3 Takeaways After Michigan State Football’s 24-21 Loss to Northwestern

On Saturday, Michigan State football hosted Northwestern in what was arguably the biggest “storyline” game of the first Fitzgerald season. Pat Fitzgerald saw his alma mater and longtime coaching stop, while quarterback Aidan Chiles returned to Spartan Stadium for the first time on the opposite sidelines.

The Spartans took control and were able to take a lead going into half, but near the end of the game, the Wildcats executed while the Spartans did not. Northwestern emerged victorious, 24-21.

Here are three quick takeaways from the contest.

Massive Difference for Execution in the Clutch

During the final three minutes and change, the Spartans saw the difference in a winning program. Michigan State football got the ball on the Wildcat 28-yard line following a batted down fake punt pass by second year linebacker DeJae White.

The Spartans went semi-conservative, running five straight times to drain the Wildcats of their timeouts and drain the clock to 1:05 to play. The key play was a pre-snap whistle, where Trent Fraley had a snap infraction to lose five yards on 3^rd-and-7. Pat Fitzgerald, facing a crucial decision, elected to run over a pass.

That decision led to a field goal attempt by Liam Boyd from 33 yards out. Michigan State had the field goal blocked, with a breakdown in the left tackle area of the try.

The Wildcats, without timeouts, were able to execute, driving the ball down the field. Devin Vaught made a touchdown-saving tackle on what may have been an attempt to let the Wildcats score, and one spike later, Northwestern attempted their own field goal from 34 yards out. They got it.

This was a showcase in the difference in execution. The Spartans have seen this play out before, as recently as last week. The defense gets in their own way, and the offense blows up their own plays in the “got to have it scenarios.” In the end, it is a feeling of the “same old Spartans,” a phrase many in Michigan are familiar with.

The worst part on this is that there is no one fix. The culture is a work in progress, with the belief there. At the end of the day, this is a team that has not seen a bowl game in five years, and executed like a team that is not used to being in the scenarios to finish a game.

Defense Stepped Up

Although their last drive was disappointing, the defense was standing tall all day. The Spartans faced an explosive Wildcat offense led by Chiles. They refused to let Northwestern run free. Michigan State football had a showcase game from Dion Crawford, Ben Roberts, Devin Vaught, Anelu Lafaele, and Cam Stodghill. The Spartans combined for 10 tackles for loss on the day.

The Spartans had zero sacks in Big Ten competition heading into the day, and put up five on Saturday. The defense made the Wildcats earn every yard, but ran out of gas near the end. Part of that comes from the lack of rotational options available, as the Spartans were playing super shorthanded.

MSU was down 4 of their top 5 cornerbacks and their top 3 linebackers. At some point, that would catch up with the Spartans. However, it would also be shortsighted to assume that the starting corner unit could shut down Chiles, based on how they played when healthy.

At the end of the day, the defense could only stand on their head for so long until something broke.

“One Play Short”

For the last few years, especially in the Jonathan Smith era, the mantra was “not good enough,” citing the Spartans being a play or two short, giving inches on every play. At the end of the day, however, there was never any one play to cite as the reason Smith’s squad lost.

Saturday marked the second straight game where fans can point at a play and say that was where they fell short.

While it is not comforting as the Spartan losing streak expands to 5 games, the Spartans are knocking on the door. Saturday saw its own breakthroughs, with pressure getting to the quarterback, Bryson Williams getting a touchdown, and Chrishon McCray finally reaching the end zone this year.

The Spartans are on the verge. However, at the end of the day, as Pat Fitzgerald cited post-game, he is paid to win the games, not be one play short.