EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams had a 63-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter and Michigan State barely beat Florida Atlantic 16-10 Friday night.
The Spartans (1-0) were sloppy in coach Jonathan Smith's debut.
Aidan Chiles threw an interception on the game's opening snap, recovered his fumble to end the second drive and Montorie Foster Jr. lost the football on Michigan State's third drive.
It didn't go much smoother in the second half.
Chiles had a chance to put the Spartans ahead by more than two touchdowns late in the third quarter, but Ed Woods stepped in front of a pass in the flat at the Florida Atlantic 2 and returned it 58 yards.
“I'm happy with the win,” Chiles said. “I'm not happy with how I performed.”
Cam Fancher converted a fourth-and-1 with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jayshon Platt, cutting the Owls' deficit to six points.
Smith went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Florida Atlantic 9 on the ensuing drive, instead of kicking a short field goal for a nine-point lead, and Lynch-Adams was stopped short on a run early in the fourth quarter.
“That was probably overly aggressive,” said Smith, adding in hindsight kicking for a two-score lead may have been the wise move.
Smith's defense responded, forcing the Owls to turn it over on downs at the Michigan State 41 with 6:53 remaining.
Fancher later came up short on a fourth-and-1 run near midfield and nearly drew a targeting penalty that didn't stand after review. The Spartans, though, were pushed back 30 yards by two penalties, including one for unnecessary roughness on Jordan Turner for hitting Fancher, after he was ruled down.
“How that wasn't targeting, I'm a little confused,” said Florida Atlantic coach Tom Herman, who was 4-8 last season in his debut with the American Athletic Conference program.
Florida Atlantic's defense gave Fancher another chance and he converted a fourth-and-8 with a 21-yard pass to Omari Hayes, but he could not move the sticks again and turned it over on downs with 1:23 left at the Owls' 41.
Florida Atlantic (0-1) turnovers proved to be pivotal, hurting its chances of beating a team from a power conference for the second time in school history and first since a 2007 win over Minnesota.
Fancher, sacked for a safety in the first quarter, was picked off on consecutive possessions early in the second quarter.
Chiles' 11-yard touchdown run and Lynch-Adams' long run for a score gave the Spartans a 16-0 lead.
Chiles, who like Smith left Oregon State, was 10 of 24 passing with two interceptions. He ran six times for 28 yards and a score.
“We didn’t do what we’re supposed to do, and we didn’t do what we can do,” Chiles said.
Lynch-Adams, a graduate transfer from Massachusetts, finished with 101 yards and a score on nine carries.
THE TAKEAWAY
Florida Atlantic: Fancher, a transfer from Marshall, will have to learn a lot from a rough night. He was 12 of 25 passing for 116 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He ran 25 times for 67 yards.
Michigan State: Penalties plagued Smith's first game with the program. The Spartans drew six penalties for 60 yards in the first quarter, including one for targeting that led to an ejection for defensive back Malik Spencer, and finished with 12 flags for 140 yards.
“Too many, without question,” Smith said. “We want to play with some aggression, but we have to play with some technique.”
UP NEXT
Florida Atlantic: Host Army on Sept. 7.
Michigan State: Play at Maryland on Sept. 7.
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Michigan State defensive back Armorion Smith walks off the field following an NCAA college football game against Florida Atlantic, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine made a new call Saturday on the West to allow it to strike deeper into Russia after a meeting between U.S. and British leaders a day earlier produced no visible shift in their policy on the use of long-range weapons.
The renewed appeal came as Kyiv said Russia launched more drone and artillery attacks into Ukraine overnight.
“Russian terror begins at weapons depots, airfields and military bases inside the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said Saturday. “Permission to strike deep into Russia will speed up the solution.”
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly called on allies to greenlight the use of Western-provided long-range weapons to strike targets deep inside Russian territory. So far, the U.S. has allowed Kyiv to use American-provided weapons only in a limited area inside Russia’s border with Ukraine.
Discussions on allowing long-range strikes were believed to be on the table when U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met in Washington on Friday but no decision was announced immediately.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressing the U.S. and other allies to allow his forces to use Western weapons to target air bases and launch sites farther afield as Russia has stepped up assaults on Ukraine’s electricity grid and utilities before winter.
He did not directly comment on the meeting Saturday morning, but said that more than 70 Russian drones had been launched into Ukraine overnight. The Ukrainian air force later said that 76 Russian drones had been sighted, of which 72 were shot down.
“We need to boost our air defense and long-range capabilities to protect our people,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “We are working on this with all of Ukraine’s partners.”
Other overnight attacks saw one person killed by Russian artillery fire as energy infrastructure was targeted in Ukraine’s Sumy region. A 54-year-old driver was killed and seven more people were hospitalized, Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy said.
Another three people died Saturday in a Russian strike on an agricultural enterprise in the front-line town of Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region, Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.
Meanwhile, officials in Moscow have continued to make public statements warning that long-range strikes would provoke further escalation between Russia and the West. The remarks are in line with the narrative the Kremlin has promoted since early in the war, accusing NATO countries of de-facto participation in the conflict and threatening a response.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state news agency Tass on Saturday that the U.S. and British governments were pushing the conflict, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, toward “poorly controlled escalation.”
Biden on Friday brushed off similar comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said on Thursday that allowing long-range strikes “would mean that NATO countries, the United States and European countries, are at war with Russia.”
Asked what he thought about Putin’s threat, Biden answered, “I don’t think much about Vladimir Putin.”
Russian and Ukrainian officials also announced on Saturday a prisoner swap brokered by the United Arab Emirates. It included 206 prisoners on both sides, including Russians captured in Ukraine’s incursion in the Kursk region.
The swap is the eighth of its kind since the beginning of 2024, and puts the total number of POWs exchanged at 1,994. Previous exchanges were also brokered by the UAE.
Both sides released images of soldiers traveling to meet friends and family, with Zelenskyy commenting, “Our people are home."
Elsewhere, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that 19 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the country’s Kursk and Belgorod regions.
A woman also died Saturday after a Ukrainian shell hit her home in the border village of Bezlyudovka, Belgorod regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A Ukrainian poses for a selfie as he is greeted after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
Ukrainians pose for a photo after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
Ukrainians pose for a photo after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
Ukrainians pose for a photo after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
A Ukrainian reacts after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
Ukrainians react after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
A Ukrainian serviceman, left, is greeted after being released in a prisoner exchange at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Saturday Sept. 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
