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The State News sports reporters discuss all MSU sports.
Hello, and welcome back to this week's edition of the sports round table podcast, where we bring you everything Michigan state athletics. My name is Maddie Wharton, and I am your host. And today I have the same exact guests as I do last week.
PJ:Yep. PJ Pfeiffer, Luke Joseph.
Maddie:It is us 3 again, and we are here to bring you, first of all, some Michigan State football because they are hot right now no matter if they've obviously, they've played 2 teams that are out of conference, but they also played Maryland, which was their first big ten opponent, and they beat them 27 to 24, which we talked about last week. But this week, we took on a prereview, and we won 40 to 0. So take it away.
Luke:It was not a close game whatsoever. Obviously, 40 to 1. There's nothing to really take away from this game, I guess. It's just complete and utter domination from Aidan Charles and especially that defense holding anybody to 0 points is a positive for any team.
PJ:Yeah. And we have it written down the notes, but the 100 yard interception was actually insane. I saw that. That was
Maddie:That was crazy.
Luke:So cool. Nice.
Maddie:I had to work concessions that day, which was sad. So I didn't get to watch it. But, obviously, through SSR, I've seen, like, different highlights from what we recorded and stuff for the game. But that wasn't his first interception that game. Like, he had a different interception that game and couldn't take it to the house.
Maddie:And then this one, he catches in their end zone Yeah. And runs it a 100 yards down the field. Mhmm. That's insane.
PJ:Yeah. It was insane. I loved it.
Maddie:I was like, it's beautiful. Like Yeah.
PJ:Yeah. And it was a packed crowd, and, you know, everyone was just jumping on their feet. Everyone was enjoying it.
Maddie:Oh, I'm sure, like, obviously, we'd when was the last time Michigan State shot out an opponent?
Luke:That's a tough question. I off the top of my head, I can't think of.
PJ:Right. Yeah. I have no idea.
Maddie:Yeah. I mean, PJ's score with PJ's score prediction, he didn't even think that we were gonna shout them out.
PJ:Okay. Okay. We're bringing up the scoreboard.
Maddie:Last week last week on the podcast, PJ gave us his score prediction, and it was 28 to 7.
PJ:Mhmm. I
Maddie:did. Claims that he told his family that we were gonna win by 40.
PJ:I did. And, actually, I have text proof that my after I after we won, my mom sent a screenshot and said she said, oh my god. PJ, you called it. And I said, I know.
Maddie:I know this. I get it.
PJ:Yeah. So I swear I did call it, but hey. Whatever. Whatever.
Maddie:All I hear are excuses until I see receipts. But, I mean, obviously, I didn't get the chance to watch the game sadly, but what kinda were your guys' other takeaways with Aidan Chiles? And that was Nate Carter had his 1st career touchdown, I believe.
Luke:I think his first
Maddie:Of the season.
Luke:Of the season.
Maddie:Of the season.
Luke:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was it's a good good, game for Aidan Chiles. I'm trying to pull up his stats, but, he definitely looked a lot more comfortable, in the pocket, getting other guys involved. Nick Marsh didn't have as good of a game as he did against Maryland.
Luke:I think he only had 27 yards receiving, but it it was overall just a it was just a good game from everybody involved. We're not looking at one single guy like we did against Maryland. And I think that's that's just a huge plus, for the season as we go on to, Boston College this weekend.
PJ:Yeah. I think I brought this up last week, but I was saying that the team, they kinda need to start, like, getting out of their shell more and started being more, like, consistent. And I think this game was a good testament to that that they were are really starting to, like, build on team chemistry, and they're really starting to act more as a successful team together.
Maddie:Right. Mhmm. Well, I mean, if we're going into Boston College a little bit here from our lovely football reporters at the state news, Atlanta wrote an article about how injuries and frequent penalties are what's gonna stand between MSU and going 4 and o against Boston College. I know that Luke said last week that this will probably be our 1st loss of the season, but just kind of talk to me a little more here, Luke, because
Luke:I mean, I just think that it's Boston College is a very run dominated team. I know their their first game, against Florida State, they ran the ball for, over 300 yards, which is nuts. Obviously, Florida State isn't what we thought they were even though I never and I think I mentioned this last week that
Maddie:I did.
Luke:I I didn't think Florida State was gonna be a top 25 team, but over 300 yards against,
Maddie:a team that had it.
Luke:Team as notable as Florida. Yeah. As Florida state, I think, is very impressive. And then this past weekend, they, you know, they went toe to toe with, at the time, number 6 Missouri. They're not number 7
Maddie:Mhmm.
Luke:In this week's, poll. And, you know, they kept that game close. And Missouri has an amazing beef defensive line. You know, so I think the fact that they that Boston College was able to hang with Missouri Right. For that whole game, I think that it's It shows.
Luke:It's gonna show a lot if somehow Michigan State can pull away with it up. And I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, we won that we would be ranked in the top 25,
PJ:next week. Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. I agree.
Maddie:What do you think they need to do to stay consistent and at least try to pull away with a win?
Luke:PJ, do you wanna,
PJ:hit
Maddie:me, PJ. Hit me.
PJ:Well, I you know what? I really don't know. I I'm not, like, a a football expert. I'm gonna be honest.
Maddie:I'm not either. That's why I'm asking.
PJ:But, I mean, I feel like Alana said Alana said Yeah. It's gonna be, like, penalties. And I feel like if we're able to stop if we're able to stop them, Boston College from running, you know, like they did against Florida State, then that'll maybe we could push back a bit. But but besides that, I don't know. Maybe, Luke, do you wanna take over?
PJ:Yeah. It's my turn.
Luke:Yeah. Obviously, stopping the run is gonna be the the main goal. This defense has looked pretty impressive through the first three games. Right. Aidan Charles obviously can't turn the ball over.
Luke:I know he's had a it's been an issue so far this season just holding on to the football and not throwing an interception. Mhmm. He didn't have any last week, which which was good.
Maddie:That was actually one of my next questions is not to not to get all Debbie Donner on Aiden Chiles, but he didn't have any interceptions last week.
Luke:Yeah. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. It's good.
Luke:It's That's great.
Maddie:Good for you, Aiden. Yeah.
Luke:It's obviously good. You know, but I think that's that's gotta be his goal is to I think he should wanna be more of a game manager and let, you know, the the wide receivers and, you know, kinda utilize more of Jack Villing, who I think Yeah. Has he's arguably our best player on the team, and I'd like to see him get involved more in the offense. You know? You know, just throw in those 6, 7 yard checks check downs, to to Jack and, yeah, just just being more of a game manager.
Maddie:Right.
Luke:I think that should be Aiden's goal.
Maddie:So if we're going back to it, Alana's article said that 7 players have been injured in the 1st 3 weeks of the season, and a majority of them are long term injuries.
Luke:Wow. Wow.
Maddie:That's crazy.
Luke:Yeah.
Maddie:Because this says Maryland, I think we had 2 injuries, 1 at Prairie View A&M, but that's that's tough, especially when we're a team that's trying to rebuild as much as we are. And just having those injuries knock you down, like, it's tough. Like, not to it's comparable with, like, a young hockey team. When your all stars get injured, then you're screwed. Like, you're done for the rest of the season because if you don't have them, then you don't have your core to build around.
Maddie:And, obviously, there's not like, you don't have to worry about Aidan Chiles is not injured. Nick Marsh is not injured. Nate Carter is not injured. So you don't have to worry about those people. But even, like, losing people on your o line, your o line is what holds your glue together in your defense.
Maddie:Like
PJ:Mhmm.
Maddie:It's a tough place to come to wanting to get a win against Boston College.
Luke:Yeah. Totally. Yeah. I think Elena said that Christian Phillips, who was the, right guard on MSU, he's out. He suffered a season ending injury.
Luke:And then his backup, Gavin, Brociannis. I'm sorry if I butchered that name.
Maddie:It's okay.
Luke:But, you know, he's out indefinitely. So we don't even have our starting right guard or even the backup starting.
Maddie:Oh, we need to have a backup backup.
PJ:Yeah. 3rd string. 3rd string. Yeah.
Luke:Somebody yeah. I mean, somebody's gonna have to move into that spot, and then Jerome Glover is also out. And he's a he's a, you know, pretty pretty good wide receiver. So that's a weapon that Aiden Charles doesn't have. And then also I'm pretty sure, Dylan Tatum is is out for the season.
Luke:You know, it's just a lot of it just it sucks that so many of our better players on this squad, they're getting long term injuries so early in the season.
PJ:Mhmm. Right.
Maddie:So to wrap up our football conversation on this part, let's do score predictions again for BC coming up.
PJ:Okay. Okay.
Maddie:PJ.
PJ:I'm gonna say MSU 21, Boston College 18. Is that po that's is that possible?
Maddie:Yeah. I think so.
PJ:I I mean, yeah,
Luke:internally, that's possible.
PJ:So you can get to, to, what what's it called? 2, safeties. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Luke:But you can just get there with 6 field goals. Okay.
PJ:Yeah. Sure. Let's do that.
Maddie:Yeah. We just need to hold BC to 6 field goals or a touchdown, no extra point.
PJ:Mhmm. Yeah. Three touchdowns. No extra points. Yeah.
Maddie:Oh, yeah. Three touchdowns, no extra points. Okay.
PJ:Anyways, 21, 18. Girl math right now,
Maddie:I feel. How can we get to 18 in football? Alright, Luke.
Luke:I think it's gonna be Boston College 27 and then MSU 18.
Maddie:18.
Luke:I think.
Maddie:I feel like that's valid. Yeah. I
Luke:What do you have, Maddie?
Maddie:I don't know because I wanna be biased to Michigan State
Luke:Yeah.
Maddie:Just because it's Michigan State.
Luke:We all do.
Maddie:But if you're thinking legitimately about how both teams play, I feel like it's going to be Boston College. Yeah. So my final score prediction, I'm gonna go 24 to 18 as well. We got all 18.
Luke:All 18. Twenties
PJ:Have you ever
Luke:heard of that? The loser will have 18 points in this game. Yes. Yeah.
Maddie:No matter what. I mean Somebody's getting 18 points.
Luke:I mean, I said before we start recording, if if we somehow win this game and hopefully, PJ, your prediction comes true. I've said that I think that if we win this game, the MSU will lock in at least a 6 and 6 6 season Yeah. Which should get us to a bowl game, which
Maddie:is what we want.
Luke:Yeah. We don't want football
Maddie:to end in November. We want football to end in December.
Luke:December. In late December Yeah. Mid December.
Maddie:Yeah. A little bit longer of a football season.
Luke:Right. And just for clarification, it's not a failure or a disappointment
PJ:if we go 6 and 6 compared to the
Luke:last couple seasons that couldn't agree more.
Maddie:We've had here. I don't think it shouldn't
Luke:be classified as a failure for the mess that Jonathan Smith had to inherit. Right. Of course. I agree. Yeah.
Luke:Totally. So I definitely agree with you
PJ:on that.
Maddie:So hopping from football over to football to soccer. Nice segue. Yes. So our, women's soccer team went to College Park this weekend to take on Maryland in their 1st big ten matchup, and they won 5 nil, 50. Wow.
Maddie:They're on fire. That's their 4th straight win in their 3rd straight shutout.
PJ:Wow.
Maddie:They have just Wow. 5 different goal scores. They are now ranked number 1 in the RPI polls, which is a little different than, like, the actual NCAA women's soccer polls because I think they're still number 5.
Luke:Yeah.
Maddie:But, like, you gotta put into account that Stanford has always had a really good soccer team. There's a couple others in there that I was looking at that have really, really great soccer programs that are probably still completely undefeated and haven't drawn any games. But yeah. I mean, they're a team to watch, especially last year. Like, they're back to back big 10 champions.
Maddie:That's probably in the books for this year and just seeing how they've played now even up to this point in the season, that's a I would say that's a contending national championship team.
PJ:Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. I mean, undefeated so far, 2 draws, which is actually interesting because they're both at home.
PJ:They're a perfect 2 and o away. Like, I have a yeah. Record. They're a record away. Here we go.
PJ:Here we go.
Maddie:Now we're cooking. Yeah. The record
PJ:away is 2 and o, which is actually, like, interesting to see and kinda think about. Right. And then at I mean, at home, they haven't lost either, but they've drawn twice. But,
Maddie:But their teams that they drew against were ranked teams as well.
PJ:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Xavier and Arkansas? Correct. Yeah.
PJ:So that's yeah. No. They're they're doing really well this season. It's gonna be so much fun to watch them throughout this entire season.
Maddie:I agree. And then Archer, obviously, our women's soccer reporter posted, an article that Michigan State remains number 5 in the coaches' pool, which honestly shocks me after a 5 to nil shutout against Maryland. It's like, why clearly, other teams had to have had more stunning games than us, but 17 shots throughout the game, 9 shots on goal compared to Maryland, I think, had 2 shots in general. Mhmm. That's Yeah.
Maddie:Wild.
PJ:Yeah. Just complete dominant domination. Domination.
Maddie:But yeah. I mean, so they're back at home this Thursday against Nebraska. I think Nebraska has a pretty good soccer program.
Luke:I'm trying to look that up right now, but I know Maryland, their record, they're actually 333. So I guess that's it's probably that, you know, Maryland isn't as good of a program. That's why Michigan State might not have gone up as as we would have hoped for.
Maddie:But I feel like 33 and 3 isn't, like, a terrible record for
Luke:a soccer.
PJ:Yeah. Right. Horrible. Nebraska's 34 overall. Okay.
PJ:So Oh, and 1 in conference, and they've lost 2 straight.
Maddie:Hypothetically speaking, that should be an easy win for Michigan State then.
Luke:Yeah. Yeah. But then it's then after Nebraska, we go to Penn State. Number 9 Penn State.
Maddie:Penn State's good.
Luke:Yeah. That's
Maddie:gonna be a fun one to watch.
Luke:Yeah. At University Park. So That's the word. That's gonna be a very, very tough game.
Maddie:And then gonna be tough.
Luke:I mean, it's gonna be, you know, 1st Nebraska then at Penn State, them at Ohio State. And Ohio State Ohio State's ranked. Yeah. I don't know if they're are they ranked? Okay.
Luke:I believe so. I'm trying to look up theirs, but, you know, obviously, can't take Nebraska lightly because I think we would need to hopefully win that game just so we have enough confidence going into the Penn State and Ohio State matchups.
Maddie:I don't think any game should be taken lightly. No. You play the same way that you've played against teams like Arkansas or Xavier that you drew against, and you'd go into the same mentality of just win the game. Yeah. Win and move on.
PJ:Let's just win, guys.
Maddie:Like, just win the game. Every single game. Simply, you just win the game.
Luke:No more no more ties. No more Right. You win every single game.
Maddie:Just win every single game, please. So moving on from women's soccer, men's soccer had their, big ten home opener as well against Washington. And what a game that was.
Luke:Yeah. Yeah.
Maddie:So What a game. What a game. What a game. So they ended up winning one to nothing. And, Zach Kelly is their goalie.
Maddie:He had a great game. But what has been the highlight of this soccer game is Brandon Munson. Washington goes to shoot the ball. Zach Kelly bats it out of his hand, and then Brandon Munson I think it's Brandon Munson. I might
Luke:have to look.
Maddie:I think
Luke:it's I
Maddie:think it's Brandon Munson. Yeah. Comes out of nowhere and bicycle kicks the ball. Like, a full blown backwards
PJ:Oh, Brandon.
Maddie:Brandon. Brandon.
PJ:Oh,
Maddie:yeah. And that play ended up being number 1 on SportsCenter's top 10.
Luke:Was it really?
PJ:Mhmm.
Luke:Yeah. Wow.
Maddie:Have you not seen it?
Luke:I haven't I haven't seen it.
PJ:Oh, you gotta watch it. Oh, it's insane. Oh, it's insane.
Maddie:Oh. I didn't My. It was awesome.
PJ:Yeah.
Maddie:You gotta look it up. You just gotta look it up. Watch it right now.
PJ:And while he's looking that up, so MSU men's soccer, they're overall, they're 2 they have 2 wins, 3 losses, and 2 ties. That's not awful. Like, it's
Maddie:not No. It's not.
PJ:It's not awful. Obviously, it's not
Maddie:It's not the women's
Luke:soccer team. Right. Yeah.
PJ:But, you know, they're not, like, incredibly bad or anything.
Maddie:No. Not at all. Not at all. Their goal tending is fantastic, but I think that they have a young team. Mhmm.
Maddie:From what I understand, soccer is not it it's kinda horrible for me to say, but soccer isn't a sport that I always kept up on until I started watching Ted Lasso.
PJ:Oh, yeah. You're just
Maddie:gonna be interested in it. Like, oh, man. This is I actually kinda like this. Yeah.
PJ:No. I I love soccer. Yeah.
Luke:Brandon, if you're listening, I've just watched your bicycle kick, and that was insane.
Maddie:Isn't that crazy?
PJ:That's nuts. Yeah. Brandon, we hope you're listening.
Luke:We hope you'll listen to this.
PJ:But That
Maddie:was crazy. That was What? Absolutely He like insane.
Luke:He did, like, a karate kick,
Maddie:like I know. Mid air, though. Full blown karate kid.
PJ:Yeah. Sweep the leg.
Maddie:Is it that crazy?
Luke:Yeah. That was nuts.
Maddie:Oh my. Goosebumps. This Goosebumps. Chills.
PJ:This Friday, they're traveling to Pennsylvania to take on Penn State. That should be an interesting match.
Maddie:Mhmm.
PJ:And then they're going to LA to play UCLA.
Maddie:Oh, boy. Oh,
Luke:wow. Yeah.
Maddie:I Road trip. Yes.
PJ:I have a feeling UCLA is going to outplay them and beat them, pretty easily.
Maddie:Mhmm.
PJ:But, hey, my MSU football prediction was wrong, so this prediction could be wrong.
Maddie:It always like, obviously, I won't start dogging on adding those teams to the big ten conference. But Mhmm. That must be so tough as an athlete to go play a game, leaving on what Wednesday or Thursday flying 3, 4 hours to a different time zone, having to adjust to that time zone, and then play a game against the opponent that is hosting you.
PJ:Mhmm.
Maddie:Like that would that just does not sound fun. Like, the most that we would have to travel for anything else in the big ten would have been Iowa or Nebraska, and that's only an hour behind.
PJ:Yeah.
Maddie:To take an athlete who is already working so hard as a student athlete and have them travel across the country for a game against Washington, Oregon, UCLA, USC. That's tough.
PJ:Oh, yeah.
Maddie:I can't even fathom.
PJ:Yeah. I I don't think I would manage myself well.
Maddie:I don't think so either.
PJ:Yeah.
Maddie:I would not do very well with that.
PJ:And especially trying to have a social life outside of playing a sport and Yeah. College? Oh my god.
Maddie:Like that?
PJ:No. Go, you guys.
Maddie:Yeah. Props to you guys. Yeah. As much as we give student athletes props, y'all don't get enough because that's wild. Mhmm.
Maddie:No. Thanks. Obviously, they're going to Penn State. Should be an interesting game.
Luke:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Maddie:Next up, we have women's volleyball. Did you cover the series against Western, or did Janiyah?
PJ:Yeah. I covered Western. Yeah. I covered Western, and then we did not cover Eastern, or maybe Janiah did. But, yeah, they played Western Michigan.
PJ:They lost in straight sets. I it was, like, it was hard fought the entire match.
Maddie:Mhmm.
PJ:Western just looked better through and through. And I found out that it actually was not an upset loss or it was not an upset. Really? Western Michigan only lost one game last year, and they made it to, like, the NCAA tournament, and they yeah. Wow.
PJ:So, like, they are very good.
Maddie:Oh, wow.
PJ:I did not know that going into it. So yeah. So, like, MSU played really well, honestly, like, especially playing such a great team, so it was not an upset. Then we played Eastern Michigan. I did not go to that game, but we won in straight sets.
PJ:I'm pretty sure that was, that was pretty called for. Like, I feel like it was predicted that we would win pretty easily. Okay.
Maddie:It's Eastern.
PJ:Uh-huh. And then last night, we played Purdue Fort Wayne, which I went, which I went to. And that was that was a fun game. We won in 4 sets, which is, like, we there was just the 3rd set was just a little bit they just didn't play as well as they were before, but they still were playing really well. They were still in it the entire game Right.
PJ:Or entire, set. We won in 4 sets. I talked to head coach Johnson after the game, and it was funny because,
Maddie:I love her.
PJ:Yeah. She's great. She's so great. And she actually has a son named PJ.
Maddie:Does she really?
PJ:Yeah. So we talked about that. Small world. Right?
Maddie:I love Leah Johnson is one of my favorite coaches that I've had the opportunity to talk to because she's just very down to earth. Like, we'll ask you questions back, like, very communicative with reporters. She's fantastic.
PJ:Mhmm. So
Maddie:it's nice to see our volleyball team having the success that we have.
PJ:And I actually just wrote a story. I think it was just published. Thank you, Thomas. And Thank
Maddie:you, Thomas. Thomas.
PJ:It was yeah. About how coach Johnson has just completely I'll I'll read the read the headline. How she's rejuvenated MSU's volleyball program. Because she really has, like, she, like after between after the 2017 season, MSU volleyball was just not doing well. Like, they were just it was just not good.
Maddie:Right.
PJ:And then head coach Johnson came in in 2022, and she just completely turned it around. And, like, watching the team now, it's just, like, insane team chemistry. They're just super consistent. Like, that's a big thing with her. Mhmm.
PJ:Consistency. And, like, their energy is just unmatched. I mean, I've only been to home games, but, like, at home games, their energy is just unmatched. It's so Right. Like, they can shift momentum within a second.
Maddie:Right.
PJ:And it's, like, I said this after, they played I forget who they played. But I was like, once they have momentum, it like, they're scary for opponents. Like, they Love scary. Love scary. Yeah.
PJ:Like, genuinely, like, they they went on, like, a 10 o run, a 9 o run, like, very quickly. It was they're very good. Yeah. And just great communication between, the front and back rows. It's just they do it really well, everything really well.
Maddie:Yeah. Sorry. It's okay. Yeah. Alright.
Maddie:So I think that's all we have for today, but I found a trivia question.
PJ:Okay. Here we go. Here we go.
Maddie:Fun. So this question that I found is about MSU Basketball.
PJ:Men's or women's?
Maddie:Men's.
PJ:Okay.
Maddie:Other than Charlie Bell, Morris Peterson, and Mateen Cleaves, who's the other Flintstone? Oh. You must name him.
Luke:I'm forgetting his name.
Maddie:I also have a fun fact while you're waiting.
PJ:Oh, man.
Maddie:Morris Peterson, he owned a restaurant in Flint called Mopet's, and that's where I'm from. So I've been there a few times.
PJ:No way.
Maddie:Mopet's. Mhmm.
PJ:That's so cool.
Maddie:I think my grandparents actually met him or got a picture or something. I never did. But
PJ:That's so awesome.
Maddie:Proof out there somewhere.
PJ:Yeah. I have no idea.
Maddie:I'm not giving you guys the multiple choice because I don't feel like scrolling back up because my computer's about to die. But
PJ:Yeah. No. I have no idea.
Luke:Oh, man. My dad's gonna be upset with me that I don't know this. I don't know. Who is it?
Maddie:Antonio Smith.
Luke:Oh, wow. Wow. Okay.
PJ:That's cool. That's a good trivia question.
Maddie:You're welcome, Scott. Let's go
Luke:with Antonio Smith.
Maddie:Yeah. Antonio Smith, you what a dog,
PJ:oh, dog Spartan dog,
Maddie:Spartan dogs for life. All right. That is going to be our last little segment of the sports round table podcast. We're going to wrap it up for this week. I hope you guys enjoyed and we will see you next week.
PJ:Thank you for having me.
Maddie:You're welcome.