Pat Fitzgerald walked away from Saturday night convinced Michigan State had stolen the kind of special-teams moment that can flip a game in an instant. Instead, the Spartans got a flag, a long review, and a ruling that turned a successful-looking onside kick into a second attempt in their 38-37 overtime loss to Illinois at Spartan Stadium.
The play came with Michigan State trailing by a touchdown and 7:47 left in the fourth quarter. Liam Boyd lofted the onside kick toward the visiting sideline, and freshman wide receiver Samson Gash slipped around Illinois’ return team to make what appeared to be a clean recovery.
Fans in green and white reacted like the break had arrived. Even the video board kept replaying the sequence in slow motion and still images.
Officials did not see it that way. A flag was thrown immediately, with Gash ruled offsides, and after a drawn-out, multi-stage review, Michigan State was forced to re-kick. The Spartans never got the reward they thought they had earned.
Fitzgerald was visibly agitated during the review, arguing the call forcefully from the sideline as the stadium display seemed to support Michigan State’s view of the play. Afterward, he said he planned to take his concerns straight to Big Ten officiating leadership.
"My vantage point, we were not offsides," Fitzgerald said. "My vantage point, we recovered the ball. My vantage point is that it was one the more confusing plays I've ever seen officiated."
He also said the officials told him the onside kick itself could not be reviewed.
"I was told that you couldn't review the onside kick. Couldn't review being onside on the kick, is what they told me," he said.
The officiating crew initially appeared to be checking whether Gash had secured the ball in bounds. Later, the head official told the crowd there was "additional video" to examine.
In the end, though, the offsides penalty stood, and Michigan State had to kick again. Boyd sent that second try deep.
Fitzgerald said the design came from special teams coordinator LeVar Woods, who has built a reputation for sharp special-teams work during his long run at Iowa, his alma mater. The Spartans had been holding the play back until the right moment, and Fitzgerald said they believed they executed it exactly as intended.
"Just really good execution by Liam and Samson," Fitzgerald said. "It's just how you dial it up.
Perfect. Gotta use every blade of grass on that play, we used every blade of grass.
The coaching point is to make sure you're onside. We were onside, not offsides.
That is what it is."
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Michigan State Fans Had One Breaking Point With Officials Vs Illinois
Michigan States frustration with the officials reached a boiling point late in the game against Illinois, when freshman receiver Samson Gash appeared to come up with an onside kick recovery only for the play to be wiped away by an offsides call. The ruling set off a strong reaction from coach Pat Fitzgerald, who made his feelings clear on the sideline as the Spartans felt another key moment had gone against them.
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Michigan State came up just short in a homecoming thriller against Illinois, falling 38-37 in overtime after a game that tested the Spartans in just about every way. Even with a difficult first half and multiple injuries slowing them down, the Spartans found a way to rally and drag the game into extra time, showing enough grit to keep the crowd engaged deep into the afternoon.
Pat Fitzgerald credited the teams resilience, but the finish left the Spartans with another frustrating lesson about execution in key moments. The decisive sequence came down to a two-point conversion try that would have won it, and the miss left Michigan State searching again for the cleaner play it could have used to turn a hard-fought comeback into a much-needed victory. [Read more 🡒]