Northwestern walked out of East Lansing with a win that had just about everything jammed into the final quarter.
The No. 25 Wildcats erased an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit and stunned Michigan State 24-21 on Saturday, surviving a frantic finish against the Spartans and former coach Pat Fitzgerald. The result pushed Northwestern to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play, while Michigan State fell to 2-5 and 0-4 in the conference.
The game turned into a showcase of chaos over the last 15 minutes. Michigan State grabbed a 21-13 lead just over three minutes into the fourth quarter when quarterback Alessio Milivojevic hit Chrishon McCray on a 53-yard touchdown pass. Northwestern answered with a touchdown of its own, then added a two-point conversion to tie things up.
Even then, the Wildcats were not exactly in control. Head coach David Braun called a fake punt from his own 28-yard line on fourth-and-8 with less than four minutes left, a gamble that nearly blew up the comeback. But Northwestern got another break when a Michigan State field goal was blocked with one minute left in regulation.
That set up the finish. The Wildcats moved 64 yards and got a 34-yard field goal to go through with two seconds left, sealing the road win.
The victory gave Northwestern its best start since 2020 and kept the program in the mix as a dark-horse College Football Playoff candidate. ESPN’s Football Power Index had the Wildcats at 14.6 percent odds to make the CFP entering Saturday, seventh-best in the Big Ten.
Northwestern now heads into a stretch that could define the rest of its season. After hosting Rutgers in Week 8, the Wildcats face a three-game run that starts on Halloween at Oregon, then continues against No.
17 Iowa and No. 4 Ohio State.
Ohio State may be without starting quarterback Julian Sayin after he suffered a shoulder injury in Saturday’s win at No. 5 Indiana.
The path is right there for Northwestern to make noise in the second half. After this one, the rest of college football has been put on notice.
In Other News...
Michigan State Has 3 Big Roster Questions Against UConn
Michigan State gets a useful early measuring stick when it hosts UConn at Breslin Center in a preseason exhibition, and the Spartans have a few roster questions worth watching long before the games count. Freshman center Ethan Taylor, sophomore Cam Ward and freshman two-guard Jasiah Jervis all stand out as players who could shape how this team looks once the 2026-27 season arrives, with each bringing a different kind of intrigue after what they have already shown.
For Tom Izzo, this is less about the final score than about what the rotation starts to reveal. Taylors presence inside, Wards sophomore leap and Jervis fit on the perimeter all give Michigan State something to evaluate against a high-level opponent, and UConn should provide a real stress test for where those pieces stand. The Spartans will leave the exhibition with answers, but probably not all of them. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State May Finally Have The Defensive Front Fans Wanted
Michigan States defensive front looked more like the unit fans had been waiting for in the win over Northwestern, with several players drawing strong Pro Football Focus grades and the group showing the kind of disruption that had been missing at times earlier in the season. Under recently hired coach Winston DeLattiboudere, the line has taken noticeable steps forward, and the Spartans are seeing a blend of veteran presence and younger pieces start to come together.
What makes the performance matter is that it did not feel like a one-game outlier so much as another sign of a room that is being developed the right way. The staff has been encouraged by the progress up front, and with that mix of experience and growth, Michigan State may be closer to having the defensive line it has been trying to build for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Has One Costly Problem It Can't Keep Wasting
Alessio Milivojevic gave Michigan State a little bit of everything in the loss to Northwestern, and that has become part of the problem for a team trying to stop the slide. Pat Fitzgerald pointed to the quarterbacks touchdown passes as proof the offense can still find answers, but he also noted the missed opportunities that left the Spartans with too much wasted potential in a game they needed to squeeze for everything it was worth.
Now comes UCLA, a matchup that adds another layer of uncertainty with backup Ty Dieffenbach having recently started because of an injury to the Bruins starter. Fitzgerald offered his read on both quarterbacks as Michigan State turns the page, but the larger issue remains the same: the Spartans cannot keep letting usable chances slip away and expect a losing streak to sort itself out. [Read more 🡒]