The Good, Bad, and Ugly from Michigan State Football’s Overtime Loss to Illinois

Michigan State football entered Saturday needing to fight back into respectability with a win over Illinois for homecoming. Although the Spartans could not add to their win column, their second half rally showed fans a glimpse into the grit of Pat Fitzgerald’s team.

The Spartans lost in devastating fashion in overtime, 38-37, after a failed two point conversion in overtime.

Here is the good, bad, and ugly from the contest.

The Good

Second Half Rally

The Spartans came out of the locker room on fire, pushing to midfield, but a Brennan Parachek fumble resulted in Illinois stretching their advantage to 16 points. The Spartans, courtesy of a Devin Vaught interception and multiple defensive stops, rallied.

For the first time since 2021, Michigan State football rallied to tie a game or outright lead from being down 16 points in the second half. That rally was last matched in the famous 2021 MSU vs. Michigan contest.

Fredrick Moore, Chrishon McCray, Vaught, Jaziun Patterson, Alessio Milivojevic, and Jayden Savoury all fought their way back into the game.

Offensive Line Play

For the first time since Cam Edwards’s season was declared over, the Spartans showed a strong run game. Jaziun Patterson rushed for 92 yards, with his last 15 carries all being gains of over three yards or touchdowns. That is a pretty good stat to have.

Patterson finally broke a big run after being on the cusp of one all season, and it paid off during the rally.

On the passing front, Milivojevic was sacked twice, on the first and last plays of regulation. The first, a flea flicker, was a ball the quarterback admitted he should’ve released. The second was an end of game situation where the goal is a throw with a wide open receiver or eat the ball and avoid a turnover. That does not fall on the offensive line.

The Bad

Defensive Back Play

The Spartans are saved from this being in the ugly category due the sheer number of injuries they faced. MSU went from 11 years in college at corner between Tre Bell and Charles Brantley into 16 months of college between their outside corners with KJ Deriso and Jeremiah Favorite in a span of one half of football.

Brantley and Bell did not have a strong game by any means, and Favorite added a pass breakup. It was a rough day for the corners, as can be assessed when a team throws for over 300 yards. Devin Vaught’s interception and the account of injuries save the group from harsher judgement.

Pass Rush Struggles

The Spartans remain at only one sack in their last four games. This is an ugly stat, but it only falls into the “bad” category when you factor in Mikeshun Beeler’s pressure in the third quarter resulted in an interception.

The Spartans also forced a field goal via Kenny Soares and Mikeshun Beeler providing pressure to end the first half. There was pressure getting home, even rushing four players, but the lack of sacks is an alarming stat. It forced a telegraphed nickel blitz on the opening defensive play of overtime that wound up being the difference.

The Ugly

Discipline

The Spartans committed nine penalties on the day after only one in Wisconsin. Those calls flipped the game, with critical situations resulting in calls against the Spartans, such as a fourth down false start, an onside kick offsides (which was completely wrong, with video review), and a block in the back on a touchdown.

Regardless of the “ref ball” going on, the Spartans opened themselves up for bad calls with bad discipline. It hurt the Spartans and was something they could ill afford after a sloppy start.

Slow Start

Speaking of the slow start, it was an atrocious beginning for Michigan State football. By the time of their first first down, at 8:07 left in the second quarter, Illinois had 17 points and 14 first downs. They had more first downs than the Spartans had points.

Since starting conference play, the Spartans have trailed by two possessions during the first quarter in every contest. That is a horrid mark that rarely results in winning games in a premier conference like the Big Ten.

Injuries

At the rate injuries are piling up, the Buick Challenge is going to turn into a team draft between the third- and fourth quarter for the Spartans. Michigan State football lost their top three healthy linebackers during the contest, with Jordan Hall and Brady Pretzlaff each exiting before the first quarter ended. Dion Crawford would join them on the bench in the third quarter after a hard late hit that went uncalled.

Not to be outdone, the already depleted corner room took another hard hit with Tre Bell and Charles Brantley each exiting with injury and not returning.

Run blocking tight end Brennan Parachek took a hard hit in the third quarter and fumbled, resulting in a reduced “pitch count” for the rest of the contest, too.

Overtime Play Calls

The game ended in overtime for the Spartans, and it was self-inflicted. While the aforementioned factors had already hurt Michigan State football, the overtime calls finished them off.

On the first play of overtime on defense, Michael Richard badly telegraphed a blitz, and it resulted in freshman quarterback Michael Clayton II finding his “hot” receiver on a slant for an easy 25-yard touchdown.

The Spartans drove down their short field to score and went for two points. The Spartans sent out Marvis Parrish, taking out Jaziun Patterson on the call. Parrish had barely touched the ball all game, while Patterson was the hot hand. It was a direct snap to Parrish, with Milivojevic motioned out wide. The quarterback swept into the play and had less than 2 seconds to set his feet and throw.

Illinois had an edge blow the play up, with Brennan Parachek and Jayden Savoury both avoiding contact with the blitzer. It resulted in a panic throw to Savoury that was behind the line of scrimmage.

That enabled Savoury to get hit a half beat before the ball arrived without penalty and see the ball fall to the ground to ultimately sink the Spartans.