Jonathan Smith is set to talk to the media. Spartans Illustrated is there to give updates.

With the brutal schedule ahead and injuries that are piling up, Smith gave his thoughts on Boston College and what must be better as the season goes on.

Read here:

And that my friends is why Goff is not a $50M a year QB.

He is solid and steady with a good run game and protection. When he has the onus to win the game on his own shoulders he is pedestrian at best.

Horrible loss for the Leo’s.

Luke Wafle is one of the top recruits in the 2026 class, ranking as the No. 72 overall prospect in the Rivals250. The four-star edge out The Hun School of Princeton also ranks as the No. 1 player in the state of New Jersey and the No. 3 weakside defensive end.

With more than 20 total scholarship offers in his recruitment thus far, and counting, Wafle most recently received an offer from Michigan State.

Wafle was offered by MSU's recruiting staff and defensive line coach Legi Suiaunoa on Sunday. He is intrigued by the Spartans and is looking to learning more about the program led by Jonathan Smith, who is in his first year at the helm.

"I feel great and honored," Wafle said about the Michigan State offer. "MSU has a legendary football program. I know they have some new coaches, so I’m hoping to get to know them more."

More from Wafle on his thoughts about MSU, his upcoming visits and more:

Stay Tuned.

UPDATE: The game will be on Peacock with a 7 pm start.

My Take: Orji has thrown a couple of red zone touchdowns, but passing between the 20s is a whole new ball game.

Looks like Joey Hauser, Tyson Walker and Max Christie are all back for MSU's "Grind Week." I am sure others as well.

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I have been a sportswriter and/or on message boards for almost 30 years. Each year, the question of penalties comes up. Based on the great Miami Hurricanes and other teams who were heavily penalized, you can win if there are effort penalties. You worry about dumb penalties (mental lapses) as opposed to effort penalties. YOU WANT PLAYERS TO REMAIN AGGRESSIVE.

Not included in this list below are bad personal foul penalties, such as a late hit to the head like Grose's against PV or dead-ball personal fouls after the play.

Offensive holding penalties bother me. However, what if Grose was sacking the quarterback as the ball was released, and they view that as roughing the passer? You can live with that. But he brought his hand to his face, so he had effort but was not wise.

However, those late hits when a QB slides late vs FAU do not bother me. Even Tom Herman said he has to find a different way to slide. It's very difficult to slow down when he slides late. Most QBs declare early when they slide.

Sometimes, a penalty helps; it can prevent a big play or even a touchdown. Brantley had two pass interference calls vs. Maryland, which were from great effort. Effort plays on defense do not bother me.

The spirit of the Horse collar rule was to prevent people from grabbing a player at the collar or shoulder pads and yanking him to the ground. Technically, MSU's player grabbed the collar and let go, so that is iffy to me and an effort penalty. A kid is trying to make a play.

Football: Here are the Pre-Snap Violations and Rules that drive a coach crazy:​

Encroachment, Offside, and Neutral Zone Defensive Infractions

Are these the same thing? To the casual observer, these three penalties look very similar, but they are slightly different. They all have to do with the defensive player crossing the line of scrimmage. See below for details.

Encroachment (5 yards) - Encroachment is when a defensive player crosses the line of scrimmage before the snap and makes contact with an offensive player.

Offside (5 yards) - Offside is when part of the defensive player's body is over the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped.

Neutral zone infraction (5 yards) - A neutral zone infraction is when a defensive player crosses the line of scrimmage prior to the snap and then causes an offensive player to move. Rather than call a false start on the offense, the penalty is called on the defensive player.

Offensive Penalties

False start (5 yards) - Offensive players must remain set prior to the snap. Any movement other than the player in motion will result in a false start.

Illegal formation (5 yards) - The offense must have seven players lined up on the line of scrimmage. Players not on the line of scrimmage must be at least 1 yard back.

Illegal motion (5 yards) - Only players in the backfield can go into motion. Once in motion, they must either move parallel to the line of scrimmage or be set prior to the snap. They cannot move toward the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped.


Too many men in motion (5 yards) - Two players cannot be in motion at the same time.

Delay of game (5 yards) - When the offensive team does not snap the ball before the play clock has expired, they will be given a delay of game penalty. This is a five yards. The play clock is either 40 seconds or 25 seconds long. In the case where the play is continuing from a previous play, they have 40 seconds from the end of the previous play. In the case where play has stopped, like with a time-out, then they have 25 seconds from when the referee says the ball is ready.

Offense or Defense

Illegal substitution (5 yards) - This is typically called when the offensive team breaks the huddle with 12 players. Even if one of them is running off the field, you cannot break the huddle with 12 players.

Too many players on the field (5 yards) - Each team may only have 11 players on the field when the ball is snapped. This play results in an automatic first down for the offense when the defense has too many players.

Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith has named the team’s Players of the Game following the Spartans’ 40-0 win over Prairie View A&M.

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Offense: redshirt junior running back Nate Carter
Defense: redshirt junior cornerback Charles Brantley
Special teams: redshirt senior linebacker Sam Edwards
Offensive lineman: fifth-year senior Luke Newman
Defensive lineman: sixth-year senior Khris Bogle

Spartans in action in three different events around the world.​

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State men's tennis wrapped up its opening weekend action after a solid start to the season in action not only across the country but around the world.

Davis Cup
Junior Aristotelis Thanos represented his home country of Greece in the Davis Cup Tie this weekend in Belgrade, Serbia, taking on Serbia, including World No. 4 Novak Djokovic, at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade, Serbia.

Thanos lost to Miomir Kecmanovic, 3-6, 3-6, in Match 1 in singles action. The Spartan then paired with Petros Tsitsipas, ranked No. 77 in the ATP doubles ranking and, the younger brother of Stefanos Tsitsipas, currently ranked No. 12 in the world.

Thanos and P. Tsitsipas were topped by Djokovic and Hamad Medjedovic, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 in Match 3, as Serbia won the Davis Cup Tie, 3-1, and will compete in the 2025 Davis Cup matches leading to the Finals, while Greeces slides to World Group I action.

Battle In The Bay Tournament
In San Francisco, California, junior Ozan Baris had a great start on the weekend. He defeated his first two competitors. In his third match of the weekend, Baris fought hard but could not find the fire to win the match falling 1-6, 6-4, [3-6].

Freshman Matthew Forbes was ready to continue his fight after a great run at the US Open juniors. In his first singles match he fell to TCU's Lui Maxted 2-6, 2-1.

In the doubles match, Baris and Forbes were matched up against San Diego's Klaassen and Danilov. The Spartan pair defeated them 8-7, [7-3]. They moved on to play against UC Berkeley's Chang and Wright, winning 8-7, 7-2. In the semifinals they took on the split team of MSU freshman teammate Danial Rakhmatullayev and TCU's Duncan Chan. Baris and Forbes fell, 8-5, to end their time in the tournament.

Rakhmatullayev started out his time in California with a singles match against UC Berkeley's Alex Chang. Rakhmatullayev fought hard but could not finish the match with a win, falling 4-6, 3-6.

Paired up with TCU's Duncan Chan, Rakhmatullayev and Chan had a good run in the doubles tournament. They won three-straight matches in a row to give them a chance in the finals. They took on UC Berkeley's Dean and Overbeck. The pair left it all out on the court but fell, 8-6, to grab second place in the tournament.

Louisville Invite
Freshman Mitchell Sheldon had a good start to his collegiate debut with Michigan State at the Louisville Invite this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. After losing his first match of the weekend, Sheldon came back fighting and won his next two matches on Saturday. In his final match on Sunday, he continued his fight but after a tough match he fell 5-7, 6-2 [7-10].

Sheldon was also paired up with Bellarmine's Diego Martinez in a mixed-school doubles team. They competed in two doubles matches this weekend. First they took on Eastern Kentucky's Stahlbrand and Parhar winning 8-7 [9-7]. The second match was against Belmount's Woodson and Mizerski, losing 4-8 to finish up their time in the doubles tournament.

Up Next
The Spartans will head to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the M15 Fayetteville tournament on Sept. 16-19.

Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.

QUICK STRIKES FOR THE WEEK AHEAD ...

• Michigan State has a split weekend of action, traveling to Louisville for a Friday game at Bellarmine before hosting Colgate on Sunday morning at Ralph Young Field.

• Live statistics and webstream links can be found for both games on the field hockey schedule page at MSUSpartans.com. Friday's game will stream on ESPN+, and Sunday will air on BTN+ .

• The Spartans earned a split in its second weekend of action, earning a 3-1 win over Vermont before a heartbreaker against Ohio on Sunday, 3-2 in double overtime.
&NBSP: &NBSP: &NBSP: &NBSP: &NBSP: Last Friday was a 3-1 victory over the Catamounts, which featured goals from Skylar Santucci, Jillian Bonczewski, and Carmen Pucheta along with a pair of assists from Emma O'Neill in the victory.
&NBSP: &NBSP: &NBSP: &NBSP: &NBSP: On Sunday, the Spartans suffered the OT heartbreak against Ohio, having two goals overturned by video review and a third waived off and fell 3-2 in double overtime. The Spartan goals were scored by Bianca Pizano and Ellie Rutherford. Lyra Gavino had six saves over the two games.

• Anna Krump (2-3-7) is the leading scorer for Bellarmine, which enters Friday's contest with a 2-2 record. The Knights have earned overtime wins over Saint Louis and Rider, and most recently dropped a 3-0 decision on the road at LIU. Devanny Boisvert is in her sixth season as the head coach, and has guided the Knights through their transition to a Division I program. This is the first season that Bellarmine would be eligible to compete in the NCAA Division I tournament.

• Colgate (0-3) will play at Central Michigan on Friday prior to the Sunday showdown at Michigan State. The Raiders were outscored 14-4 in their first three games, but lost on penalty strokes to Lock Haven in its most recent contest. April Cornell-DeAngelis is in her eighth season leading the Raiders, and her current team is led in scoring by Anna Lochhead (2-0-4).

• Both of MSU's losses this year have come in overtime. MSU was 0-4 in overtime games in 2023, with its last victory in extra time coming on Oct. 18, 2022 against Indiana.

• Three of MSU's four games this year have been one-goal affairs. MSU played six one-goal games a year ago.

• Pizano took over the team's scoring lead with her third goal of the season against Ohio (3-0-6). Pizano had a pair of goals last season as a freshman.

• Maddie Lawlor returned to the lineup after missing the entire 2023 season, and is MSU's second-leading point producer with a 2-1-5 scoring line. She set up classmate Ellie Rutherford's first goal of the season against Ohio.

• Bonczewski has a pair of goals this season after one in her career over her first three varsity campaigns (37 games).

• O'Neill had a pair of helpers in last Friday's victory over Vermont and has a team-best three assists on the season. She has appeared in 68 games for MSU over her career, and three of her seven career assists have come in 2024.

• Pucheta scored her first collegiate goal in the win over Vermont. She is one of three freshmen to start all four games for MSU, along with Mora Cavazza, Lilian Knorr, and Caro Schäfer.

• Gavino has started all four MSU games and owns a 2.12 GAA and .591 save percentage. The sophomore started three games a year ago.

• The Spartans open Big Ten play next week with a road tilt at Ohio State on Friday (Sept. 20). MSU then hosts Michigan on Monday, Sept. 23 in a 3 pm game that will air live on Big Ten Network.

Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.

Both the Spartans and Boston College received six votes this week in the Coaches. MSU still hasn’t garnered any AP votes, but BC dropped out after its loss to then No. 6 Missouri (down to 7 this week). Previously No. 24, BC received 47 votes.

Monday, Sept. 16
Men's golf: Golf Canada Collegiate
Discussion thread

Men's tennis: USTA 15k Fayetteville Futures
Discussion thread

Volleyball: at Eastern Michigan
6 p.m.
Discussion thread
W 3-0

Tuesday, Sept. 17
Men's golf: Golf Canada Collegiate
Discussion thread

Men's tennis: USTA 15k Fayetteville Futures
Discussion thread

Volleyball: vs. Purdue Fort Wayne
6 p.m.
Discussion thread
W 3-1

Wednesday, Sept. 18
Men's tennis: USTA 15k Fayetteville Futures
Discussion thread

Thursday, Sept. 19
Men's tennis: USTA 15k Fayetteville Futures
Discussion thread

Women's soccer: vs. Nebraska
6 p.m. Big Ten Network
Discussion Thread
W 4-1

Friday, Sept. 20
Field hockey: at Ohio State
4 p.m.
Discussion Thread
L 0-4

Volleyball: at Duke
6:30 p.m.
Discussion Thread
W 3-2

Men's soccer: at Penn State
7 p.m. BTN+
Discussion Thread
L 1-2

Saturday, Sept. 21
Men's tennis: ITA All-American Championships

Football: at Boston College
8 p.m. ACC Network
Discussion Thread
L 19-23

Sunday, Sept. 22
Men's tennis: ITA All-American Championships

Women's golf: Mary Fossum Invitational

Volleyball: at North Carolina
1 p.m.
Discussion Thread
L 1-3

Women's soccer: at Penn State
2 p.m. Big Ten Network
Discussion Thread
W 1-0

Bold = home games

I had a chance to cover the game last night and a chance to attend the post-game press conference.

Smith is a fast talker. I would describe him as "over-caffeinated." So sometimes it is hard to get a good quote out of him that is actually a complete sentence. But he said a lot in the 10 minutes or so that he spoke about the things that he liked and the things that need to improve.

Michigan State's Jonathan Smith knew that facing an FCS team would present a unique challenge.

"I want our approach to be pretty consistent, understanding there's an urgency to improve every week, whoever we're playing on Saturday," he said.

More here:

Typically, the title of backup quarterback is not all that desirable.

For Michigan State’s Tommy Schuster, though, he knew the situation when he committed to the Spartans out of the transfer portal.

After a historic career at North Dakota where he was the Fighting Hawks’ all-time leading passer, Schuster opted to spend his final year of college eligibility in his home state of Michigan with the Spartans.

He was well aware that first year head coach Jonathan Smith was bringing the talented dual-threat incoming sophomore Aidan Chiles to East Lansing with him.

Chiles had the head start over Schuster as he knew the coaching staff and the offensive system well.

Despite his role changing from being the guy under center all game long to being the backup QB, Schuster still wanted to be a Spartan.

“Coming in the portal, I weighed a couple of my options,” he said after Michigan State’s 40-0 win over Prairie View A&M on Saturday in which he scores his first touchdown as a Spartan. “Being able to play for the home state Big Ten school, Michigan State, was really big for me - to be a part of this. I just believe in what (Coach Smith) is building here. It’s really something I wanted to be a part of. Obviously, I knew the circumstances coming in, it’d be a different role, but just really wanted to be a part of this.”

More:

From record breaker to backup: How QB Tommy Schuster is embracing his role

Tommy Schuster knew the QB circumstances at MSU, but just really wanted to be a part of Jonathan Smith's program.

michiganstate.rivals.com

Full recap is on the homepage now. There was plenty of fun touchdowns all around by the team, including a Brantley end zone to end zone pick six.

Interesting to see Indiana going out West and playing well despite the time zone. We seem to struggle with the time change when we go out West.

Chiles still holding down the fort and pointing out places where he and the team needs improve before Boston College, as usual. Charles Brantley also had some nice quotes about his record-breaking pick-six.

Read here:

Michigan State (2-0) is back at home as the Spartans will host Prairie View A&M (1-1) out of the SWAC.

The Spartans favored by about 40 points over the Panthers.

Kickoff is set for 3:40 p.m. on Big Ten Network.

As always, join us here for some game discussion and live updates from Spartan Stadium.

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More names will likely be added as we get closer to Saturday's game in East Lansing between Prairie View A&M and Michigan State, but I wanted to get the recruiting visitors list going with the names we know thus far.

As always, we will add more names to the list as that information becomes available.

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Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational
Date: Friday, Sept. 13
Time: 9 a.m. (women's 6k); 9:40 a.m. (men's 8k)
Location: Forest Akers East Golf Course (East Lansing, Mich.)
Live Results

EAST LANSING, MICH. - Michigan State's men's and women's Cross Country teams are prepared to host the 43rd-annual Spartan Invitational presented by Auto-Owners Insurance at the Forest Akers East Golf Course Friday morning.

Due to projected warm weather in the forecast the schedule has been moved up an hour. The Forest Akers East Course will open for spectators at 8 a.m. with the women's collegiate 6K starting at 9 a.m., the men's 8K at 9:40 a.m., followed by the high school races starting at 10:10 a.m.

With many names on both sides of the program making their debuts two weeks ago in the 2024 opener, more are expected to emerge among the top finishers at the second meet of the year.

At the Jeff Drenth Memorial, Fatima Giron was MSU's top finisher, ending third with a time 18:13.6 in the 5k race. Running unattached, freshman Madison Osterberg was third with a time of 17:54.2.

On the men's side, the Spartans finished 1-2 with Kyle Eberhard finishing first with a time 14:58.8 in the 5k race. Michael Hegarty was second just behind Eberhard, running a 14:54.9. Four Spartan freshmen finished 6-9 running unattached to show the depth of the Spartan squad.

Preview courtesy of MSU Athletics.

I can’t believe the calls against SC.