Michigan State football posted Big Ten’s second-most decisive Week 1 win

A 23-6 victory over Western Michigan might not scream “dominant,” but it was convincing, and it proved Michigan State football was the superior squad as the game was never in question.

Still, that 17-point win drew some flak from rival fans (who then watched their own teams struggle even worse the next day). The analytics, however, graded the Spartans very highly for their 23-6 performance against Western Michigan, rating it the second-most dominant showing by a Big Ten school versus an FBS foe in Week 1.

Skeptical? Just check out the graph shared by @statsowar on Twitter. It highlights USC as the only Big Ten team with a more commanding win over an FBS opponent last weekend.

Of course, when you drop 73 points and win by 60 like USC, it qualifies as the most dominant effort in college football. Is it slightly misleading since Missouri State was playing its first season at the FBS level? Perhaps, but it still goes in the books.

Michigan State’s outing ranked seventh nationally for dominance against an FBS opponent in Week 1, based on the net success rate metric.

So what exactly is net success rate? As @statsowar explains, “All net success rate does is take away the noise and show how two squads compared snap-to-snap in moving the football. Explosives, special teams, turnovers, and other plays swing games, but net success rate shows how tight the margins were.”

In short, net success rate breaks down a matchup by evaluating consistency with the ball, explosive gains, turnovers, and special teams. Looking at it illustrates how close—or not—a game really was.

And Michigan State’s clash with Western Michigan was never close.

The Spartans now prepare for a Week 2 test against Boston College, who crushed an FCS team by 56 in its opener. This time, don’t expect Michigan State to notch another top-10 “most dominant” finish.