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V-Cast: Is Michigan State ready for a big Power 4 non-conference match-up with Boston College?

On3 imageby: Paul Konyndyk09/03/25PKonyndyk
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EAST LANSING, Mich. – After doing some good things on both sides of the ball in a Week 1 win over a Mid-American Conference opponent, Michigan State is preparing for the second half of a home-and-home series against Boston College. The Spartans lost a mistake-filled heartbreaker at Boston College last September and are determined to play a much cleaner game in the rematch.

After interviews on Wednesday, SpartanMag.com staffers Jim Comparoni and Paul Konyndyk checked in from Perles Plaza with the latest news, notes, and analysis in the V-Cast ahead of a critical non-conference match-up.

Revenge or redemption? Michigan State lost at Boston College last September because the Spartans committed far too many critical errors, in the form of interceptions thrown by Aidan Chiles, a fumble on special teams, and a costly dropped pass that forced the Spartans to settle for a field goal instead of celebrating a touchdown. While the Spartans do not begrudge Boston College beating them, there is lingering disappointment from the first meeting between these two teams because of both the quantity and the avoidable nature of the self-inflicted errors that proved to be the undoing of Michigan State in a winnable game. Ultimately, that loss to BC cost Jonathan Smith’s team an opportunity to play in a bowl game.

Keep an eye on the run game: Michigan State was outgained by Boston College on the ground last September. Inconsistent production in the run game was a problem for the Spartans a year ago at Boston College, which benefited from having impact players in the front seven that created problems for a Michigan State offensive line striving to overcome injuries they simply couldn’t afford. Improved depth on the offensive line and confidence generated from an effective run-game operation against WMU should give the Michigan State confidence that it can move the ball on the ground against BC better than it did a year ago. Boston College, meanwhile, is coming off a game in which it rushed for three touchdowns but had a meager per-carry-average against Fordham team that won just two games in 2024.

Defensive depth: Michigan State has more depth overall than it did a year ago when these two teams played one another. On defense, in particular, the Spartans are far deeper in the back end than they were a year ago when injuries handcuffed the secondary. In addition to playing more than 30 different defensive players in the opener, Michigan State also gave a lot of different looks on defense in Week 1 and did so quite effectively. The Spartans were able to move players on and off the field in response to offensive substitutions with a level of detail that would have been difficult to achieve during defensive coordinator Joe Rossi’s first season at Michigan State. It will be interesting to see how the Spartans use that defensive depth on Saturday night against a Boston College offense with two quarterbacks that possess good arm talent but lack the running ability that Michigan State faced when Thomas Castellanos was the Eagle quarterback.

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