Fantastic, Functional, Forgettable: Kuzdzal's strong outing, Labas-Beamon clicking, MSU making wrong kind of history

The penultimate Saturday came and went, with plenty to take away from it all, from MSU losing in heartbreaking, maddening fashion yet again to Michigan finding its groove and rolling up Maryland. 

Earlier in the week, Western Michigan and Central Michigan both went on the road and took care of business as road favorites to keep their respective MAC title hopes on track. 

Lots of good, lots of bad and plenty in between to dig into before the final week of the regular season. 

Let’s dig in. 

Fantastic

Western Michigan’s OL and run game: The Broncos bounced back from a slow start to mash Northern Illinois on Tuesday night to the tune of 361 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, on 6.1 yards per carry. WMU attempted nine passes and put up 5.8 yards per play. And that’s in large part because the offensive line began paving the way at a high level. 

The group has grown throughout the season and been at the core of Western Michigan’s run-first offensive attack, but played probably the best game of their season in Dekalb on Tuesday. And behind that group up front, the Broncos had three rushers go for more than 100 yards. Quarterback Broc Lowry went for 100 yards and a career-high three touchdowns while tailbacks Devin Miles (105 yards) and Jalen Buckley (133 yards, two touchdowns) rounded out the dominant rushing attack.

Michael Heldman: Last week it was linebackers Dakota Cochran and Jordan Kwiatkowski getting some love as Central Michigan’s defense continued a stalwart stretch of play to end the season. And while Kwiatkowski and Cochran could’ve gotten some love again this week, Heldman could’ve gotten it for his performance against Buffalo. Either way, the Chippewas’ senior defensive lineman has been a force to be reckoned with of late. 

He’s got 9.5 sacks on the season, tied for 10th nationally (with Michigan’s Derrick Moore), and has been one of the most productive edge rushers in the MAC. And Heldman’s been especially dominant of late, with four sacks across his last two games and countless other snaps of quarterback disruption. Head coach Matt Drinkall said a few weeks ago that he thinks Heldman is a future NFL player, and his recent run of play is bearing that out. 

Michigan State’s defense for 57 minutes: With more than 57 minutes of game clock elapsed, Michigan State’s defense had allowed 206 total yards and three points to the Iowa offense. The lone Iowa touchdown came on a punt return TD. And with the defense keeping the Hawkeyes at bay, Michigan State got up 17-10 and looked poised to get its first conference win of the year. 

Michigan State held the Hawkeyes to a pitiful third down conversion rate, didn’t let quarterback Mark Gronowski get out and run much, and created a couple turnovers after largely failing to turn over the opposing offense. It was another effort that gave Michigan State every chance to win the game, right up until the last two Iowa drives to snatch a victory from the Spartans in heartbreaking fashion. And those 57 minutes of great defense weren’t a flash in the pan, but they won’t matter much until the final three minutes show up, too.

Bryson Kuzdzal: Michigan needed a strong relief inning from Kuzdzal with Justice Haynes already out and Jordan Marshall dressing but not playing against Maryland on Saturday. And Kuzdzal delivered, carrying 20 times for 100 yards and three touchdowns, all career highs. He helped pace a Michigan rushing attack that went for more than 200 yards in the win. 

Tailback Jasper Parker got a touchdown, too, and Tomas O’Meara finished the game with some strong running to go over 70 yards. Michigan’s depth showed up against the Terrapins. And that’s a welcome sign. But against Ohio State next Saturday, Michigan will likely need Marshall back in the lineup for maximum effect. 

The Game with stakes: The nature of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is that it will always be high stakes. This rivalry precludes a down year for either team diffusing the potent distaste among fans on either side. Michigan being 6-5 entering The Game last year didn’t lessen how much Ohio State wanted to win. But it did mean not quite as much rode on the outcome. 

This year, it’s back to a familiar scenario: Hated rivals, lots on the line. Ohio State is trying to flip the script after four-straight losses to Michigan, go undefeated and cruise into the Big Ten title game for a matchup against Indiana, in all likelihood. Michigan is playing to make a case as a bubble College Football Playoff team and have a backdoor path to make the Big Ten title game (with some help elsewhere in the league). So on top of the very real rivalry that will always make this game a cauldron of dislike, there are real stakes at play on Saturday in Ann Arbor.

Functional

Alessio Milivojevic: The young quarterback has yet to record a win as a starter in three tries, but that’s not due to his play lacking, really. Milivojevic has stepped in and managed to breathe a bit of life into the MSU passing game while getting beat up behind a bad offensive line. He tossed two touchdowns and completed 60% of his passes Saturday and gave the Spartans a chance to win. 

He did throw an interception, and there’s obviously plenty of room for him to keep growing, but he’s been a solid presence under center for the Spartans since stepping in. And after two of his three starts were lost by three points after giving up a score at the end of regulation to for the opponent to either win or force overtime, it would be some just karma for Milivojevic to lead the Spartans to a win over Maryland to end the year. 

Bryce Underwood: Underwood tried to throw a pick six early on but the defender dropped a throw that sailed over Donaven McCulley, one where Underwood sidearm whipped the throw on an unsteady platform outside of the pocket. Outside of that, the Michigan quarterback picked up where he left off from the first half of the Northwestern game.

Underwood is showing touch and control as a passer from the pocket and is blending his strides as a thrower with a growing feel for the pocket. It was just a bit of a low-volume, low-stress day for him and the passing offense. He managed to avoid the crushing mistake in the penultimate game of the weekend, but he’ll have little to no margin for error this coming weekend. All-in-all, it was a performance that got the job done and showed more and more promise for the near and long-term future. 

Michigan’s defense: The Wolverines were down a few notable defenders like Ernest Hausmann, but the general output was good once more, holding the Terrapins to 20 points and making true freshman quarterback Malik Washington look generally pedestrian. Where Underwood nearly threw a pick, Mason Curtis did pick off Washington. And while the Terrapins hit some throws down the field, the Michigan secondary played well.

Zeke Berry had one of his best games of the season, highlighted by a nice trail technique pass breakup in solo coverage on a deep post, timing his leap perfectly to knock the pass away. It wasn’t a fully dominant, smothering performance as Maryland managed to move the ball some and took a 7-0 lead on the opening possession. But Michigan’s defense did what it’s quietly done most of this season: Make things really difficult for opposing offenses. 

The Joe Labas-Marcus Beamon QB duo: Central Michigan started the season planning to play three quarterbacks in Labas along with Angel Flores and Jadyn Glasser. Glasser needed knee surgery in October so it fell to Labas and Flores. Then Flores got hurt and Marcus Beamon, a JUCO transfer who sat out the first eight games to redshirt, was called upon. 

And Beamon has been good for the Chippewas in the three games he’s played. He threw a touchdown on his first career FBS pass attempt in a loss to Western Michigan and has shown improving ability as a runner in a changeup role to Labas as he gets more and more snaps. And Labas has continued to be a crisp and effective passer for the Chippewas, but needs to cut back on interceptions that have shown up of late, with four in his last three games. 

Jack Velling: It’s been a long road for Velling since coming to East Lansing with Jonathan Smith from Oregon State. And the senior tight end finally got to have a game where he produced at a high level, taking eight catches for 88 yards against the Hawkeyes. Velling quickly became apparent as a preferred target for Milivojevic and the duo connected throughout the game on short and intermediate passes to keep the sticks moving. 

And for Velling to have this sort of performance is a big pay off for a player who suffered a serious injury late last season and got slowed at the start of this year by an injury in camp. He’s winding down his college career in these few weeks, but Velling offered a reminder that he’s still got some juice as a pass catching option. 

Forgettable

Michigan State’s punt coverage: This is as much on the players on the field as the coaches throughout the week. Iowa’s Kaden Wetjen is one if not the best punt returner in the country and the Spartans learned that quickly as he nearly housed his first return, only to be shoved out of bounds near midfield by Ryan Eckley. Shortly thereafter, Eckley booted deep from his own end zone and Wetjen fielded a punt around midfield before slicing and dicing his way through the MSU coverage unit for a touchdown. 

It proved to be a decisive moment in a game that ended 20-17 as Iowa kicked a walk-off field goal. Iowa’s game-tying touchdown also got set up by a 40-yard Wetjen punt return. It got so bad that the Spartans reverted to quick-kicking with Milivojevic so Iowa wouldn’t have someone deep. Against one of the best punt return units in the country, the Spartans either planned poorly or did not execute, and it was a major reason that cost MSU a win. 

Michigan State’s run game: The Spartans have been fueled by long run plays to mask an otherwise paltry rushing attack of late. Elijah Tau-Tolliver has ripped off a series of long runs, going for massive chunks vs. Minnesota and Penn State and ripping off a 35 yarder against the Hawkeyes. But outside of three long carries in the last three games, Michigan State’s rushing attack has been largely a non-factor. 

Taking out Tau-Tolliver’s long runs against Minnesota, Penn State and Iowa and the sacks and yardage from Milivojevic, MSU has carried 73 times for 269 yards in the last three games. That’s 3.7 yards per carry. And while those Tau-Tolliver long runs do count and have helped, the lack of down-to-down success for the MSU running game behind a subpar offensive line has continually made life hard on this offense. 

Central Michigan’s punt coverage: This did not cost the Chippewas quite like it did MSU, but the punt coverage still bears some attention after giving up a series of long returns to Kent State. The first helped set up a Kent State field goal and a punt return touchdown in the second half ended up being Kent State’s first touchdown until a last-gasp score while down 28-9. 

Special teams has generally been a strength for this CMU team as Cade Graham and Declan Duley have been solid kicking and punting, respectively, and the coverage remains solid. But Wednesday at Kent State raised some alarm bells as the Chippewas had some sloppy coverage that let the Golden Flashes get out for dangerous returns. 

Western Michigan’s start: The Huskies jumped on the Broncos, converting some key downs on an opening drive before ripping off a long touchdown run through the middle to take a 7-0 lead. Then the Broncos threw an interception on a tipped ball on the first offensive play. The defense managed to hold, but it was 10-0 rapidly. Some more lackluster offensive play had NIU leading 13-0 early in the second quarter. 

The Broncos never panicked and found their level, mashing through the Huskies to win, 35-19 after reeling off five touchdowns unanswered. But the Broncos managed to play out of the early hole against a team that is one of the worst in the MAC. For a team a win away from making the conference title game, and surely with designs to win it with a berth, it can’t afford another sleepwalking start. 

The last time MSU didn’t win a Big Ten game: This is being very literal, as it was 1958. Many of us do not remember it because we weren’t alive, and plenty of people who were probably don’t recall it that readily. But 1958 under Duffy Daughertry was the last time the Spartans did what they’re in danger of doing this year: Failing to beat a Big Ten opponent. 

That year, MSU played just six conference games and went 0-5-1. They at least managed to tie vs. Michigan before falling to 0-5 in the remaining conference games. And in a twist of irony tying that Spartan team to this one, Daugherty’s 1958 squad also went 3-0 in non-conference play as the 2025 Spartans did. A loss to Maryland this upcoming Saturday, what would be a ninth-straight for Smith and Co., would land the 2025 Michigan State team in some ignominious company.