Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch grades Michigan State’s football team after its 21-14 loss to Washington on a scale of 1-10.
This grade should probably be an incomplete. Because MSU’s offense was doing well enough before quarterback Alessio Milivojevic went down in the second quarter with an injury. He was 7-for-12 passing for 108 yards and led a touchdown drive to open the game, which including a 30-yard pass to Bryson Williams and a 26-yard completion to Carson Gulker. Without Milivojevic, MSU had some moments offensively with backup Cam Fancher — including a fourth-down touchdown pass to Williams — but also had some moments Fancher and the Spartans would like to have back, including when he threw an interception as he tried to throw away a pass, also injuring himself on the play as he tried to twist out of a tackle.
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MSU ran the ball somewhat effectively, with Brandon Tullis carrying 21 times again for 82 yards. And, overall, out-gained Washington 342 yards to 332. There were times when this was an effective offense, especially with Milivojevic under center. But the penalties, inconsistencies and turnovers left the Spartans sitting at 14 points, which wasn’t enough.
Once MSU’s defense got a handle on Washington, that was it for the Huskies for a long time. Early on, the Spartans looked like they might get gashed all night by quarterback Demond Williams Jr. and receiver Chris Lawson. But after the Huskies’ second touchdown, MSU’s defense pressured Williams and largely contained everything Washington tried to do, holding the Huskies to 41 total yards on their first four second-half drives. The Spartans only recorded one sack — Williams is elusive and good as stepping up and through pressure to gain a couple yards — but if you watched the game, you saw the work that was being done to corral him.
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Washington also was only able to rush for 44 yards on 22 carries. In the end, MSU’s defense needed at least one more stop and gave up a few plays on the final drive that beat them. But this was a strong effort — and could have been a winning effort. This grade would be even better if not for those two early drives and for Kenny Soares Jr.’s roughing the passer penalty, which let Washington’s first drive continue, ending in a touchdown. This might have been a different game without that drive.
Liam Boyd missed his only field goal attempt, wide right from 50 yards out, and that might have been costly. He definitely could have given the Spartans the lead early in the fourth quarter with that kick. Rhys Dakin’s punting average, 39.6, was impacted by one kick especially when he was punting with a short field and trying to pin Washington deep. He got it to the 13-yard line. Not a great punt, but decent enough. Overall, he had three punts inside the 20-yard line. And Washington’s return man muffed one of his punts, with the Spartans’ coverage unit jumping on it. Chrishon McCray had one nice, 16-yard punt return. Zion Gist had a kickoff return that looked promising for a moment, too. There were some good things. But also a block in the back on a kick return that hindered the Spartans’ final drive.
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That MSU’s players keep putting up the fight they do speaks to a strong culture in the building, despite a lot of adversity this season. I think the defensive staff, Joe Rossi on down, have done a particularly good job with this depleted MSU defense, which grew into the game Saturday. Offensively, there were a couple predictable plays near the red zone or at the goal line that involved direct snaps to running backs or tight ends that didn’t work and that you could see coming from eight floors up in the press box. But largely, Nick Sheridan was in a tough spot once Alessio Milivojevic went out and did a decent job getting something out of the Cam Fancher-led offense. That said, the decision to go back to Fancher once he was cleared to return is one that can be fairly questioned. Freshman Kayd Coffman might have been the better choice at the end, but he hadn’t shown much, either.
RELATED: Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State’s 21-14 loss to Washington
The Spartans had a real chance to win this one and could have if they didn’t shoot themselves in the foot with penalties and mistakes, and probably would have if Milivojevic hadn’t been knocked out of the game. MSU might be in grave spot moving forward — probably without its quarterback, with a short week to prepare for a visiting Oregon team that’s found its mojo again. The Spartans haven’t had a game get ugly on them since their trip to Wisconsin. This next one, on Friday night, has the makings of a tough night.
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X at Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU football grades for the Spartans’ performance against Washington
