EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Tyler O'Connor threw three scoring passes in his second career start but he barely gave his offense a passing grade.

O'Connor, who won a training camp battle to replace record-setting quarterback Connor Cook, saw plenty of positives in No. 12 Michigan State's 28-13 win over Furman on Friday night at Spartan Stadium.

What wasn't acceptable was the 10 penalties for 120 yards that the Spartans piled up, or his fourth-quarter interception with the team leading by just eight points.

"As an offense, we're OK," said the fifth-year senior, who completed 13 of 18 passes for 190 yards. "We're OK with what happened tonight but we've got to erase a few things and put it behind us. We moved the ball, we had some guys making plays, the offensive line was physical and the running backs were physical. We played OK, we've just got to get rid of some small errors."

Those errors, namely the penalties on both sides of the ball, allowed unheralded Furman to hang around. The Spartans couldn't feel secure in their opener until a clinching score with less than five minutes remaining.

"Penalties really hurt us," Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio said. "We had numerous times where we were going to get off the field and there's a penalty. And they were big penalties. They weren't small penalties of five yards, they were 15-yard penalties that changed the nature of the down and distance and put us behind the eight-ball a little bit. Some we were able to overcome, some we weren't."

Sophomore running back LJ Scott gained 105 yards on 20 carries and scored Michigan State's first touchdown. Senior receiver Monty Madaris caught five passes for 85 yards for the Spartans, who have a bye week before a showdown with No. 10 Notre Dame on Sept. 17 in South Bend, Ind.

There needs to be obvious improvement from the first game to the next for the Spartans to win that road test.

"I think everybody's expecting us to walk in here and have a 40-3 (blowout). That didn't happen," Dantonio said. "This is a much more competitive game and you have to credit Furman for that."

Paladins junior quarterback P.J. Blazejowski completed 15 of 30 passes for 123 yards and was intercepted once. Freshman running back Darius Morehead had 83 yards on 20 carries for Furman, an FCS school that finished 4-7 last season.

The Paladins were outgained 361-226.

"Whenever you come into a big environment like this, you always kind of get off to a little bit of a shaky start," Blazejowski said. "We just kept trying to run our stuff and the game plan the coaches prepared for us. That's just us going out there and trying to execute to the best of our abilities and not really worry about who we're playing."

Jon Croft Hollingsworth's 23-yard field goal with 7:34 remaining in the third quarter, set up by a Michigan State fumble, pulled the Paladins within eight at 14-6.

O'Connor's second touchdown pass, a 21-yard toss to senior tight end Josiah Price near the pylon, extended the Spartans' lead to 15.

Furman came right back with a 73-yard drive. Junior Antonio Wilcox's 6-yard touchdown run made it 21-13 with 13:37 remaining.

O'Connor, who engineered an upset of Ohio State last season when Cook was injured, was picked off with 11:49 remaining. But sophomore linebacker Andrew Dowell made a diving interception against Blazejowski on the next play.

"That was a play that had been working for us," Blazejowski said. "He made a heck of a play, a heck of a catch. Ultimately, that's on me. I've got to execute that play better. Obviously, that changed the momentum, changed the game."

O'Connor's 12-yard scoring pass to senior tight end Jamal Lyles with 4:55 left halted Furman's upset bid.

NOTES: The Spartans' 17-game winning streak in home openers was tied for the third-longest active streak in the nation. Mark Dantonio won his first nine home openers as head coach. ... Furman received a $655K guarantee to play the Spartans. ... The Paladins were playing their first game against a Big Ten school. They faced Penn State in 1958 before the Nittany Lions joined the conference. ... Michigan State had never previously played a team from South Carolina, though Dantonio was a defensive back at the University of South Carolina. ... Michigan State won eight of its last 10 night games at Spartan Stadium. ... The Paladins' next FBS opponent is North Carolina State in a game scheduled for Sept. 16, 2017.