There were some not-so-positives, too — a Carter dropped touchdown, a missed extra point, some moments of vulnerability in a banged-up defensive backfield, another injury on the offensive line, to right guard Gavin Broscious, who was carted off the field. Broscious was already the replacement for Kristian Phillips, who was lost for the season in the opener. 

Broscious’ injury alone tips the scales of how MSU should feel about this game. The only thing to tangibly take from it — other than backups getting valuable time — is that your interior offensive line is getting thin.

2. Chiles’ again shows his immense talent and his inexperience

One sequence Saturday summed up Aidan Chiles’ performance pretty well. Facing third-and-4, from MSU’s 26-yard line, Chiles had nowhere to go. He pulled the ball down and stepped through the pocket toward three defenders coming toward him. He then smoothly sidestepped them, getting out of bounds after a six-yard gain. It was next-level athlete-type stuff by a superior athlete. On the next play, he threw an interception, trying to get the ball downfield to Nick Marsh, trying to make something out of nothing. Chiles was bailed out by offsetting penalties. He might not be next week. That interception — the forced throw on first down — is one he’s got to eliminate. 

Chiles had decent day, completing 12 of 19 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown in two-plus quarters. He also ran for a touchdown and had another score called back, both times beating defenders to the edge. He could be a serious weapon in the red zone. We saw that on his score up the middle two weeks ago, too. Even as the competition stiffens again, I think that’ll be effective for him and for MSU. At the very least, MSU put Chiles’ play-action runs to the pylon on tape, as one more thing opposing defenses are going to have to think about.