Noah Kim struggled in the 1st quarter on Friday night against Central Michigan — at least until the 2nd quarter.

After stanza, Kim had just 1 completion for -2 yards on 5 attempts. However, Mel Tucker and his staff did not wary in their choice to start Kim over redshirt freshman Katin Houser.

The Spartans stuck with Kim, and he delivered a strong 2nd quarter. Kim threw for 147 yards in the 2nd quarter and led the Spartans on a pair of scoring drives. Michigan State took a 10-7 lead into the break.

This pass from Kim to Jaron Glover setup Michigan State’s TD:

https://twitter.com/TSV__1/status/1697769550476173364?s=20

Kim also had this pass earlier in the drive on 3rd down:

Kim finished the half 10-of-21 for 145 yards. He likely would have gone over 200 yards in the half if not for a pair of drops. He did, also, have multiple bad throws to open receivers in the first half.

Michigan State averaged 5.5 yards per play in the first half. Much of that production came on the Spartans’ 7-play, 84-yard touchdown drive late in the 2nd quarter. Kim delivered multiple long throws on that drive.

Tucker announced on his pregame radio show that Kim would be making the start. Kim, a member of Michigan State’s 2020 recruiting class, “earned” the right to start, per Tucker.

Michigan State also played much of the first half without receiver Alante Brown. He was carted off the field with an apparent injury after making a block on the opening kickoff. Brown did later return to the game.

Michigan State is 8-3 all-time against Central Michigan.