Pre-Snap Read: Michigan State v. Boston College

EAST LANSING, Mich. - It’s doubtful that Michigan State could have a more constructive film to review this week in preparation for Boston College than last year’s loss at Boston College. Boston College won the game purely by avoiding mistakes, while waiting around for Michigan State to commit them. QB Aidan Chiles threw three interceptions, including two that were thrown behind receivers over the middle. Chiles had some issues with sporadic inaccuracy early last season, and the cold, driving rain obviously didn’t help for a Southern Californian playing starting QB in the rain for the first time in his life. Nathan Carter dropped a touchdown pass. And MSU’s defense made dreadful Keystone Cops mistakes to allow a 36-yard TD run immediately after a Chiles interception, and a 42-yard TD pass with 1:28 remaining when Angelo Grose was turned inside-out and fell down in man-to-man coverage. I don’t detect that Michigan State has hatred or animosity for Boston College, but I sense a strong disposition to prove they were and are better than the Spartan team that played that day in Beantown last September.  FINAL ANALYSIS FIRST Both teams are talking about the need to play with physicality this weekend, expecting it to be a physical battle. Michigan State played that way last week, perhaps better in some ways than in any game last year, other than the Iowa game and for about two-thirds of the Michigan game. Boston College was decently physical last year. But I don’t think Boston College can play as physically as they did last year, or as physically as they want to play. They have had to retool their offensive line, and they had trouble running the ball last week against arguably the worst team in the Patriot League (Fordham).  Boston College had a couple of decent players on the d-line but there is a steep dropoff to the second string. They may need to play their starters longer than is advisable.  I think Michigan State will enjoy an advantage in the trenches on both sides of the ball, which should lead to an advantage in down and distance most of the game. From there, Michigan State needs to show improvement on last season’s third down defense, which was a continual disappointment. (More inside SpartanMag).