Michigan State has reached the midpoint of the softer stretch on its schedule, and the Spartans are trying to keep things from getting messy again after slipping past Toledo 30-20 last Friday. Eastern Michigan is next on the list, and this one brings a few individual battles that could shape how the game plays out in East Lansing.
The quarterback matchup jumps out immediately, mostly because of the Noah Kim angle. Kim is now leading Eastern Michigan after spending 2020-23 at Michigan State, where he started a handful of games in 2023.
He left for Coastal Carolina in 2024 before landing with the Eagles for the 2025 season, and he arrives having led the MAC with 2,817 passing yards last year. Through Eastern Michigan’s first two games of 2026, Kim has thrown for 453 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception while completing 63.0% of his passes.
Across from him is Alessio Milivojevic, who did not overlap with Kim in East Lansing. By the time Milivojevic visited as a recruit after Jonathan Smith was hired, Kim was already gone, and so were Katin Houser and Sam Leavitt.
Milivojevic had originally committed to Ball State before Michigan State entered the picture late in the process, just weeks before the early signing period. His first full season as the Spartans’ starter began on a solid note against Toledo, where he threw for 247 yards and a touchdown while completing 26 of 34 passes for a 76.5 completion percentage.
Milivojevic looks like the better quarterback on paper, but Kim has his own built-in motivation with a trip back to face his old school.
On the perimeter, Michigan State got a big lift from Rodney Bullard Jr. against Toledo. He caught seven passes for 90 yards and a touchdown, and he also came through on a crucial two-point conversion. That performance followed a 100-yard game against Minnesota last year, and it raised the question of whether Bullard can keep being that kind of weekly threat for the Spartans.
His likely test comes against Caleb Dobbs, Eastern Michigan’s top corner. Dobbs already has an interception this season, which came against San Jose State, and he has five pass defenses in two games.
PFF says he has allowed seven catches on 13 targets across 82 coverage snaps, with those completions producing 85 yards, just four yards after the catch, and two touchdowns - both of them against San Jose State. This is Dobbs’ first season as a full-time starter at Eastern Michigan.
Last year at Kentucky, he played 46 snaps off the bench and gave up two catches for 49 yards on five targets, with PFF grading him at 57.0 overall and 53.0 in coverage for that game.
When Eastern Michigan has the ball, the attention shifts to Nick Devereaux and Tre Bell. Devereaux was a central piece of the Eagles’ offense last season, leading the team with 510 yards and seven touchdowns in 2025, and he chose to stay in Ypsilanti instead of transferring out for his fifth-year senior season. He has nine catches for 97 yards and a touchdown so far this year.
Bell appears to have taken over as Michigan State’s top corner. That spot seemed headed to Charles Brantley before the season, but Brantley struggled against Toledo, giving up a 60-yard touchdown and drawing a defensive holding penalty on third down. Bell now looks like CB1, with Houston Christian transfer Tyran Chappell a candidate to settle in as CB2.
Eastern Michigan, like Toledo, will likely need to lean on the passing game to create explosive plays if it wants to hang around for four quarters. Big Ten teams usually have the edge up front against MAC opponents, so the Eagles’ skill players are going to have to win their matchups. That puts Kim’s early reads and Bell’s coverage on Devereaux squarely in the spotlight.
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Michigan State heads into its second game of the season against Eastern Michigan with a chance to lean on what looks like one of its clearest advantages. The Spartans depth at running back and linebacker should give them a stronger base than an Eagles team that has mostly been tested against lighter competition, and kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.
Cam Edwards is part of the running back mix that should help Michigan State establish control, while Jordan Hall remains a key name on the defensive side after being limited in Week 1. For the Spartans, the edge is there on paper, but the bigger question is whether those advantages show up early enough to take the pressure off a game that should still offer a useful look at how much depth this roster really has. [Read more 🡒]