Key Stat in MSU's Win That Should Have Fans Encouraged

Originally posted on Michigan State Spartans on SI
By Aidan Champion | Last updated Aug 31, 2025 9:04 PM ET

Michigan State showed a few improvements in areas it had struggled in last season in Friday's 23-6 win over Western Michigan.

One of these areas was the offense's red zone production, which was quite successful on Friday, as Michigan State went 3-4 in the red zone.

The Spartans had a success rate of 75.8% in the red zone last season, which was rather surprising considering the success Jonathan Smith and his staff had in that department at Oregon State.

"There's a number of things (why it wasn't as effective)," offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said back in fall camp. "I think in terms of -- we've talked about the execution, and all that stuff gets magnified and the details, and I thought we had a lot of stuff to clean up that way.

"And then, we got to run the ball. We got to run the ball and be more efficient down there. And I think that's, in the past and places that we've been, that was something that we really hung our hat on down there in the red zone, is being able to make it physical -- they might have an extra guy down there, but we were going to get some positive yardage on that and then, create some easy throws for the QB to kind of play and complement off that."

"I just didn't feel like we ran it at a high enough level last year, and we didn't execute the details enough when we got down there. And then, there's obviously some scheme stuff that we study and look to tweak every year to fit our personnel that we studied in the offseason and I'm excited about as well."

The run game was productive on Friday, which was a big reason the Spartans found success when they were on the brink of the end zone.

Both sophomore running backs Makhi Frazier and Brandon Tullis recorded a rushing touchdown. Frazier led the offense with 103 rushing yards in what was just his first career start.

While Western Michigan was a rather inferior opponent, Spartan fans should feel good about what they saw from the run game and the red zone offense.

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