MIchigan State again can’t hang vs. Big Ten foe, will miss bowl after 28-10 loss to Penn State

East Lansing — As Alessio Milivojevic peeled himself slowly off the Spartan Stadium turf, a thicket of Penn State defenders celebrated a sack-fumble, the lone turnover of the day. 

Michigan State was desperate, down 11 with time dwindling. A pair of roughing the passer calls on the two prior plays had moved MSU to the Penn State 20 with a chance to cut into the lead with more than three minutes to play. 

Then a pair of Penn State defenders came through on a rush, upended Milivojevic and dislodged the ball for a game-sealing turnover. 

“Obviously the couple hits, they had two flags pulled on 'em, so we got a big boost for the drive and then they got us with a look at the end and yeah, ended up not our way,” Milivojevic said postgame. “But I've gotta get the ball out faster.” 

As it has for much of this season, the bad outweighed the good for Michigan State (3-7, 0-7 Big Ten) in a 28-10 loss to Penn State (4-6, 1-6), especially on the lines of scrimmage. The offense couldn’t consistently move the ball against a good defensive front, as the run game largely stalled and Milivojevic couldn’t spark anything against PSU’s coverage and pass rush. And against the backdrop of offensive malaise, the MSU defense could only hold on for so long before giving way. The Spartans ultimately couldn’t hang at the line of scrimmage and, as it’s been for most of the season, that left MSU dead in the water against conference competition.

With the loss, MSU has now lost seven in a row, all in conference, after a 3-0 start and will miss a bowl game for the fourth-straight year. 

“We've gotta get better,” Head coach Jonathan Smith said. “We've gotta grow. We've gotta develop. We need another year of development of the current roster and recruiting class to keep this thing getting into a better direction. I'm still confident in our approach. Yeah, this game's not for the shy. This ain't easy. This is a big-time league. It's competitive and tough playing big-time coaches and players week in and week out and we've taken a couple lumps here.

MSU had been in the game prior to the Milivojevic fumble, trailing 14-10 early in the fourth quarter when the Spartans punted to the Nittany Lions. Neither team had scored to that point in the second half, and MSU contentedly played the field position battle with Penn State in game gridlocked at a four-point margin. 

Penn State decided to break the gridlock. 

The Nittany Lions seemed to remember that, despite this being a bitterly disappointing season, they have two great running backs and an offensive line with future NFL players. MSU, despite this being a bitterly disappointing season, doesn’t have the depth of talent Penn State has.

“We're not there yet,” Smith said. “We want to be able to — and again, our defensive side, throughout the night, I thought we played solid defense. Kept us in the game. But they began to lean on it and that's a credit to Penn State. They've got some good backs and a good O line.” 

And so the Nittany Lions embarked on a 13-play, 76 yard scoring drive that was all runs prior to a jet pass to Devonte Ross for a five-yard touchdown. 

And the Nittany Lions didn’t ride a long explosive play to the end zone, instead churning out the long drive without a play longer than 12 yards. The offensive line consistently pushed back the Spartans, and it took gangs of tacklers to ultimately stop Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton. 

“They've got good running backs,” Spartan defensive lineman Alex VanSumeren said. “You've gotta get guys to the ball carrier and get him down. They're hard runners, we knew that going into that. And we just needed to rally more guys to the football. Because they were squeaking yards out after contact.”

Against the Penn State front seven, arguably the most fearsome part of the entire Nittany Lions’ roster, the Spartans offensive line began to falter. 

Michigan State scored a 57-yard touchdown by Elijah Tau-Tolliver on its first play from scrimmage, but otherwise got hemmed in. 

The run game finished with 137 sack-adjusted net yards on 17 carries, good for 8.1 yards a tote. But remove Tau-Tollivers one run for 57 yards and that drops to five yards a carry. 

That, plus adding in five sacks for -36 yards from Milivojevic brings the Spartans net tally on those snaps: 21 plays for 44 yards.

And Milivojevic managed to go 17-for-27 as a passer, but for just 128 yards and no scores as the Penn State coverage — which featured a lot of two-high shell — boxed in the Spartan passing game. 

“We're going to need to find ways to — we have the one explosive run and then yeah, it was pretty slim pickins' as it goes along,” Smith said.

And the futility at the point of attack on offense meant the Spartans needed to lean on the defense to keep them in the game. 

And prior to Penn State’s long scoring drive, the defense did just that. 

MSU forced a three-and-out on the opening possession of the game to set up the offense to get a lead and rarely let a young quarterback in Ethan Grunkemeyer get much going in the passing game. 

We’re it not for a miscommunication between safeties Malik Spencer and Armorion Smith that led to a wide-open 75 yard touchdown for Devonte Ross, the Spartans could’ve led, 10-7, at the half. Even still, 14-10 meant they were right in it. 

“Yeah, I'm proud of the guys fighting,” VanSumeren said.

But with the offense stuck in neutral behind a patchwork offensive line, the defense eventually wore down. 

“It stings not being able to get the job done,” VanSumeren said.

And with the loss, one that means the Spartans will yet again miss out on the postseason and lead to an offseason of soul searching, something that’s been increasingly evident is impossible to deny: Michigan State just can’t hang in the Big Ten right now. 

“We're working to, again, to have some success out there,” Smith said. “And taking some body blows, we'll call it. I know it's not a lack of effort out of this coaching staff and those players in there.”