CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Michigan State fell to Illinois 38-16 on Saturday afternoon, but the Spartans battled hard in the beginning.
The Spartans trusted their defense to start the game off, and it paid dividends as they forced a quick three and out for Illinois. The turnover bug for sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles almost came back. Chiles took off for a quarterback run and the ball was punched out, but his knee was down.
On a three-play drive, the Fighting Illini exposed the weakened cornerback room, without redshirt junior defensive back Charles Brantley and junior defensive back Malik Spencer. Illinois senior wide receiver Pat Bryant was hit in stride for a touchdown with 10 minutes to go in the first, which made it 7-0.
“Not ideal right?” MSU head coach Jonathan Smith said. “I did think we got some good snaps out of some of those guys in the back end today. I don’t think we wholesale changed our defense because of those, we had some confidence in the guys in the back room.”
On the next play, Chiles found wide-open freshman wide receiver Aziah Johnson for a 52-yard touchdown. Sixth-year kicker Jonathan Kim missed his first extra-point-attempt of the year in shocking fashion. The Spartans trailed 7-6.
Illinois junior quarterback Luke Altmyer found junior wide receiver Alexander Capka-Jones for a 16-yard completion on third down, which put Illinois at the Spartan 26-yard line.
Illinois head coach Bret Bielema used his running backs to close the deal, and
junior running back Josh McCray converted for an 11-yard touchdown. That extended the lead 14-6 with about a minute left in the first quarter.
The Spartans started the second quarter with possession, and Illinois stacked the box against sixth-year running back Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams. Chiles on third down threw to Lynch-Adams on the check down, which was swallowed up by the Illinois front seven.
“He was getting pressured too much,” Smith said. “Some of that was off a four man rush, we were holding the ball a little bit too much. We have to get open quicker, some separation needs to take place.”
The MSU defense could not put a halt to the Illinois offense, with Altmyer leading the way for a nearly six-minute touchdown drive.
Altmyer hurried his offense in a no-huddle situation and completed a short pass to senior wide receiver Zakhari Franklin with a toe-tap play.
With two minutes to go in the first half, MSU came out aggressively, trying to score a touchdown before the break. MSU used its dynamic quarterback to gain lots of yardage, with a no-huddle 19-yard run and a 15-yard pass to freshman wide receiver Nick Marsh, but the Spartans settled for a 38-yard Kim field goal.
The Spartans opened up the second with a huge play to redshirt senior wide receiver Montorie Foster Jr., who converted his 99th catch of his career for a 17-yard gain.
MSU rallied down the field to put itself back in it with many key passes to Foster Jr., Chiles converted on a fourth down opportunity for a five-yard touchdown pass to redshirt junior running back Nate Carter. The Spartans capitalized on the 10 play drive and got back in the game 21-16.
Redshirt senior linebacker Jordan Turner rushed Altmyer quickly for his eighth tackle for loss on the season. The Spartans forced a third-down try for Illinois, but Altmyer had different plans. He used his legs to complete a pass to Franklin for a seven-yard completion. MSU’s defense stopped Illinois to three points, which kept the Spartans in the game down 24-16.
Altmyer used his legs and completed a 32-yard play to Bryant which extended the sticks with just nine minutes left in play time.
After a couple of short throws, Altmyer completed a pass to McCray and scored his second touchdown of the game, extending Illinois’ lead to 31-16.
To close out the game, MSU started out in a no-huddle situation, trying to gain mass yardage downfield quickly. The Spartans did gain a first down, but three penalties ruined any chance to score on their final drive.
The Spartans have fallen to 4-6 on the season. This ultimately makes their bowl game chances more difficult with just two more games left in their regular season.
“The track record of this group is that they will bounce back,” Smith said.
MSU is headed back to East Lansing to take on Purdue on Nov. 22 at Spartan Stadium with kick off set for 8 p.m.. Tune into the live radio broadcast featuring Oscar Henderson and Joe Dez locally on 88.9 FM or at impact89fm.org/listen-live/
