Michigan State walked into Ann Arbor and turned Michigan’s night into a mess, grinding out a 15-6 win that exposed just how far the Wolverines have fallen in Kyle Whittingham’s first season.
Whittingham said Monday that this game was Michigan State’s Super Bowl, not his. On Saturday, the Spartans made that look right. Michigan State, which entered at 2-6, claimed its first win at The Big House since 2020 and did it with a performance that was ugly, methodical and effective enough to bury a Michigan team that never found its footing.
The matchup featured two of Power 4 college football’s least productive offenses, and for a while it played exactly like that. But Michigan State, not Michigan, eventually found enough rhythm to pull away while the Wolverines kept spinning their wheels.
Michigan’s opening half was a disaster. The Wolverines went three-and-out on three of their first five possessions and threw an interception on another, managing just 78 yards before halftime.
Freshman quarterback Tommy Carr, who had just posted a clean game at Rutgers, opened the night by throwing a pick on his first series while targeting sophomore wide receiver JJ Buchanan. He had more shaky throws after that, with only a few lucky breaks or strong plays from his receivers preventing more damage.
The one steady presence for Michigan was senior running back Bryson Kuzdzal. He accounted for 35 of the Wolverines’ 40 rushing yards in the first half and helped drive the ball to the Spartans’ 8-yard line late in the first quarter.
But that trip ended with nothing on the board. After sophomore kicker Trey Butkowski had been benched for missing four of his last five field-goal attempts, freshman Jacob Baggett clanked his first college kick off the left post, drawing a loud reaction from 110,000 frustrated fans.
Michigan State wasn’t sharp early either, totaling just 44 yards over its first four drives. The Spartans leaned on short throws that Michigan’s secondary shut down or deep shots that sailed incomplete. They finally started to settle in midway through the second quarter, using a short field to get all the way to Michigan’s 3-yard line before offensive pass interference stalled the possession.
Even then, Liam Boyd salvaged points with a chip-shot field goal. Michigan then went three-and-out again, and Michigan State used another short field to set up a second field goal, taking a 6-0 lead into halftime. It was the third straight home game in which Michigan was shut out in the first half.
The Spartans kept control after the break. Their first possession of the third quarter went 79 yards, starting from their own 1-yard line and ending at Michigan’s 20.
Outside of a 10-yard catch by former Michigan receiver Frederick Moore, the drive was built on the run. Michigan State then bled away another 11 minutes before finishing off its third straight scoring drive with a field goal and a 9-0 cushion.
By then, Michigan’s offense was unraveling even further. On its next drive, the Wolverines opened with a run to Kuzdzal, a checkdown and another run to Kuzdzal for a total of five yards. A Spartan illegal substitution briefly extended the possession, but two plays later Kuzdzal fumbled at midfield, handing Michigan State the ball back with a two-score lead at its 33-yard line.
Michigan never recovered. Offensive coordinator Jason Beck moved from the booth to the sideline for the second half, but the offense looked even flatter. Carr threw his second interception in the fourth quarter, and sophomore wide receiver Andrew Marsh added a fumble with just under five minutes remaining, pushing the turnover count to 4-0 in Michigan State’s favor.
Michigan did finally put together a scoring drive in the final two minutes, but the damage was already done. The Wolverines’ 2-point try was blown up in the backfield for a sack, leaving it a two-score game with 90 seconds left.
By the time Michigan State ran out the clock, the result wasn’t a shock. The ugliness of it was.
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