MSU's Quindarius Dunnigan's Thoughts On Challenges USC's Offense Presents

One of Michigan State's defensive linemen talked through what has made USC's offense so successful this season, among other things.

Michigan State defensive lineman Quindarius Dunnigan speaks to the media on Sept. 17, 2025. | Jacob Cotsonika, Michigan State Spartans on SI

EAST LANSING --- Michigan State defensive lineman Quindarius Dunnigan is looking forward to the chance the Spartans have in front of them with No. 25 USC.

Dunnigan talked through what has made the Trojans' offense successful so far and also went through the things that MSU's defense can improve on.

See that and everything else Dunnigan had to say during his Wednesday press conference below.

Watch Quindarius Dunnigan here:

MSU head coach Jonathan Smith also spoke to the press on Monday about the game at USC and also to recap the Spartans' 41-24 victory against Youngstown State. Below is a partial transcript of his opening statement.

Jonathan Smith

Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith speaks to the media about an upcoming game at USC on Sept. 15, 2025. | Jacob Cotsonika, Michigan State Spartans on SI

"OK, kind of like each week here, recapping a couple of thoughts. Offensively, you know, 10 possessions, I think we scored seven times on those 10. 

"I did think, again, watching the tape, Aidan (Chiles) did a solid job. Completing pass, eyes up, smart with the ball, another good game running it. 

Michigan State's Aidan Chiles, top, tries to leap over Youngstown State's Makai Shahid on a run 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

"But in general, the running game, we got to get better, first and second down. You know, credit to the opponent schematically a couple of those, but we've got to break a couple of tackles, one of them with the safety kind of delaying, misidentification took place too many times, and we're just not getting the type of movement we want to get, so we've got to get improvement on that in the run game. 

"Defensively, I thought they did a nice job of stopping the run. These guys were leading the country in running the ball, especially with the quarterback (and) his capabilities of running it; I did like that part, except on the long one, 66-yard play, I want to say. First of all, we're misaligned, unique formation, give 'em some credit, we're misaligned, we don't got anyone in the B-gap. We're not aligned correctly in the second area, we've got an opportunity to at least get him down, it's going to be a 30-yard play, we can't do that, so we've got to get better there. 

"It was good to have Nikai Martinez back, getting a taste of it, he played, you know, maybe half of it, so it was great to see him out there, we do want to continue to improve going forward. Fourth down, third down, on that side.

"Special teams continues to be a positive, obviously huge return from Omari (Kelly); I do think the blocking on the thing, the decision-making on the punt return unit was critical. Martin (Connington) had a solid game, (Ryan) Eckley was only out there one time, that's usually a good thing."

Michigan State's Quindarius Dunnigan celebrates a sack against Western Michigan during the second quarter on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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