Fantastic, Functional, Forgettable: The highs and lows of Week 1 for Mitten teams

Welcome to the first edition of "Fantastic, Functional, Forgettable.” 

As the name implies, this will be an exercise in the rule of three, a regular Sunday bit of writing to recap the weekend’s games by looking at what went well, what worked OK but needs fine tuning, and what might make coaches and players want to burn the tape. 

Topics could be broad or quite granular, and some weeks will have more bad or good than others. For Week 1, it’s five items in each of the three buckets. 

And to recap the weekend:

• Michigan State def. Western Michigan, 23-6, on Friday
• Central Michigan def. San Jose State, 16-14, on Friday
• Michigan def. New Mexico, 34-17, on Saturday
• Texas State def. Eastern Michigan, 52-27, on Saturday

So, here’s some of the good, bad and workable for the five teams this weekend.

Fantastic

Central Michigan’s defense: This unit turned over San Jose State three times in the first four drives, gave up 14 total points and held firm in key moments late. The Chippewas gave up just 75 rushing yards and, outside of Spartans wideout Danny Scudero torching the secondary for 189 yards, San Jose State had 119 receiving yards among the other wideouts. 

CMU and MSU rushing offenses: The Spartans kicked things off Friday night by letting a new group on the offensive line rotate and settle in, while backs Makhi Frazier and Brandon Tullis did the heavy lifting. And lift they did, combining for 155 yards and two touchdowns, with Frazier’s 102 yards leading all rushers. MSU averaged 4.5 yards a carry. 

And later that night, Central Michigan rode the run game to a surprise win in the opener, using three quarterbacks and tailbacks Nahree Biggins and Trey Cornist to rack up 225 yards on 51 rushes. Cornist also scored the lone touchdown for the Chippewas.

Michigan State’s defense (and its depth): Michigan State entered this year feeling like the defense was deeper than last year and it showed on Friday. The Spartans came in waves, rotating consistently on the front and mixing and matching on the backend. The unit pitched a shutout, as the Broncos scoring came on a pick six. Bigger tests are coming, but the group seems to have the horses to roll waves of depth at opponents and still be good.

Nadame Tucker: The Western Michigan defensive end was one of the few bright spots for the Broncos in the season-opening loss. But the transfer from Houston was a very bright spot in the loss. He finished with a pair of sacks, including a sack fumble that Michigan State managed to recover. Both sacks derailed Spartan drives and led to punts. He also got in for a tackle for loss, and was consistently causing problems for the Spartans up front. Head coach Lance Taylor said after the game that they knew Tucker could be this sort of presence, and if he continues on this pace, he could supercharge the Western Michigan defense. 

Justice Haynes: Three touchdowns in his Michigan debut is about as good as Haynes could’ve hoped for. That he also showed off his ability as a home run hitter in the run game is just another booster. Haynes carried 16 times, had 159 yards and three of Michigan’s four touchdowns on the evening, including scoring on a 59-yard scamper early in the game. The Alabama transfer looked every bit the part. 

Functional

Bryce Underwood: After the passing offense Michigan put out on the field last year, it would be easy to move Underwood to the above category following his solid, largely mistake-free debut. But by his own grade, he got a C+ for his performance. And there is some obvious work to do. Underwood surely will grow with time and reps as an operator of the offense, but the biggest visible issue that emerged on Saturday was his propensity to spray some throws. It evidently was a true freshman making his first start, but the upside flashes were real and a final stat line of 21-for-31 for 251 yards and a touchdown is music to Wolverine fans’ ears after 2024.

Michigan, Michigan State offensive lines: Neither of the groups were stellar, and neither were disastrous. The Spartans showed a lot of improvement in terms of the talent of the personnel after an offseason transfer portal talent infusion. The arrow is clearly pointed up and the Spartans first half against the Broncos showed the type of upside this unit can have, both in the run game and pass protection. But four sacks allowed isn’t workable in the long term. 

And the Wolverines are rolling out a group that features a handful of relatively inexperienced players. Michigan gave up a pair of sacks and three tackles for loss. Simply, it was a good jumping off point for both of these units, but a lot of the questions for the long haul remain unanswered.

Western Michigan defense: After getting run over a bit in the first half, the Broncos’ defense stifled the Spartans for the second half, shutting out Aidan Chiles and the offense while adding six points via Tate Hallock’s pick six. It was a nice feather in the cap for the group to feel good leaving Spartan Stadium and hosting North Texas in Week 2. With Tucker popping and depth across the board, the hope for Western Michigan is for more of the second half defense, and not the first.

Michigan defense: New Mexico might end up being a feisty offensive outfit, and Michigan came up with more than its share of splash plays — three sacks, nine tackles for loss, three interceptions — but the Wolverines defense showed a few gaps in the armor, particularly on a backend. The overall end result wasn’t bad, but the Wolverines defense also showed how even the smallest lapses in coverage can cost them. 

Western Michigan quarterbacks: Brady Jones and Broc Lowry weren’t terribly good or bad on Friday. They both flashed some upside with splash plays passing, and Lowry offered some more as a runner. Jones had an interception that was batted at the line of scrimmage. Neither accounted for a touchdown and they threw for 97 and 91 yards, respectively. With some of the issues in front of them, and in the run game, it was hard to fully gauge how good either might be. And neither did much to seize the job, nor collapse in live action. The Week 2 performances against North Texas will be informative. 

Forgettable

Eastern Michigan’s defense: Unable to stop Texas State for most of the game, the Eagles ultimately gave up 606 yards of offense. That’s 1818 feet, or slightly more than one third of a mile. Eastern Michigan couldn’t do anything to stop the Bobcat ground game, giving up 392 rushing yards in the season opening loss. There’s a lot to take from the tape heading into Week 2, but the performance is one to forget, on the whole. 

Western Michigan’s run game, offensive line: The Broncos want to be a run first type of team, so 24 carries for 29 net yards against Michigan State is not only disappointing, but simply not good enough. And while the Broncos will need more from the tailbacks, it starts up front. It’s a group with a lot of newer faces, and Taylor is confident they have the talent to come together and be a good line. But the poor rushing performance, along with giving up four sacks and 11 tackles for loss, won’t cut it. 

Michigan’s return specialists: Semaj Morgan muffed a punt that he managed to recover in the first quarter before later in the half freshman Andrew Marsh fumbled a kickoff return that New Mexico recovered in Michigan territory. Marsh had the ball stripped trying to hurdle a defender. That fumble led to a field goal right after a touchdown for the Lobos, cutting the margin to one score after Michigan had rolled out to a commanding lead. Morgan played with fire, and Marsh got burned.

Michigan State’s 2nd half offense: The Spartans got blanked in the 2nd half against Western Michigan on offense, and only scored by virtue of a safety after a punt downed at the Western Michigan 1. The run game slowed, Chiles had some misses in the passing game and the Broncos defense felt like they played a lot better in the 2nd half. It was survivable against a MAC team in the opener, but the Spartans can’t afford to have dry spells on offense like that. 

Central Michigan’s 3rd down offense: For all the fun and good that came out of Friday’s win, the Chippewas did struggle mightily in 3rd downs. Central Michigan went 2-for-13, and either went for it on 4th downs (1-for-2) or punted back to the Spartans and let the defense get the ball back. The Chippewas are going to be a ground and pound, ball control team that leans on the defense, but sustaining drives on critical downs will only aid the whole operation.