those losses still sting.

And though it’s nice to show some progress on film, there’s a lot more work to be done. Improvements in the pass rush, pass coverage, the run game and pass protection need to be made, especially in a highly-charged rivalry setting this week against Michigan.

ANN ARBOR — With leading rusher Justice Haynes sidelined, Michigan running back Jordan Marshall stepped in and the Wolverines did not miss a beat in the running game.

Marshall had 133 yards on 25 carries (5.3 per carry) and had a touchdown in the Wolverines’ 24-7 victory over Washington on Saturday at Michigan Stadium. Michigan finished with 187 yards against a run defense that had allowed an average 82.8 yards.

“I just pride myself in running hard,” Marshall said. “That’s how I practice. That’s how I’m going to play. I’m gonna push files, I’m gonna hit people, I’m just going to play hard. That’s what my team asked from me every single play, and I’m going to give them my best. And I think I did that for not only Justice, who’s on the sideline today, but for Coach (Tony) Alford and for our whole room is just to run hard.”

Haynes suffered an unspecified injury to his torso late in the first half at USC the previous week and did not return to the game. He practiced this week and was listed as questionable but did not play. He leads the team with 705 yards and eight rushing touchdowns and entered the game as the nation’s fourth-leading rusher averaging 117.5 yards a game.

While Haynes has distinguished himself with home-run runs — he has two 75-yard touchdowns — Marshall is more of a grind-it-out, tough-yardage runner who will drag defenders much like former Michigan back Blake Corum.

“You hand off the ball, you see him get wrapped up a little bit and like, yeah, couple more yards coming after that,” quarterback Bryce Underwood said. “So just an expectation now for him.”

Marshall, sitting to Underwood’s left at the postgame interview, said that absolutely is the expectation every time he touches the ball.

“I’m a downhill, hit-you-in-the-mouth-type of runner, and I pride myself on that and carrying piles,” Marshall said. “I’ve been doing this since high school (at Cincinnati Moeller), carrying piles, and I don’t plan on stopping.”

Marshall said Haynes didn’t offer much advice before the game, because he didn’t have to. The running backs, he said, trust each other.

“He knows what I can do. I know what he can do,” Marshall said. “He just gave me that look, and he doesn’t need to say anything for me to know what I’m going to go out there and do. And I told the guys before the game, in the running back room, we talk about being the most connected team and most connected program.

“When one of your brothers are down or not playing, you got to play for them. Justice was doing everything he could this week to get out there and play with his team and couldn’t go before the game, and I know I was going to have to carry the load today and help this team win. And again, just putting us in the position to win is all I ever asked for. And playing relentless and with 100% effort every single play is what I’m going to give every single time I step out there.”

Injury updates

Starting left tackle Evan Link suffered an injury to his left leg early in the game, and after being surrounded by his teammates, he was taken off the field on a cart.

“It doesn’t look too good,” Moore said of Link’s injury. “I know it was a lower-body thing, but we’ll see how he does.”

Blake Frazier filled in for Link.

There were several absences from the game on Saturday. Haynes went through some pregame drills but was ruled out. He was listed as “questionable” on the availability list issued two hours before kickoff by the Big Ten.

Safeties Rod Moore and Brandyn Hillman did not appear on the Big Ten list but were considered by Michigan to be “game-time” decisions. They did not play. Also out was tight end Hogan Hansen. A Michigan spokesman said the Big Ten was informed before the game he would not be playing.

“They practiced through the week,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said. “We always err on the side (of caution) even sometimes when they want to go, making sure they’re full strength before we do anything. “They were just game-time decisions. (Moore) practiced these past couple days, but again, you’re always going to do what’s in the best interest of the kid, even if they want to go. He probably could have gone, but we just felt like it wasn’t that time.”

Moore said he watched pregame warm-ups to make sure players were capable of playing.

“Guys that practice leading up to the game, you feel like they’re ready,” Moore said. “You get to the game, they go through warm-ups and you say, OK, that doesn’t look exactly right. Those are the things we make decisions off of.”

Linebacker Ernest Hausmann, the team’s leading tackler who had seven against the Huskies, went down late in game with what looked like a lower left leg injury. He walked off the field unassisted.

“He’ll be fine,” Moore said.

Hanging on to the trophy

Tight end Zack Marshall entered the game against Washington having caught three passes for 29 yards during his career. With tight ends Marlin Klein and Hogan Hansen out, Marshall became an important target for Underwood.

Marshall was targeted seven times and made five catches for a team-best 72 receiving yards including a 10-yard touchdown pass from Underwood. Marshall was asked what he saw on the touchdown reception.

“A lot of grass,” Marshall said. “It was pretty fun. They attached to the back, I got open. I mean, it’s how you draw it up.”

Marshall brought the football he caught for his first touchdown to the postgame interview and was asked what he’s going to do with it.

“I’m gonna put it straight into my backpack, put it right on the wall,” Marshall said. “I’m never touching those gloves again. I mean, I’m excited.”

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Fernando Mendoza completed 24 of 28 passes for 332 yards and four touchdowns and No. 3 Indiana celebrated its highest ranking in program history with a 38-13 rout of Michigan State on Saturday.

The Hoosiers (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten), who have won all but one game by double digits, kept pace with No. 1 Ohio State atop the conference standings with touchdowns on their first five possessions.

Mendoza threw a pair of TD passes to Elijah Sarratt, and also hit E.J. Williams Jr. and Omar Cooper Jr. for scores.

Sarratt’s first touchdown on a 24-yard play put Indiana ahead 14-10 in the second quarter. Sarratt’s 27-yard TD reception gave the Hoosiers a 35-10 lead in the third quarter.

Mendoza, a redshirt junior transfer has 21 TD passes and just two interceptions this season.

Cooper finished with eight receptions for 115 yards. Kaelon Black added a 29-yard TD rush.

Michigan State (3-4, 0-4) lost its fourth in a row by double digits despite twice taking first-half leads. Spartans quarterback Aidan Chiles completed 27 of 33 passes for 243 yards and one TD.

Poll implications

Expect Indiana to move up a spot in the rankings after No. 2 Miami lost to Louisville on Friday.

The takeaway

Michigan State: Mired in a Big Ten slump after its 10th conference loss in 12 games, second-year coach Jonathan Smith is searching for any positives. The Spartans monopolized the clock with time-consuming scoring drives of 8:07 and 9:22 for a 10-7 lead in the second quarter to provide a glimmer of hope that this team can compete with the elite.

Indiana: An offensive juggernaut that averages 44.8 points per game ensured this outcome as the Hoosiers drove 75 yards on three of their first four scoring drives and 80 yards on the other. Three of those possessions lasted just 1:47, 1:51 and 2:40. The only thing that stopped the Hoosiers temporarily was a 20-minute halftime delay due to lightning.

Up next

Michigan State: Hosts Michigan next Saturday.

Indiana: At home against UCLA next Saturday.

— By PHILLIP B. WILSON, Associated Press

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Jordan Marshall ran for a tiebreaking touchdown late in the third quarter and Bryce Underwood threw his second touchdown pass early in the fourth to help Michigan pull away and beat Washington 24-7 on Saturday.

The Wolverines (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) took control by scoring touchdowns after picking off passes on consecutive possessions and kicking a field goal after the Huskies (5-2, 2-2) turned it over on downs.

Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr. threw two interceptions in a pivotal stretch of four passes in the third quarter and was picked off for a third time on the first snap of the following drive.

Marshall, playing in place of injured running back Justice Haynes, had a career-high 133 yards rushing on 25 carries and his 14-yard touchdown run one snap after Williams’ first interception put Michigan ahead 14-7.

Underwood was 21 of 27 for 230 yards and matched a season high with two touchdown passes to fellow freshman Andrew Marsh on a 22-yard throw late in the first quarter and a 10-yard toss to Zach Marshall in the fourth.

The takeaway

Washington: Williams, a sophomore, threw one interception in his first 185 passes this season but was picked off three times in a span of five pass attempts.

Michigan: The offense has started slow in most games this season, a troubling trend for a team that fell out of the AP Top 25 after losing 31-13 at USC last week.

Injury report

Washington tight end Quentin Moore was carted off the field. Moore was responsive and moving all extremities when he was taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons. Michigan left tackle Evan Link, who had a lower-body injury, was also carted off the field.

Up next

Michigan plays at rival Michigan State and Washington hosts Illinois on Saturday.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — James Franklin is out at Penn State.

The school fired the longtime head coach on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 22-21 home loss to Northwestern all but ended whatever remote chance the preseason No. 2 team had of reaching the College Football Playoff.

Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), who began the year with hopes of winning the national title only to have those hopes evaporate by early October with three consecutive losses, each one more stinging than the last.

Penn State, which reached the CFP semifinals 10 months ago, fell at home to Oregon in overtime in late September. A road loss at previously winless UCLA followed. The final straw came on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, where the Nittany Lions let Northwestern escape with a victory and lost quarterback Drew Allar to injury for the rest of the season.

Franklin went 104-45 during his 11-plus seasons at Penn State. Yet the Nittany Lions often stumbled against top-tier opponents, going 4-21 against teams ranked in the top 10 during his tenure.

Hired in 2014 in the wake of Bill O’Brien’s departure for the NFL, Franklin inherited a team still feeling the effects of unprecedented NCAA sanctions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Armed with relentless optimism and an ability to recruit, Franklin’s program regularly churned out NFL-level talent, from Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons. Franklin guided the Nittany Lions to the 2016 Big Ten title and a seemingly permanent spot in the rankings.

There was hope this fall might be the one when Penn State would finally break through and win its third national championship and first since 1986. Yet after three easy wins during a light nonconference schedule, the Nittany Lions crumbled.

Athletic director Pat Kraft said the school owes Franklin — who is due nearly $50 million in a buyout — an “enormous amount of gratitude” for leading the Nittany Lions back to relevance but felt it was time to make a change.

“We hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships,” Kraft said.

Smith now will be tasked with trying to stop the bleeding on what has become a disastrous season. He will have his work cut out for him: Penn State’s next three games are at Iowa on Saturday, at No. 1 Ohio State on Nov. 1 and home against No. 3 Indiana on Nov. 8.

The matchups with the Buckeyes and Hoosiers were expected to be a chance for the Nittany Lions to bolster their CFP credentials. In the span of a handful of weeks, Penn State will instead find itself in the role of spoiler.

The move will cost Penn State at a time the athletic department has committed to a $700 million renovation to Beaver Stadium. The project is expected to be completed by 2027.

Former athletic director Sandy Barbour signed Franklin to a 10-year contract extension worth up to $85 million in 2021. According to terms of the deal, Penn State will have to pay Franklin’s base salary of $500,000, supplemental pay of $6.5 million and insurance loan of $1 million until 2031.

It’s a steep price, but one the university appears willing to pay to find a coach who can complete the climb to a national title.

“We have the best college football fans in America, a rich tradition of excellence, significant investments in our program, compete in the best conference in college sports and have a state-of-the-art renovated stadium on the horizon,” Kraft said. “I am confident in our future and in our ability to attract elite candidates to lead our program.”

There will be no shortage of interested coaches. Kraft has ties to at least one. He was the athletic director at Temple when he hired current Nebraska coach Matt Rhule back in 2013.

Rhule and the Cornhuskers will visit Beaver Stadium in Penn State’s home finale on Nov. 22. What back in August looked like one of the final hurdles for the Nittany Lions to clear on their way to a CFP berth might instead be both an audition for Rhule and a chance for the Nittany Lions to potentially salvage a shot at a bowl game of any variety, let alone a premier one.

— By TRAVIS JOHNSON, Associated Press

AP National Writer Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

Another weekend of college football is in full swing. Here are some of the more notable winners and losers so far:

 

Alabama (winner)

Is there a grand, overarching theme of the No. 8 Crimson Tide’s 27-24 victory Saturday at No. 14 Missouri? Probably not. It was a pairing of well-regarded teams, neither led by more than 10, and both defenses performed ably.

Frankly, it didn’t stray too far from what anyone imagines as a standard-issue game between teams in the top half of the SEC.

Yet it was another significant step for Alabama (5-1, 3-0) – toward a league title, sure, but also toward preserving some flexibility for playoff positioning.

The Crimson Tide has spent the past three weeks dealing Georgia, Vanderbilt and Missouri (5-1, 1-1) their first losses of the season. Maybe all of those triumphs don’t hold up come early December, but one or two of them probably will.

The schedule also turns in Alabama’s favor, at least a little. It has just one trip outside the state (Oct. 25 at South Carolina) in the regular season. Four of its final six are at home. And the three credible playoff contenders left – Tennessee, LSU and Oklahoma – all have to visit Tuscaloosa.

Hefty though that may seem, just remember those are the games the Crimson Tide has largely aced in the past two seasons. Alabama is 6-1 against ranked teams under Coach Kalen DeBoer, with Saturday’s effort just the latest example of the Crimson Tide thriving in big games.

UCLA (winner)

At the professional level, an early-season firing in many sports can be spun not merely as ditching a losing coach but also an attempt to salvage a season. That’s a harder sell at the college level, especially in football. The season is too short, and there usually isn’t a realistic chance to hire someone from the outside until November or December.

So when a college football program pulls the plug on a coach’s tenure, the best thing that is likely to come from it is a head start in the search for a new sideline boss.

UCLA might be an exception. After firing DeShaun Foster after an ugly 0-3 start, the Bruins have progressed rapidly under interim coach Tim Skipper. They lost by a field goal at Northwestern, then stunned Penn State last week in the season’s most startling result to date.

But was it a fluke? Saturday’s 38-13 clobbering of Michigan State would suggest otherwise. UCLA (2-4, 2-1 Big Ten) dominated the middle of the game against the Spartans (3-3, 0-3), who gave up 38 straight points.

The Bruins still have trips to Indiana, Ohio State and Southern California to come, as well as a visit from Washington, so the path to even a .500 season remains challenging. But it was almost unthinkable to even dream of that possibility a few weeks ago. UCLA’s rapid progression to competency has secured much more of a short-term payoff than anyone could have anticipated from an early coaching change.

Florida State (loser)

So the Seminoles are not back, huh?

One of the belles of the ball on the opening weekend of the season, Florida State has backed up its upset of Alabama (and routs of East Texas A&M and Kent State) with … a double-overtime loss at Virginia, a one-possession loss to Miami and now Saturday’s 34-31 setback against Pittsburgh.

It isn’t to suggest the No. 25 Seminoles (3-3, 0-3 ACC) are a disaster like a year ago, when they went 2-10. That team would have loved to have had enough answers to score 30-plus points in a conference loss, as this one has twice in the past three weeks. Florida State cracked 17 points just once against a Football Bowl Subdivision team last season.

But between some recent injury issues and benefiting from an oddly feeble performance from Alabama back on Aug. 30, the Seminoles find themselves teetering into the territory of being a mild disappointment. An ACC title is basically out at this point, but this is clearly a better bunch than a year ago. There’s an urgent need to show it, and next week’s trip to Stanford provides an opportunity to do exactly that.

South Florida (winner)

When the Bulls were last getting national attention, they followed up opening victories over then-ranked Boise State and Florida teams with a 37-point thumping at Miami. Hey, it happens.

Since then, Coach Alex Golesh’s team has pounded a Football Championship Subdivision team (63-14 over South Carolina State) and worn out the scoreboard on back-to-back Friday nights against a pair of conference foes (54-26 at home against Charlotte and 63-36 at North Texas).

The latter game came this Friday night against the previously unbeaten Mean Green, which was on the cusp of taking a 21-14 lead into the break before muffing a punt in the final minute of the first half. The No. 24 Bulls (5-1, 2-0 American) scored a touchdown with two seconds to go, setting off a surge that continued well into the third quarter.

South Florida opened the second half with a four-play touchdown drive. Two plays after North Texas (5-1, 1-1) threw an interception, the Bulls reached the end zone again. And four snaps into the next drive, Jhalyn Shuler returned a fumble 34 yards for a touchdown to make it 42-21.

The final tally was four touchdowns (and three North Texas turnovers) in a little more than four minutes. When coaches preach about the value of the “middle eight” – the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second – they could do a lot worse than point to how South Florida flipped this game and remained part of a scrum of unbeatens in American play that also includes Memphis, Tulane and Saturday’s Navy/Temple winner.

Kennesaw State (winner)

The Owls endured a less-than-stellar FBS debut last season – a midweek upset of Liberty notwithstanding – and the firing of coach Brian Bohannon with three games to go was bungled in absurd fashion. They finished 2-10, and there was little optimism outside the Atlanta suburbs that Kennesaw State would venture too far from the Conference USA cellar this season.

All of which makes the Owls’ 35-7 rout of Louisiana Tech on Thursday more than mention-worthy a couple of days later. After a one-point defeat at Wake Forest in Coach Jerry Mack’s debut and a blowout loss at Indiana, Kennesaw State has rattled off four consecutive victories (all at home) and might be one of the sport’s most improved teams.

Georgia Southern transfer Dexter Williams II threw for 290 yards and four touchdowns Thursday as the Owls remained one of three undefeated teams in CUSA. The back half of the schedule includes four road games out of six (including a trip to Jacksonville State), but things are clearly on the right track at Kennesaw State.

Demond Williams Jr. (winner)

The Washington sophomore, fresh off helping the Huskies erase a 20-point deficit in a victory last week at Maryland, authored a career night Friday in a 38-19 defeat of Rutgers.

Williams threw for a career-high 402 yards and rushed for 136 yards while totaling four touchdowns as Washington (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) beat a team coming off an open date for the second consecutive week.

The Huskies went 6-7 last season, a transition year after the bulk of their national runner-up team (including DeBoer) departed and Jedd Fisch arrived from Arizona. But Williams played in every game, gradually getting some experience before starting against Oregon in the regular season finale and against Louisville in the Sun Bowl.

He has settled in quite well, throwing for 1,628 yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception while adding 382 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Those are solid half-season stats, and if the Huskies and Williams can both thrive the next two weeks at Michigan and at home against Illinois, the quarterback could well start drawing more national attention.

EAST LANSING — Fans booed Jonathan Smith’s Spartans off the field Saturday afternoon, but the Michigan State coach insists he’s facing no more pressure than he was at the start of the season.

Favored by more than a touchdown in front of a homecoming crowd, Michigan State (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) staggered through a 38-13 loss to a UCLA team that fired its own head coach a month ago. It’s the third straight loss for the Spartans since entering Big Ten play, packed with frustration for coaches, players and fans.

Now 8-10 overall and 3-9 in Big Ten play in his 18 games in East Lansing, the pressure is on Smith to turn this season around. He insists that’s nothing new.

“I think there’s always pressure,” Smith said. “This is what you sign up for. You want to be … a head coach, you want to be a play caller, you want to be a quarterback in the Big Ten, you want to play defensive line in the Big Ten. There’s always a, call it, pressure, but your own expectations (are) really what you’re chasing, and we’re focused on that.”

That answer is a familiar refrain from Smith, who made a similar comment about pressure at Big Ten media days in July. In the era of revenue sharing and NIL money, the financial incentive to win football games — or more adequately, not to lose them — never has been greater. New athletic director J Batt made that evident in June at his introductory press conference.

“It’s imperative we support all our sports, but do not be confused — every athletics department competing at the highest level must be successful in football,” Batt said. “… We’ll do everything we possibly can to dive in and help Coach Smith.”

There’s a lot riding on Smith to be successful this season — a more than $12 million internal loan to cover revenue share perhaps the most impactful. In July, Batt said he expected Smith to continue to make progress this season. Halfway through the season, it’s not clear he has.

Saturday’s game made it clear that fans had lost both faith and interest in Smith. A large contingent of the 72,109 fans in attendance headed to the exits before halftime, and those who stayed booed the Spartans off the field. Fans also booed Smith’s picture when it came up on the video board during a third quarter timeout, UCLA having scored 38 unanswered points by that point in the game.

Asked about those boos, Smith diverted the question to a compliment of MSU fans.

“I like playing at a place and being a part of a program that people genuinely care, have some energy and passion behind it,” Smith said. “And that’s a two-way street when you’re at a place (where) there’s a high amount of care factor and passion with it. So you’re asking for that. You’re going to get it on both ends.”

About the energy he felt from a booing crowd? Smith made clear he couldn’t speak for all the fans in attendance.

“Call it frustrations at halftime, all of us got the same ones,” he said.

The body language and energy of his players looked defeated by the second quarter. Smith chalked that up to a surprise.

“Very surprised by it,” Smith said. “And again, I think all of us that went through the week felt good, back to work. Guys (had) call it energy and focus through the week. So yeah, surprised that this performance looked the way it did.”

Smith already had caught flak from fans ahead of this game, losses at Southern Cal and Nebraska exposing clear flaws in talent, execution and even play calling. All those showed up in abundance against UCLA.

Like a fourth-and-1 call on his own 34 that saw Michigan State run a toss play behind Ashton Lepo, a right tackle who has looked visibly out-of-sorts since stepping in due to injury. Or the many times his defense was burned by underneath routes and crossers, exposing the same coverage issues of the linebacker room that showed all of last season.

This is the third three-game losing streak of Smith’s tenure, and it may last even longer. The Spartans are set to visit No. 7 Indiana next week, then host No. 15 Michigan. Minnesota and a once-ranked Penn State follow, neither to be taken lightly.

What happened Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium may go down as the lowest point of Smith’s tenure at Michigan State. It’s the kind of loss that can cause a program to cut ties with a head coach, like UCLA itself did by firing DeShaun Foster in Week 3. Sam Pittman at Arkansas, Brent Pry at Virginia Tech, even Mike Gundy after 21 years with Oklahoma State — Power Four institutions have acted fast to maintain momentum, and with it fundraising, in football.

Cutting ties with Smith would be expensive for Michigan State. Former athletic director Alan Haller signed him to a seven-year, $52.85 million contract in November 2023, looking for a program builder to guide it out of the gloomy end to Mel Tucker’s scandal-clad tenure as coach.

Michigan State fired Haller in May seeking a jolt in administration. Might it seek another jolt with a new head coach? There’d be a hefty sum involved, at least a $33 million buyout for the 85% guaranteed on Smith’s contract. Barring internal promotion, there’d also be a buyout for assistant coaches.

Then there’s the all-important question of who exactly to hire as a replacement. That’s a lot of money, and Michigan State’s athletic department is operating on a limited budget.

For their part, players who spoke Saturday maintain faith in their coach.

“Belief, I mean, it’s not a week-to-week thing that changes,” linebacker Jordan Hall said. “It’s something that we’ve been doing since January. We still believe in the guys on this team and the coaching staff, so that doesn’t change just because we have to go to Indiana or whoever we play next.”

“We all believe in who we are and who we’re led by,” center Matt Gulbin added. “We just gotta face this loss in the face, get better from it, watch the film and move on and get better. That’s all we can do.”

But the pressure is on for Smith, if not for losing games then losing the interest of fans and potential donors.

Saturday’s performance left a lot of questions for Smith to answer as head coach, and he may just be running out of time to answer them.

LOS ANGELES — Michigan’s Zeke Berry had an interception, and Jaishawn Barham forced a fumble that Derrick Moore recovered.

Those were the positives for Michigan’s defense.

But in a 31-13 loss to USC on Saturday at the L.A. Coliseum, those seem like footnotes. The bigger part — no, the biggest part — of the story was the tackling. That was evident from the start of the game when the Trojans drove 75 yards on 11 plays to open the scoring on a 2-yard touchdown pass, and at the start of the second half when they built a 21-7 lead scoring on their first possession on a 15-yard run.

“They played really well,” Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said. “We didn’t tackle very well. We’ve tackled a lot better. Just too many opportunities, big plays, third-down conversions, scoring at the beginning of the game and half. We just got to do better job of rallying those things. But credit to them Credit to their game plan. No excuses. We got to continue to attack and get better.”

Safety Rod Moore, a two-time captain, was asked what he thought about Sherrone Moore’s assessment of the defense.

“We’ve got to get better at tackling,” Rod Moore said, flatly.

He was asked again about the performance.

“Got to get better at tackling,” he said.

Clearly, that had been the message they received after the game.

“We’ve got to get better as a team, really,” Berry said.

Haynes update

Justice Haynes entered the game as the nation’s third-leading rusher, averaging 130.8 yards a game and had rushed for 100 yards or more in the five previous games.

He headed to the locker room with 3:09 left in the first half and did return to the sideline in the second half, rode the bike but never got back on the field. He finished with 55 yards on 10 carries.

“He’ll be OK,” Sherrone Moore said. “We’ll see how he goes as we go through the week.”

It was unclear what the injury was, although it looked like possibly a rib or abdominal issue. Moore said it was “something in his side.”

“He came back out, was working through it,” Moore said. “Probably could have went in. Extra cautious on our student-athletes when anything happens to them. We want to make sure they’re OK.”

Not affected by the crowd

USC coach Lincoln Riley thought the sold-out crowd of 75,500 at the Coliseum played a significant role in the outcome. There were a large number of Michigan fans, but this was clearly a home team advantage.

“That’s what it should feel like in and I can’t tell you the difference it makes,” Riley told reporters after the game. “You could just feel the impact of our crowd tonight. You could feel the energy. It impacted the game. I felt like it impacted the opponent. That’s what great home crowds should do.”

Michigan running back Jordan Marshall said he did not feel the Wolverines were influenced by the crowd.

“We’re playing at the Coliseum, it’s cool but it’s nothing like Michigan,” Marshall said. “We’ve played in really good environments all year. Everybody was feeding off each other. This is just another place to play. We play in front of 110, 111,000 every week. Everyone was saying how the environment was going to be crazy — it wasn’t Michigan.”

EAST LANSING — Mark Dantonio may have retired from head coaching five years ago, but he didn’t retire from football. In reality, he’s around it as much as he ever was.

The Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame inducted Dantonio Friday as part of its six-member 2025 class. It enshrined his program-record 114 wins, 12 bowl games, three Big Ten championships and one College Football Playoff appearance over the course of his 13-year career as the Spartans’ coach.

Dantonio’s coaching career may be over, but nowadays he’s watching more football than he even did as a coach as a member of the CFP Selection Committee.

“I really have,” Dantonio said. “I’ve watched more coaching film, and I watched a lot of TV games to sort of get the start of the season, who’s who and things of that nature. … I’ve always watched a lot of football, but probably pushing it a little bit more now.”

That’s his idea of retirement. Of taking it easy. On top of all that work, Friday’s induction marked the third hall of fame the 69-year-old Dantonio has entered in the past year, joining the College Football Hall of Fame (for which he also entered the Spartan Stadium Ring of Honor) and the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 2024.

The football itch has never been scratched for Dantonio, who started out as an All-Ohio safety at Zanesville High School in the 1970s. He played for South Carolina from 1976-78 before embarking on a 40-year coaching career across nine different schools, including the head coach at Cincinnati from 2004-06 and Michigan State from 2007-19. Dantonio earned Big Ten Coach of the Year twice in that span (2010 and 2013).

To Dantonio, his selection to Michigan State’s hall of fame is an honor beyond himself.

“I got started because I wanted to be around young people and watch young people develop,” Dantonio said, “and I love the X’s and O’s of it, and all the things that go along with it. But it really was about the players, and what can you accomplish with young people.”

How much could Dantonio accomplish? A lot. He brought Michigan State back as a powerhouse of the Big Ten in the 2010s, routinely in bowls and routinely winning against rivals — his 8-5 record against Michigan is the highest win percentage of any coach in program history. With Dantonio coaching football and Tom Izzo coaching men’s basketball, Michigan State established itself as a premier athletic department.

These days Dantonio’s program is the standard by which his Michigan State successors are judged — easy enough when he’s the winningest to ever do it. But in many respects, Michigan State’s program has never quite recovered since Dantonio’s retirement. It was a decision that caught many inside and outside the university by surprise when he announced it in February 2020, right before national signing day. Five seasons since his departure have yielded one winner: Mel Tucker’s 11-2 campaign in 2021 powered by Kenneth Walker III.

Piece by piece, it appears current coach Jonathan Smith (hired in November 2023, after Tucker’s scandal-clad dismissal brought Dantonio back to the sideline one more time as an associate head coach) has gotten the closest to filling that hole. Smith has given Dantonio his props over the course of two years in East Lansing, and Dantonio said he feels Smith has the program “on the right course.”

Dantonio himself didn’t build his own program in a vacuum, taking plenty of inspiration from two other Michigan State hall of fame members: George Perles and Duffy Daugherty.

“I think everybody has their own program, but you always look back in the past and try and, I think, replicate what was good,” Dantonio said. “You know, that’s what I tried to do. I reached back to Coach Perles’ teams, and then also to Duffy’s teams and things like that. And, you know, Michigan State’s got great tradition here. So once you’ve done it once, there’s always the possibility of doing it again.”

College football is a markedly different landscape since Dantonio retired. The transfer portal and name, image and likeness (NIL) legislation changed the fabric of the sport so much that teams can now share revenue directly with athletes. The money side of the sport is more transparent than ever, and with that comes roster churn. That side of the sport is antithetical to Dantonio’s program, known for players sticking with him and his staff.

Dantonio still misses some joys of coaching, even if he’s still ingrained in the sport.

“I don’t miss the butterflies,” he said. “You know, that apprehension a little bit. But I miss the competitiveness of it and the thrill of winning.”

Maybe that’s why he’s never truly retired.

Funny how life works

From 1986-90, Dantonio served as the defensive coordinator for Jim Tressel’s Youngstown State program, helping lay the foundation for what would become a four-time NCAA Division I-AA national champion in the 1990s.

Saturday, that same Youngstown State program comes to East Lansing to play the Spartans (2-0).

“Going full circle a little bit,” Dantonio said. “I think I was 29 years old when I took the job at Youngstown. I was there for five years, and then (Tressel) stayed, I think, another 13 and won some national championships. (My) last year, ‘90, we were undefeated, but lost in the playoffs. But Youngstown had a great program, and still to this day, I think they’re very highly regarded.”

Current Youngstown State head coach Doug Phillips became a grad assistant with Tressel’s team the year after Dantonio left.

Youngstown State has played Michigan State three times in history, with the Spartans winning in 2011, 2013 and 2021, the first two under Dantonio.

EAST LANSING — Usually college football coaches have all the answers. At Michigan State, they’ve got all the questions.

Though the money and attention paid to college sports has professionalized the sport, college football is still, at its root, about player development. The vast majority of players come to campus either eyeing a future in professional football or needing to improve to touch the college field. From the perspective of Michigan State’s coaches, getting players there starts with their own ears.

“We believe that a smarter player is a better player, right?” safeties coach James Adams said Wednesday. “And so part of teaching and coaching and developing these young people is figuring out how they learn.”

Not only how players learn, but what they know in the first place. In order to develop better players, coaches deconstruct the framework of how they think about football, then fill the gaps. Players are different these days. The Spartans (2-0) have made a deliberate effort to recruit the sorts of players who want to learn and grow, who can handle themselves with intention.

“Kids are changing, you know,” offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said in August. “And it’s not the kids’ fault, it’s not the parents’. It’s just what’s around them. So you try to find those right kids.”

When the right type of kids get on campus, though, they’re all at various levels of football understanding. Before coaches can teach them anything, they must learn where players are at in their understanding of the game.

In the past, there’d be that caricature of an old-school coach who would rip into a player and tell them exactly what they needed to do, and the player’s success depended on how well they applied the lessons. These days, more young players are inquisitive. They want to, or even need to, understand “why” before they act. Their grasp of purpose dictates their chance of success.

Michigan State’s coaches are well equipped to handle those questions of “why.” In fact, they prefer it that way. Purpose is central to the development of players, getting down to the nitty-gritty details to elevate players’ football IQs.

It works like this: Aidan Chiles goes to a film session and watches back his tape. Before a coach lays into his ball placement, or his footwork, or his decision of when to scramble, they first ask what he sees. And through direct communication developed by trust, Chiles shows where he’s at.

“I have to have that with him,” quarterbacks coach Jon Boyer said Tuesday. “And so for me, everything, I try to pose questions rather than giving him the answers so that I know exactly what he’s thinking. We have to have that open line of communication, and that’s the way that we’re building the room together with all the quarterbacks.”

The same goes with defensive players. Adams, for example, will ask his defensive players what they see in the film room or even on the sideline. It’s what makes the difference between Armorion Smith miscommunicating on a touchdown play and making the game-saving pass breakup in double overtime, like he did Saturday.

“My question is always what happened?” Adams said. “If they can tell me what happened, right, we can work through the hows and the adjustments.”

By developing smarter players — especially on defense — Michigan State’s coaches can accelerate growth.

“We give them a clear way to learn and a process to learn,” Adams said. “The game of football hasn’t changed in 100 years, so we’re still teaching Cover 2 and Cover 3 like everybody else. But making sure the guys understand the why of what we’re doing and what we’re calling it, and then situationally how that may change.”

This philosophy has advantages on the financial side, too. The Spartans’ roster may not be laden with blue-chip talent, but head coach Jonathan Smith and his staff squeeze everything out of — and give every opportunity to — their players in order to maximize success. As Michigan State continues building its war chest to compete with the big spenders, Smith’s strategy gets a lot of bang for a smaller buck.

This strategy comes with responsibility for players, too. They have to be honest, first and foremost, about what they see on the field. Players almost have to be coaches themselves, something that favors older players who’ve played a lot of football. It’s a slow process, but the results can be strong, as Smith’s latter years at Oregon State showed.

“We’ve got a veteran group that they do a great job of coaching themselves and correcting themselves,” Adams said of this year’s team.

After one more tuneup against Youngstown State on Saturday (3:30 p.m./BTN), Michigan State will enter Big Ten play, where the margin for error shortens and there’s less time for learning. But don’t expect coaches to stop asking questions. Because it’s there where the key to this program’s success lies.

Two-point conversion

Aidan Chiles had a rowdy celebration after Saturday’s win over Boston College. He climbed into the student section to dance, hugged teammates, coaches and even commentators on the field. And he scooped up a child on the field and swung him around with a big hug.

That child was Boyer’s son. He and Chiles have known each other since Boyer was on Smith’s Oregon State staff that recruited Chiles in the 2023 class.

“Moments like that, (Chiles) earned the opportunity,” Boyer said. “And then for me to be a part of that and my son to be a part of that at the end of the game with a big hug, that’s what it’s about.”

EAST LANSING — A lot of words were said at halftime of Michigan State’s 42-40 double-overtime win over Boston College. A lot of tough truths. Probably some words not to be repeated in front of strangers. Some of the most important came from Nick Marsh.

The sophomore wide receiver had three catches on five targets for 22 yards and a touchdown in the first half, but he felt like he could’ve had more against a secondary that gave him space. Down 21-14, it was time to make a play. He let Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith know it.

“I told him coach, I got one-on-one coverage, give me the damn ball,” Marsh said.

Smith did, and it was Marsh who scored a tide-turning 41-yard touchdown to kickstart the Spartans’ comeback. He added one more catch, on six targets, for a 68-yard night.

How did Smith take his star speaking up?

“If that’s the case, he’s probably right, if it’s one-on-one,” Smith said. “Nick’s a competitor, I thought that was huge. Talk about his first touchdown, he’s carrying guys into the end zone on a slant like that. He is a competitive kid, talented and so, yeah, we gotta continue to find ways to get him the ball.”

Marsh has already tied his career high in touchdowns in a season — three — two games into the season. He had a quiet Week 1 against Western Michigan with just five catches for 32 yards.

A performance like Saturday’s flashes the kind of spark Marsh can ignite, both within himself and within his team.

Marsh was one of eight different players to catch a pass in the win and one of four with multiple touches, including fellow receivers Omari Kelly and Chrishon McCray.

“All these guys are great receivers,” quarterback Aidan Chiles said. “And if it’s their day, it’s their day. If they’re open, they’re open. And we’re going to get them the ball.”

Spencer crucial to the defense

Chiles’ apparent injury in the fourth quarter made Spartan Stadium hush to silence, but there was an equally important one in the first half. Safety Malik Spencer went down near the Michigan State sideline without putting weight on his right leg.

With Spencer gone, Boston College’s offense struck. The Eagles rattled off three straight scoring drives, with the majority of the yardage coming up the middle of the secondary where his absence created a hole.

“He’s a pretty big piece,” Smith said. “He is a good player, experienced out there. … He’s one of our better players on defense. And so again, we miss him when he’s (not) out there.”

In Spencer’s absence until late in the second half, Justin Denson Jr. and Devynn Cromwell played often. Cromwell got beat for a 56-yard sideline throw from Boston College quarterback Dylan Lonergan to receiver VJ Wilkins. That drive tied the game at 7, with 83 of 88 yards coming through the air.

Boston College scored two more touchdowns through the air in the second half, with Lonergan racking up 217 passing yards on 18-for-22 passing in the first half. By game’s end, he had 390 yards and another touchdown (scored in overtime). Nine of his passes went for more than 15 yards.

Not all of Michigan State’s secondary woes can be ascribed to that first-half spell without Spencer, but it exacerbated a talent problem in a secondary riding depth above star power. Spencer’s health, as well as that of fellow safety Nikai Martinez (out for the first two games of the season with an offseason injury) are two of the biggest questions facing this defense early.

Elsewhere in the defense, cornerback Joshua Eaton got beat a few times in coverage, and so did the linebackers over the middle. It’s an area Michigan State must clean up, because it’s part of the reason this game nearly went off the rails before halftime.

Ball security a problem for Kelly

Before he’d said anything at his postgame press conference, Kelly had something to get off his chest:

“I would like to shout my teammates out for not giving up on me,” Kelly said.

Saturday’s game started as a disasterclass from Kelly. After the defense forced a three-and-out to begin the game, Kelly fumbled away the punt return trying to strain for extra yards. The Spartans got the ball back off a fumble by Boston College running back Turbo Richard, but Kelly nearly gave it back later in the ensuing drive when he tried to hurdle a defender, knocking the ball loose with his knee before it bounced out of bounds.

“Something I live by is ‘don’t flinch,’” Kelly said. “Like whatever happens, however things go — good or bad — don’t flinch, because things are changing in a second.”

How quickly Kelly shook off his performance when he made a 30-yard catch out of halftime to set up Marsh’s touchdown, or when he fell on a Makhi Frazier fumble in the fourth quarter to prevent a vital drive from slipping away. And when the second overtime forced Michigan State to go for two, Chiles found Kelly on the left side of the end zone for the win.

Kelly’s punt returns showed a lot of risk, though, beyond his fumble. His decision-making under pressure faltered, like when he tried to corral a ball with one hand while surrounded by Boston College players in the second half. He’s not one to call a fair catch when he can avoid it, an area of unpredictability.

EAST LANSING — There’s a kick from Friday’s game that might bug Michigan State punter Ryan Eckley for a while.

It wasn’t any of his punts, two of which trapped Western Michigan within an stone’s throw of the goal line. It wasn’t his kickoffs either, including one that he sailed into the end zone for a touchback. It was a 46-yard field goal that he just sliced left to end the first half of a 23-6 win.

“Ahh, it would have been cool,” Eckley said listfully after Wednesday’s practice. “It would have been cool.”

Usually, Eckley is the holder on field goals. Who knew back in November that his first appearance of his senior season would include kicking them? With the Spartans’ top two kickers injured and the only healthy one — Blake Sislo — limited in range, Eckley had to dust off some skills he hadn’t used since his Newsome High School days down in Florida.

Forgive him for missing that field goal, even if his teammates gave him some loving grief on the field as the Spartans ran down the tunnel for halftime. He’d been practicing those long kicks for weeks during fall camp, kicking five field goals a day at eight or 10 practices by his estimation. He hit them all the way back to 60 yards, he says, even though he wanted to save his leg for his day job.

“I still have the leg to make it,” Eckley said. “I mean, it’s just finding the accuracy and consistency, not doing it as often as I used to.”

What Eckley definitely has is the confidence. His presence could command any stage, a self-deprecating humor and dry honesty that makes an audience hang on every word. And he loves talking about his craft. He uses golf as a metaphor.

“Kicking and golf are identical,” Eckley said. “You come over the ball, you slice, you pull, you draw, you leave your club face open. Your foot is your club.”

Like that 46-yard field goal?

“Probably an 8-iron, 9-iron lob shot,” Eckley said.

Or that second-quarter kickoff he sailed for a touchback?

“Sixty-degree Mizuno Pros,” Eckley said. “Just got them fitted.”

Even punting has its own selection of clubs, mostly wedges, depending on where and how he wants the ball to go. That’s an area that he wanted to grow this season, and so far it appears he has.

“Sometimes it’s like, hey, I need to play the 3-wood,” co-special teams coordinator Chad Wilt said Aug. 14. “I need to play the draw, I need to play the fade. It’s very similar to, like, what’s the shot selection for those guys?”

It’s fitting that after his second-quarter kickoff, Eckley stood on the Spartan head at the 50-yard line and mimed a drive, a little bit of swagger at a position used to making cult heroes. Like Bryce Baringer, his Big Ten Punter of the Year predecessor and holder of multiple records at Michigan State in career and season yardage. Baringer is now with the New England Patriots. Eckley is following those footsteps, with his game earning him both recognition from fans and boosting his hopes of one day punting on Sundays.

For now, he’s punting and kicking on Saturdays, with his name on the preseason Ray Guy watch list honoring the nation’s best punters. Eckley comes off a junior year averaging a Big Ten-best 47.9-yard average.

In four punts against Western Michigan, he averaged 51.3, with two of them pinning Western Michigan inside of three yards to the goal line. One of those led to a safety by Alex VanSumeren and Jalen Thompson. The other probably could have too if the Western Michigan quarterback didn’t fall on his own lineman. Plays like that make Eckley a defense’s best friend.

“The percentages are higher for the defense when the ball is closer inside the 20 and things like that,” Thompson said Wednesday. “So Eckley making it possible for the defense is only gonna help us.”

Without progress on the injury front, there’s a high chance Eckley continues pulling out all his clubs against Boston College in Saturday’s game (7:30 p.m./NBC). Head coach Jonathan Smith said if everything holds, Sislo will kick extra points and short- to mid-range field goals, while Eckley will kick long field goals and kickoffs.

Punts, kickoffs, holds — there isn’t a whole lot Eckley hasn’t done at his position, save for one bucket list item:

“I gotta score at some point,” he said.

Whether he throws, catches or runs in a touchdown, Eckley counts them all the same. It’d be a fitting addition to the scorecard of a player who’s done just about everything else for the Spartans, especially this season.

“I just try to have fun out there,” Eckley said. “At the end of the day, we’re playing a kids’ game, and you want to have fun with it.”

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