#NgàyHômNay #MichiganState #Richmond #NoahKim #NathanCarter
Trận đấu giữa Michigan State và Richmond đã diễn ra vào ngày hôm nay, với kết quả chung cuộc là chiến thắng 45-14 cho Michigan State. Trận đấu này đã kéo dài hơn dự kiến và chỉ khi chúng tôi bước vào hiệp hai, Noah Kim, Nathan Carter và hàng phòng ngự đã đảm bảo rằng đội bóng sẽ giành chiến thắng rõ rệt trước đối thủ từ hạng dưới.
Carter đã ghi được ba bàn thắng và tổng cộng 111 yard trên 19 lần cầm bóng, trong khi Kim tung ra ba đường chuyền dọn cỗ và hoàn thành 18 trong 22 nỗ lực ném bóng, ước tính 292 yard. Đây là một cải thiện đáng kể so với trận đấu trước đó và chúng tôi hy vọng sẽ tiếp tục cải thiện dần dần.
Hàng phòng ngự của Spartans cũng đã thi đấu rất tốt với 7 lần thắng quả trước Spiders. Richmond chỉ ghi được một touchdown và hai điểm sau đó chỉ đến sau khi MSU có hai lần đánh mất bóng sau khi Carter ra nghỉ. Đây là trận đấu cuối cùng nằm ngoài sự kiểm soát của Michigan State và họ sẽ có một trận đấu rất quan trọng khi đối đầu với đội bóng hàng đầu là Washington vào ngày thứ Bảy sau đó.
Dù trận đấu có những điểm tồi tệ, nhưng chúng tôi cũng có những chuyện tốt. Đội ngũ tấn công của Michigan State đã có màn trình diễn rõ rệt hơn, dù vẫn còn một số lỗi không cần thiết trong hiệp đầu. Tuy nhiên, chúng tôi cũng đã thấy sự tiến bộ và quan trọng là chúng tôi chưa đạt đến sự hoàn hảo. Hàng phòng ngự cũng đã chơi rất tốt và tiếp tục giữ sạch tỉ số trong hiệp hai.
Trong hiệp ba, Carter đã thi đấu tuyệt vời khi tiếp tục ghi bàn và giúp đội bóng tạo ra khoảng cách rõ rệt trước đối thủ. Tất nhiên, chúng tôi vẫn cần nhiều cầu thủ khỏe mạnh hơn vì chúng tôi cần tất cả mọi người trong đội. Hàng phòng ngự cũng đã thi đấu rất tốt và kiểm soát chặt chẽ các đợt tấn công của đối thủ.
Qua tổng kết, trận đấu hôm nay đã mang lại rất nhiều kết quả tích cực cho Michigan State. Đội bóng đang tự tin và chuẩn bị cho trận đấu quan trọng tiếp theo. Chúng tôi hy vọng sẽ tiếp tục cải thiện và duy trì tinh thần thi đấu tốt để mang lại nhiều thành công trong tương lai. #MichiganStateFootball #RichmondSpiders #NoahKim #NathanCarter #ThắngLớn
EAST LANSING — It took longer than perhaps anticipated for Michigan State football to start to steamroll Richmond on Saturday.
But when it did, Noah Kim, Nathan Carter and the defense made sure it would be a decisive victory over the Spiders, a Football Championship Subdivision opponent.
Carter scored three times and finished with 111 yards on 19 carries, and Kim threw three touchdown passes and finished 18 of 22 for 292 yards in MSU’s 45-14 victory Saturday.
“I thought our performance was better. I thought we showed some improvement,” said Kim, who completed his final 15 passes and went 10-for-10 for 179 yards in the second half. “And that was one of the key things we wanted to focus on in practice this past week. And we showed hints of that. But I still think that there’s a lot to improve on.”
It was a strong defensive performance by the Spartans (2-0), getting seven sacks vs. the Spiders (0-2). Richmond’s offense scored only one touchdown, and both of their scores in the fourth quarter came after fumbles by MSU’s backup running backs once Carter went to the bench.
The Spartans’ final non-conference game will be a significant test as they host No. 8 Washington next Saturday (5 p.m., only on Peacock).
“We’ll have to see, right, if we can win the game or not,” MSU coach Mel Tucker said, “but we’re gonna be prepared. … We’re not going to have a 24-hour rule right now. I told those guys, and they all agreed, we’d get the celebration over in the locker room. Once you leave the locker room, Washington’s on the clock.”
TRENDING: Reacting to Michigan State’s win over Richmond
Good and bad
After struggling at the outset of its eventual 31-7 win over Central Michigan on Sept. 1, issues persisted Saturday for MSU’s offense on its first two drives against Richmond. But long snapper Hank Pepper recovered a muffed punt by the Spiders’ Savon Smith in scoring territory, and Kim hit an open Tre Mosley for an 11-yard touchdown on a post route five plays later.
Jonathan Kim’s extra point made it 7-0 Spartans, but it came after a delay of game penalty, one of a number of undisciplined moments in the opening half.
There were two holding penalties on right tackle Spencer Brown, one of which negated what would have been a 31-yard touchdown pass from Kim to tight end Maliq Carr. That came a drive after Kim hit tight end Tyneil Hopper for a 13-yard TD that put the Spartans up 14-0 early in the second quarter.
After Jonathan Kim’s 52-yard field goal doinked over the crossbar to make it 17-0 with 5:17 to play, the missed tackles that were beginning to add up. A few whiffs allowed on a 20-yard scramble by Richmond quarterback Kyle Wickersham. Then four plays later, with MSU appearing to have a stop, a special teams gaffe saw Spiders’ upback Owen Laughlin take a snap for a 20-yard fake-punt run on fourth-and-10 into MSU territory. That drive also saw a defensive holding penalty on cornerback Charles Brantley negate a Brandon Wright sack and gave Richmond an automatic first down on third-and-13.
MSU also had clock management issues with timeouts on defense as time wound down, but Spiders kicker Andrew Lopez missed a 32-yard field goal attempt with 14 seconds left that preserved a second straight half of shutout football.
“It was really about us and our execution and our discipline,” Tucker said. “We started fast on defense. We didn’t start as fast on offense, but we were able to get going. We have a lot of players that can make plays on offense, defense and special teams. We just have to continue to get better, learn from our mistakes, build on the things that we did well and remain focused. …
“We have the potential to get better. We’re not as good as we can be yet.”
Grind time
Carter took over the game in the third quarter as MSU’s offensive line wore down Richmond.
But it wasn’t without some injuries along the way.
The Spartans came out of halftime without running back Jalen Berger, who hurt his lower right leg in the first quarter and didn’t return, and linebacker Jacoby Windmon after halftime. Two plays into the third quarter, Kim hit Jaron Glover for a 29-yard pass, but the redshirt freshman left the game with an injury to his midsection (he eventually returned). Two plays later, right guard Geno VanDeMark left the game with a lower-body injury (he also eventually returned).
Carter finished the opening drive with a 2-yard touchdown run, then tacked on a 44-yard score on MSU’s next drive to make it 31-0. His 6-yard score with 1:12 to go in the third made it 38-0.
“Nate is just one of those guys that will get the job done,” his quarterback Kim said. “He works hard, he runs hard, he knows what to do. When you have a complete back like that, it makes your life easier and it makes your team better. We fully trust that can do whatever we need him to do.”
Jordon Simmons and Davion Primm got late carries and each fumbled to set up the two Richmond TDs. Along with the Berger injury, the Spartans were without senior transfer running back Jaren Mangham, who was questionable entering the game and had to be helped to the locker room during pregame warmups.
“We gotta get some guys back healthy, because we need everyone,” Tucker said.
Carter, a 5-foot-10, 200-pound sophomore transfer from Connecticut, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury last season at Michigan before transferring to MSU. Tucker was asked if he thinks Carter can shoulder the load potentially if both Berger and Mangham are out long-term.
“He’s very serious about his training, how he takes care of his body, what he does in the weight room,” Tucker said about Carter. “But we need obviously more than one back if we expect to get anything done this season.”
Strong on ‘D’
MSU’s defensive line contained Wickersham from running and made everything difficult for the Richmond quarterback.
The Spartans got five sacks in the first half, then tacked on two more in the second half. Zion Young had 1½ of those, and seven other players contributed at least a half sack for the defense.
MSU had just a 170-138 edge in total yards at halftime, including 57-56 on the ground. After halftime, the Spartans smothered the Spiders and held them to 55 yards; the offense generated 295 yards. Richmond also converted just 1 of 12 third down attempts in the game, which does not include one given for the Brantley penalty.
“We definitely cleaned up some things from last week. … And then there’s things that we want to clean up again, which is missed tackles, things like that,” linebacker Aaron Brule said. “We got some things to clean up. Not playing down to the level of competition and things like that. Just doing our job. And those plays will come when we do our job.”
Richmond scored a late touchdown against MSU backups after Primm’s fumble at his own 25.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
