Michigan State’s problem on offense has a name now, and Pat Fitzgerald spelled it out plainly after Monday’s practice.
MOBP.
“Missed opportunities for big plays,” Fitzgerald said Monday, Oct. 19.
That’s the issue hanging over the Spartans as they head into Saturday’s game at the Rose Bowl against 10th-ranked UCLA. Michigan State is 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten, stuck in a five-game skid and still searching for its first conference win. The matchup is set for 3:30 p.m. on CBS.
A week after a 24-21 loss to Northwestern, Fitzgerald offered a mixed review of quarterback Alessio Milivojevic. The third-year sophomore piled up 216 passing yards on 19 completions in 30 attempts and was responsible for all three Michigan State scores, including two touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown.
Two of those plays stood out. Milivojevic dropped a perfect deep ball to Chrishon McCray for a 53-yard touchdown on a one-on-one post route in the fourth quarter, then found redshirt freshman Bryson Williams for a 32-yard score to finish a hurry-up drive right before halftime. It was Williams’ first career touchdown.
But the misses mattered too. Milivojevic twice failed to hit a wide-open Rodney Bullard Jr., and Fitzgerald said there were two other times when the quarterback passed on throws to open receivers entirely. One of those came in the first quarter, when Bullard had broken free deep and the sequence ended with Milivojevic losing a fumble on the Spartans’ lone sack allowed in the game.
“This is what happens with the quarterback,” Fitzgerald said. “You get the blame and you get the credit.”
Milivojevic’s season numbers show a quarterback doing enough to keep Michigan State in games, but not enough to erase the blemishes. He ranks 16th among Big Ten quarterbacks in passing yards with 1,198, or 180.4 per game, and his passer efficiency rating is 132.
His seven touchdown passes put him 15th in the league, while his three interceptions are tied for sixth-best among starters. His 65.4% completion rate ranks eighth.
Now 11 straight starts into his MSU career, Milivojevic says he knows what the missed chances cost.
“When he’s that open, all you gotta do is just give him a chance to go make a play,” he said Saturday of the throws to Bullard. “And that’s what I have to do better. … Those two throws, you just gotta put it on his body - obviously two I want back.
“But I’m always gonna play with confidence, that’s just the type of player I am.”
Fitzgerald said the Spartans still trust their quarterback, even with the frustration piled on by another close loss. Milivojevic is 3-8 as a starter going back to the final four games of last season and has not won a road game in four tries.
“We’ve got great confidence in ’Less and belief in him,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s a heck of a leader.
… But the hallmark of really good quarterbacks and really good coaches and really good programs is you win. And when you don’t, the criticism is fitting.”
UCLA arrives with a different kind of momentum. The Bruins, coached by first-year boss Bob Chesney, beat Wisconsin 17-7 on Saturday night and have won two straight since Nico Iamaleava went down with a season-ending knee injury.
Ty Dieffenbach filled in against Wisconsin and completed 22 of 33 passes for 264 yards with an interception on an end-of-half Hail Mary, but no touchdowns. A week earlier, the Cal Poly transfer made his UCLA debut by going 3-for-6 and throwing the game-winning touchdown to running back Wayne Knight in a 17-15 road win at Oregon.
Fitzgerald sees enough similarities between Dieffenbach and Iamaleava to understand the challenge ahead.
“A similar skill set [to Iamaleava],” Fitzgerald said of Dieffenbach. “Not the exact same skill set, but similar ability to extend the play.
You can tell they have complete trust and confidence in his arm. I mean, he can really rip it.
Really impressive.
“And then you couple that with their skill. I mean, their offensive skill is as good as we’ve seen all year. It’s every bit as good, if not better, than the skill we saw at Notre Dame on tape.”
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