Michigan State had the game in its hands twice and let it slip away both times, falling 24-21 to Northwestern after a wild finish that turned a one-minute collapse into a brutal loss.
The Spartans built an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter, then watched Northwestern erase it, survive a blocked field goal and march right back down the field for the winner with two seconds left. The ending stung, but this one wasn’t decided in the final minute alone. Michigan State also left points scattered throughout the day, including multiple deep balls that could have changed everything.
The opening stretch was messy on both sides. Michigan State went three-and-out on its first drive, then Northwestern quickly put itself in the red zone after a strip-sack of Alessio Milivojevic. The Spartans kept the Wildcats to a field goal, and after Northwestern recovered an Aidan Chiles fumble, a 39-yard kick gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
Michigan State answered after Kenneth Williams ripped off a strong kick return across midfield. The Spartans converted two fourth downs in the red zone, including one from the three-yard line, and Milivojevic finished the drive himself with a rushing touchdown to make it 7-3 before the first quarter ended.
Northwestern pushed back early in the second. Caleb Komolafe punched in a 10-yard rushing touchdown to put the Wildcats back on top 10-7, and Milivojevic started to settle in with some sharp downfield throws. He connected on a 29-yard pass on the next possession, but also sailed one over a wide-open Rodney Bullard Jr. that would have gone for a 40-yard touchdown.
The Spartans still caught a break when Northwestern dropped a pass in the end zone, forcing a field goal attempt. Eli Coenen got a hand on it and blocked the kick, giving Michigan State a shot to swing the momentum. On the half’s final drive, Bullard couldn’t hang onto a difficult end-zone grab that bounced off his fingertips, but Milivojevic went right back to the same look on the next play and hit Bryson Williams on a back-shoulder catch to put MSU back in front 14-10 at the break.
Neither offense did much in the third quarter, but when Northwestern did get into the red zone, Michigan State’s defense forced another field goal and kept the Spartans ahead 14-13 entering the fourth.
Then Chrishon McCray changed the game. Northwestern’s punt team let him field a kick inside the ten, and McCray turned it into a 41-yard return that set Michigan State up at midfield. Two plays later, Milivojevic found McCray again, this time for a 53-yard touchdown down the middle to stretch the lead to 21-13.
Northwestern answered fast. The Wildcats put together their best drive of the night and finished it with a one-yard touchdown run by Chiles. Then Chiles found Alex Honig for the two-point conversion, tying it at 21 with a little more than seven minutes left.
Michigan State had another chance to bury it, but Milivojevic overthrew Bullard again on a pass that could have been a touchdown. Even then, Northwestern handed the Spartans a gift with a disastrous fake punt call that failed badly and gave MSU the ball at the Wildcats’ 28-yard line. The Spartans were in field-goal range immediately, but Liam Boyd’s 33-yard try with a minute left was blocked.
From there, Northwestern needed less than a minute to cover 64 yards the other way. The Wildcats got into position and won it with a field goal as time dwindled to two seconds.
Michigan State keeps finding ways to put itself in position, but it can’t finish. Milivojevic missed at least three deep throws that should have gone for touchdowns.
Still, there were positives on defense, especially up front, where Ben Roberts and Anelu Lafaele combined for four sacks. The Spartans played well enough to win in stretches on both sides of the ball, but when the game demanded a clean finish, they didn’t have one.
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