Michigan State football offensive PFF grades for Week 10 revealed

On Saturday, Michigan State football came up short in overtime against Minnesota. The Spartans were finished off by the officials after the offensive came alive, but play calling and poor execution made the extra period necessary.

The offense saw a massive shakeup, as Alessio Milivojevic was called upon for his first career start, and the Spartans saw three other week nine starters (Chrishon McCray, Stanton Ramil, and Makhi Frazier) all out with injury.

Who shined and who faltered in the nail biter with the Gophers?

(Note: the week nine PFF grades and snap counts will be posted in a summary article later this week, I was under the weather during the leadup to week ten and never made the articles. Oops!)

Top five offensive Michigan State football grades, week 10

• WR Charles Taplin: 83.5
• QB Alessio Milivojevic: 77.1
• HB Elijah Tau-Tolliver: 75.1
• WR Rod Bullard Jr.: 74.0
• TE Jack Velling: 72.8

Besides Velling, all the names on this list were bench contributors against Michigan. One week later, they are all stars of the offense.

Taplin is boosted by being in for a single snap, where he was targeted and scampered for eight yards on his first career catch. Overall, it was a great concept, and toughness by Alessio Milivojevic for sticking in the pocket with pressure baring down.

Speaking of Milivojevic, full marks for the redshirt freshman in career start number one. He threw for 311 yards and a touchdown, sticking in the pocket and not being daunted by seven sacks, including six first half sacks. The Illinois native becomes the first freshmen to throw for 300 yards without an interception in his first start since Rocky Lombardi did so against Purdue in 2018.

Tau-Tolliver more than doubled his season total for yardage on Saturday, ripping off 127 yards on 11 carries. 85 of those came on one carry, which set up a Brandon Tullis go-ahead touchdown after the two-minute timeout.

Rod Bullard Jr. made his first start with the Spartans on Saturday, replacing McCray. Bullard went for 102 yards and the lone receiving touchdown of the game, a 71-yard house call in MSU’s first drive in the second half. Bullard showed the explosiveness that got him to East Lansing via the portal last year.

Velling had a pair of catches for 28 yards on Saturday, but his blocking, particularly in the second half, earned the senior some praise. It has been a noted struggle of Velling’s game, and this may have been the most complete game of his career. Granted, I am not sure if PFF counted a first-half sack against the senior, as one of the first big hits to Milivojevic appeared to occur from a Velling whiff.

Bottom five offensive Michigan State football grades, week 10

• OL Rakeem Johnson: 56.8
• WR Nick Marsh: 56.5
• OL Gavin Broscious: 55.6
• OL Rustin Young: 54.6
• TE Michael Masunas: 53.6

Unsurprisingly, the offensive line gets hit hard for the bottom rankings. Johnson, Broscious, and Young were all part of a group that got bullied in the first half on Saturday, with at least half of Milivojevic’s six first-half sacks giving the freshman zero time to process or read the field.

Young and Johnson each were in their first handful of starts, and Broscious was a player that was trying to get in rhythm on Saturday off the bench. However, it was not a great look for any of these players. That said, Johnson’s 84.3 pass block grade against the Gophers led the team.

Marsh had a mixed day, with a Milivojevic pass bouncing off his hands for what should have been a touchdown in the first half. He also had another route where a miscommunication should have been another big gain. Marsh also got whistled for a hold for the second away game in a row during a run play, which was on the same drive as the touchdown drop.

Masunas being the lowest rated player is surprising. He played a quiet game, but did not appear off. However, the junior continues to be rated low on PFF. Since his injury, the tight end has not been performing at the same high level with the consistency he had. On the bright side, Masunas gets an extra week to heal up.

The Spartans are on a bye this week, but will be back in action on November 15 against the Penn State Nittany Lions. That game will kick at 3:30 p.m. EST.