After defeating the Michigan State Spartans in Chestnut Hill last season, the Boston College football team will travel to East Lansing in 2025 to take them on for round 2. It will be BC’s first major game of the season after hosting Fordham in Week 1, and it will be broadcast live on NBC on Saturday night, a great opportunity for BC to earn a statement victory over a middling Big Ten team early in the season.
Game Notes
- Saturday September 6th at 7:30PM ET
- East Lansing, MI
- Live on NBC
Series
This will be the 8th meeting between these two programs. Boston College leads the all-time series with a 5-1-1 record and is currently riding a 2-game win streak from their 2024 match-up and a 2007 Champs Sports Bowl victory. Michigan State’s lone win came in 1995.
2024 Recap
2024 was a year for change in East Lansing. And with change comes growing pains. The Spartans and their new head coach got off to a 3-0 record to start last season before falling to Boston College at Alumni Stadium in a rainy red bandanna game. That loss started a downward skid as MSU began playing some tough Big Ten competition and eventually ended the season with a 5-7 record. It was disappointing all around as the Spartans repeatedly got blown out by scores of 41-14 and 38-16 to teams that weren’t even top-5 in the conference. QB Aiden Chiles showed minor improvement over the course of the season, but for the most part just wasn’t as exciting as he was hyped up to be.
Offense: Can the QB Get it Done?
Chiles is expected to be back under center for the Spartans in 2025 and the MSU coaching staff is expecting a major leap from him in his second year as the full-time starter. Although he was effective as a rusher and reduced his turnover rate as he got more reps under his belt last season, Chiles is still a gunslinger QB who can struggle with his accuracy and completion percentage. The home run balls that he loves to throw deep down the field did not come as often as they should have to make up for his lack of efficiency on sustained drives. Sparty fans are hoping that Chiles will make strides in that area for the start of the 2025 campaign.
In the run game, MSU could trot out a bunch of different options and will probably have a committee of RBs to share the load, including one of last year’s starters, Kay’Ron Adams. The receivers room is a huge question mark after the majority of their unit transferred out to play elsewhere. Not exactly a vote of confidence in the quarterback. MSU at least is bringing back sophomore WR Nick Marsh and senior TE Jack Velling, two of their top guys that should provide some continuity for Chiles. Otherwise, they went to the portal to fill out the rest of that group, grabbing guys from Central Michigan, Kent State, Middle Tennessee, and even DII Valdosta State.
Defense: Will Vet Transfers Make a Difference?
Michigan State had a middling defense in the Big Ten last season, generally doing well against the run but really struggling against the pass. Their defensive line and linebacking corps is expected to maintain their solid level of play, replacing some of their losses with new guys that have the pedigree to make an impact. They’re also placing a new emphasis on speed for their edge rushers, bringing in transfers from Texas Tech and Air Force to fill out the unit and improve their pressure rates.
The secondary is where the mystery is. The MSU coaching staff knows that they need to start improving their defensive backfield and they made that clear by pulling a plethora of talent from the portal in the offseason, including a lot of older G6 and FCS players who can make an impact right away. They are returning just two starters and a few back-ups, but their season will really rely on whether those transfer vets are able to play against Big Ten competition.
Match-Up Versus Boston College
Now that we are officially in the pro-style Grayson James / Dylan Lonergan era under head coach Bill O’Brien, we’re going to be focusing a lot on opposing pass defenses. MSU’s pass defense certainly seems vulnerable and this game will be a great early season test for us fans to determine what level the Eagles are at. Michigan State doesn’t truly excel at any one particular phase of the game. So the Eagles will certainly have an opportunity to win this game and set out good expectations just two weeks into the 2025 season.