Fantastic, Functional, Forgettable: UM dominates, banged-up MSU scrapes by, directionals rolled on road

Ann Arbor — Michigan is feeling good after Saturday. The rest of the teams in the Mitten? Maybe not so much.

Michigan State won, getting past Youngstown State, 41-24, but in a game that was closer than most would’ve liked against an FCS opponent. The defense again struggled to slow an opposing passing game. And a number of Spartans got banged up in that game, too. Moving to 3-0 is what matters most at the end of the day, though.

And the trio of directional schools all went on the road against Power 4 teams and lost. 

Eastern Michigan made some strides defensively but still got bulldozed by Kentucky, 48-23. And Western Michigan visited Top 10 Illinois, getting crunched in a 38-0 shutout. 

And Central Michigan visited the Wolverines, landing on the wrong side of a 63-3 result. 

Here’s what’s Fantastic, Functional and Forgettable from Week 3. 

Fantastic

Bryce Underwood and Michigan’s offense: The Wolverines bludgeoned Central Michigan’s defense on Saturday, racking up 616 yards and scoring nine touchdowns, eight coming on the ground. And while the Chippewas were certainly overmatched, the nature of Michigan’s domination is what should leave the Wolverines feeling fairly content in the week of prep for the Big Ten opener at Nebraska on Sept. 20. An offensive line with two backup guards starting owned the line of scrimmage, the run game churned forward and most critically, Bryce Underwood looked like the type of quarterback that can lead Michigan to a lot of wins, this year and in the future. He had some misses throwing, and lobbed a boneheaded interception in the second quarter, but he showed that he can change the complexion of the game with his running, and keeps growing as a passer. 

Michigan State's special teams: Ryan Eckley had been the star of the show and he was good in the limited work he had on Saturday, but this is about the whole enterprise for Michigan State. From Eckley to the field goal kicking to the return game, the Spartans were creating a big edge against Youngstown State on special teams. Punt returner Omari Kelly nearly returned a punt for a touchdown, going 83 yards and setting up the offense inside the opponents 10. Youngstown State did end with solid starting field position, but that is mostly by virtue of a turnover on downs near midfield and a Michigan State interception deep in its own end. And true freshman kicker Martin Connington looks to be the real deal. He made a pair of field goals in two tries on Saturday and is 4-for-4 on the season. 

Michigan's defense: Jaishawn Barham fired off the edge and slammed down Central Michigan QB Joe Labas for a sack on the first play for the Michigan defense Saturday and that basically set the tone for the afternoon. The Chippewas managed one scoring drive, crawling 81 yards in 10 plays to scratch out a field goal before the half. Other than that drive, the Michigan defense smothered the Chippewas. The Wolverines gave up 139 total yards, got two takeaways, came up with three sacks and six tackles for loss and held Central Michigan to 6-of-17 on third and fourth down conversions. With some improving health in the linebacking corps and secondary, the Michigan defense can keep the arrow pointed up. 

Aidan Chiles: He threw an interception on Saturday but it was batted by a free rusher and landed in the lap of a lineman. But outside of that blemish that wasn’t borne out of his own mistake, Chiles again put the Spartan offense on his back, going for 346 total yards and a passing touchdown. He made big plays on the ground for his team when they needed them — minus a hurdle he maybe shouldn’t have attempted — and has looked better and better in the pocket and as a passer with each passing week. His touchdown pass to Michael Masunas is probably not a play Chiles was making 12 months ago. Him finding, and raising, this level of play can be lifeblood for the Spartan offense. 

Low-penalty football: Eastern Michigan and Michigan State, especially, have played clean football through three games. Each team has been called for 13 penalties, respectively, with the Eagles giving up 95 yards and the Spartans 105. Michigan doesn’t trail far behind with 15 penalties for 112 yards in three games. And after a weekend in Pittsburgh that left head coach Matt Drinkall upset about presnap penalties and operational issues, Central Michigan got flagged once, for defensive pass interference, against Michigan on Saturday.

Functional

Eastern Michigan's offense: The Eagles scored 23 points and put up 461 yards of offense against an SEC team, and one that generally plays good defense, at that. The run game put up 153 sack-adjusted rushing yards and Noah Kim continued to look strong under center, completing 60 percent of his passes for 330 yards and two total touchdowns, plus an interception, against the Wildcats. And while the run game production wasn’t stellar, Dontae McMillan continues to be a bright spot on the ground. He carried 13 times for 83 yards, more than 6 yards per carry, on Saturday.

Non-Chiles MSU offense: Michigan State put up 41 points and 444 yards so it wasn’t a bad day at the office on the whole, but Chiles accounted for more than three quarters of the yardage. The Spartans ran for 174 yards on 33 attempts, which isn’t too shabby, but subtracting Chiles’ production on the ground — eight carries for 76 yards — paints a different picture: 25 carries for 98 yards. Not terribly efficient against an FCS team, though the Spartans did manage to punch in four touchdowns on the ground. Jack Velling looked good and productive, a pleasant sign, and Nick Marsh continues to be the dangerman in the passing game. It wasn’t flashy, and the Spartans will certainly need to offer more around Chiles to keep up with a dangerous USC offense next Saturday.

Eastern Michigan's defense: After two weeks of being unplayable, the Eagles seemed destined for another thrashing, this time at the hands of Kentucky on Saturday night. Then through the second quarter and into the second half, the Eagles defense seemed to figure some things out. The problem with respect to Saturday night came down to slowing down an SEC offense, which the Eagles are going to struggle with given the talent gaps between the programs. It wasn’t a good performance, per se, but it showed that the Eastern Michigan defense can get to someplace respectable this season, which didn’t seem to be the case, necessarily, before Saturday. Holding Kentucky to 5-of-10 on third down and picking up three tackles for loss are promising nuggets, too. 

Central Michigan's mindset: The Chippewas spent the last two weeks as sacrificial lambs, picking up checks from Pitt and Michigan to play a non-conference road game against Power 4 teams. The combined score? 108-20. But starting 1-2 is about what Central Michigan could’ve realistically expected, and the mindset from Drinkall and players in the postgame press conference after getting waxed by Michigan portends good things as the Chippewas play a home game against FCS Wagner before beginning MAC play. They’re ready to move on from moral victories to real ones, and fortunately the schedule abides. 

Western Michigan's defense: Giving up 38 points might not seem like the Broncos defense played well, but on a night where the offense got put in a stranglehold by a Top 10 opponent, in a game with limited possessions, the unit held up as well as could be expected. In the first half, after giving up a long, slow opening drive for a field goal, the Broncos bounced back to force punts on three of four drives before half, with a touchdown included in there for the Illini. All three of the punts came on three and outs for the Illinois offense. The unit came up with a pair of sacks and five tackles for loss. But eventually, against a Top 10 team on the road, the dam broke. 

Forgettable

Central Michigan’s performance vs. Michigan: Chips got whooped. Not too many ways to spin it. And given that the teams are separated by 110 spots on the 247Sports Team Talent Composite, and Underwood played like a No. 1 overall recruit, the outcome was not a surprise. Michigan went 7-for-7 in the red zone, put up 616 yards, shoved the Chippewas offense in a locker. There are good things the Chippewas took away from Saturday, from handling an environment to the operation being cleaner. The good news? Nobody remaining on Central Michigan’s schedule is anywhere as good as the Wolverines. 

Michigan State's pass defense: Safety Armorion Smith came up with an interception but on the whole the Spartan pass defense struggled to disrupt or create discomfort in the Youngstown State passing game. Quarterback Beau Brungard completed 71 percent of his passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns, plus the pick by Smith. And the Penguins took chunks in the air, too, with completions going for 19, 23, 23, 26 and 39 yards, among others. The Spartans need to tighten up and take some air out of the pass coverage before facing a USC team with endless offensive fireworks. 

Michigan's special teams: Dominic Zvada missed a field goal and is now 2-for-4 in his last four tries. The Wolverines surely need him to break out of this mini slump and be the weapon in the kicking game he’s been for Michigan. And while the Wolverines dodged a critical mistake in the return game on Saturday, punt returner Semaj Morgan produced some clenching moments fielding punts against the Chippewas. As a whole, the Michigan special teams units have some clear room for improvement as conference play begins. 

Western Michigan's offense: Much like the Chippewas in Ann Arbor, Western Michigan struggling to move the ball against Illinois didn’t come as a surprise. But it was still a paltry evening in Champaign. Quarterbacks Broc Lowry and Brady Jones combined to go 13-of-24 for 91 yards. Lowry again did most of the playing as the game became a line of scrimmage slog, going 10-of-16 for 78 yards. He also rushed seven times for 40 yards. On the ground as a whole, Western scratched out 125 sack-adjusted rushing yards. The Broncos are done playing Power 4 opponents now, and surely hoping for better offensive performances. 

Michigan State's health: The Spartans left Saturday with a laundry list of players banged up: Nick Marsh, Luka Vincic, Conner Moore, Alante Brown and Makhi Frazier all left the game at various points, among a few others. It sounds like some of those banged up players will be able to play against the Trojans, but a few others might not. And that will immediately test the depth that Spartan coaches spent the offseason talking about building.

Late West Coast start times: Did you hear Michigan State is kicking off at 11 p.m. ET against USC? Yeah, 11 p.m. ET is when the Spartans take the field. It’s not ideal for the players or coaches and it’s antagonistic to fans. The true diehards will brew up some coffee and watch, but many won’t. And it’s hard to not blame the Big Ten and its TV partners for allowing realities like “Michigan State playing USC at 11 p.m. ET” while serving a buffet of Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon and Penn State on Big Noon Kickoff games, to the discontent of those fanbases, too. It’s a winning move for FOX’s bottom line, but not for any of the rest of us.