Complete Recap of Michigan State's Win Over Youngstown State

See what these Michigan State Spartans Insiders had to say about Saturday's win.

Michigan State's Elijah Tau-Tolliver celebrates his touchdown against Youngstown State during the fourth quarter on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Michigan State was able to get through Youngstown State on Saturday evening by a 41-24 final score.

On this edition of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast, two insiders break down the game and tell you what Saturday means for the Spartans moving forward.

Watch here:

After the game, head coach Jonathan Smith also talked to the media about the game. Below is a partial transcription of his opening statement.

Jonathan Smith

Sep 6, 2025; East Lansing, Michigan, USA; Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith walks across the field following a double-overtime victory over Boston College at Spartan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Mullin-Imagn Images | Brendan Mullin-Imagn Images

"Three notes, we'll obviously take that. It's kind of what I told the team though, we've got more to us. 

"Credit to Youngstown State, I thought some schematics gave us a couple issues, especially on defense on the one long run; we're not even kind of lined up correctly and it creases for the big hit. 

"I thought schematically, in the run game offensively, we got more to us. We got to get something going there and make it a little bit easier on the quarterback, to get us a little better down-and-distances.

"The first half went quick on us. We had four total possessions offensively, we scored three of them. So you go into halftime with the thinking that we just wanted to get the ball going and then coming out of the second half, that punt return was huge, 'cause we didn't do anything offensively. Defensively, steps up, gets us three and out. 

"Punt return by Omari (Kelly) was huge. Gets us down there, kind of separating things. 

Michigan State QB Aidan Chiles extends a hand-off against Youngstown State on Sept. 13, 2025 | Starr Portice, Michigan State Spartans on SI

"We had one turnover tonight; tipped ball, play action pass, the defense bowed up. I thought that was really big, looking at the second half and everything. Turn the thing over and get it in a pretty good field position for them. Defense bows up and gets a stop, I think it was a field goal on that possession. So that was big.

"So again, we're gonna go back to work, similar like we're doing each week, right? We're gonna digest this tape and look at some things. We know what's coming in regards to this conference, starting conference play next week. The road trip, the team we're playing (USC), all of that's coming.”