IOWA CITY, IA– Michigan State finally looked primed to end its losing streak, both for this campaign and the road game skid dating back to last season against Maryland. The offense found a few second-half breakthroughs built on the back of a stout defense. However, the Spartans’ inability to finish and tendency to collapse reared its head in an ugly finish. Iowa took full advantage of the Spartan miscues as the Hawkeyes came away with a 20-17 senior night win.
“Painful, really, for our guys, the amount of work they continue to put in and play with competitive character, it is tough, there’s no other way to say it,” MSU head coach Jonathan Smith said. “Give credit to Iowa, they beat us, made one more play than we did at the end, so I give them credit.”
In true Kinnick Stadium fashion, the first half was defined by stout defense and impactful special teams plays. The squads traded punts for the game’s first four possessions, with both defenses setting the tone early. Graduate quarterback Mark Gronowski felt the heat on UI’s second possession with senior defensive lineman Ru’quan Buckley bringing him down.
He was only pressured twice with three sacks, but the defense came up with seven tackles for loss. While the Spartan pass rush found a little spark, Gronowski was his own worst enemy with his first completion coming with just over two minutes left in the second quarter, finishing the half with 24 passing yards.
MSU defensive back Malik Spencer was actually the first player to get his hands on a Gronowski throw. He came away with the Spartans first interception since the Nebraska game one play after a 45-yard punt return by graduate wide receiver Kaden Wetjen. However, an MSU three and out gave the ball right back to the Hawkeyes with Wetjen on a mission.
He easily dusted the initial Spartans punt coverage and shedded ankle tackles from junior punter Ryan Eckley and senior defensive back Armorion Smith for the 62-yard house call. The MSU defense, playing with great intensity out of the gates again, get put behind with a struggling offense unable to back them up.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic did lead an effective drive in the second quarter, with tight ends senior Jack Velling and junior Micheal Masunas getting open with short routes in the flat. This scheme got the duo 135 yards in the passing game and Velling led the way with eight catches on nine targets.
“They played great, even Jay [Coyne] got a little catch in there, those guys played great,” Milivojevic said. “They put in the work all week and they produced today really well.”
Masunas ultimately hauled in a 20-yard completion on a wheel route down to the UI five-yard line, but the 14-play possession stalled with the Hawkeye pressure. This was the case all day with Milivojevic getting hurried nine times, plus two sacks, with senior linebacker Karson Sharar becoming a wrecking ball. He came away with three tackles for loss for 18 total lost yards and was UI’s tackle leader at 10.
MSU only came away with a 27-yard field goal with the 7-3 score holding into the locker rooms. Milivojevic was intercepted by sophomore defensive back Zach Lutmer with a few seconds left, but senior kicker Drew Stevens went wide left on a 53-yard attempt. The Spartans out-gained the Hawkeyes in the first half with 177 yards to 101, but the explosive punt return was the difference through 30 minutes.
The defensive brawl got uglier for UI out of the break with another Gronowski turnover on their first chance with the ball. This time, graduate defensive lineman Quindarius Dunnigan jarred the ball loose on a strip sack and junior linebacker Jordan Hall pounced on it at the Hawkeye 38-yard line.
“We have a great leader in Coach [Joe] Rossi on defense, we had a great week of practice all week, and we just love each other,” Hall said. “We’re all frustrated and we all wanted to get this one, we all just wanted to play together and just have fun and let it loose and I think we did it today.”
Just two plays later, junior wide receiver Chrishon McCray re-emerged by securing a 45-yard rocket from Milivojevic for the touchdown and the lead. The Spartan offense, suddenly ignited by the defensive effort, got the ball back quickly and finally broke through on an 11-play scoring drive. Sophomore running back Brandon Tullis ripped off 35 yards to the right side to set up another first and goal.
“Competitive character, I talk about a lot of those guys in the locker room, and that’s definitely Alessio,” Smith said. “On the road, communication, standing in, that’s a good defense schematically, they challenged him, keeps getting up and throwing strikes he gives us a chance.”
This time on third down, Milivojevic cashed in with a blitz in his face as McCray came down with the fade route in the endzone. The two touchdown throws highlighted Milivojevic’s day through the air, with 255 yards on 25-42 completions.
“It was a zero blitz, you know he [McCray] was one on one and I trusted him to go make a play,” Milivojevic said. “That’s exactly what he did, all you gotta do is just put it up there for him and he’s gonna do the rest.”
McCray put on his best performance of the season with two touchdowns and 75 yards on six catches, giving MSU their first multiple-score lead since Youngstown State. The Spartans took full control and suffocated the Hawkeye attack. On a few occasions, boos even rained down from the frustrated home crowd.
In the game’s final frame, though, the Spartans’ hopes of a road win all came crashing down. The offense completely stalled after finding success in the third quarter, only managing a single first down and 26 total yards when they needed to find the finish line. The defense, after allowing a field goal at the start of the quarter and nothing else, even forced a Gronowski overthrow on a massive fourth down in MSU territory.
“They tightened some things up, it wasn’t like we were just handing it off the whole time, we were still trying to make some throws,” Smith said. “Need to gain first downs to keep the thing going, especially with the way the defense was playing. I don’t know what else to dive in, we gotta make some plays, gotta execute better to finish the game.”
This gave the Spartans the ball back up seven with 3:50 left in the game but the ensuing possession and punt attempt became disastrous. Eckley, attempting to kick the ball out of bounds, could not fully execute the kick and Wetjen smelled blood in the water. He made another massive play on a return, getting the Hawkeyes back in plus territory to the MSU 42 yard line.
Wetjen in special teams was UI’s ultimate weapon with 147 yards on three punt returns, putting the Hawkeyes ahead early and creating the game-tying opportunity. This was despite an express effort to get away from Wetjen or throw him off, as Milivojevic made three pooch punts during the game.
“Special teams hurt us, going into it knowing that returner [Wetjen] is a good player, wanted to challenge that to start, he hurt us early so then made some adjustments to get away from it,” Smith said. “Whether punting on offense, directionally, and then the last two punts did not get executed the way we wanted and that turns into a three-point loss.”
On a difficult outing, Gronowski redeemed himself with a 16-yard scramble and a perfectly thrown, one-on-one ball to the right endzone corner for the touchdown. Graduate wide receiver Jacob Gill was on the receiving end of the 13-yard strike as the Hawkeyes’ leading receiver in yardage earned his first touchdown of the year. After the lead evaporated, MSU still had a chance to win the game with plenty of time to score.
Yet another quick possession and punt completely flipped the script as UI aimed to end it in regulation. Gronowski’s final throw completed his clutch fourth quarter, finding sophomore wide receiver Reece Vander Zee climbing the ladder to the right sideline for 29 yards. This got Stevens in range for a 44-yards field goal, who nailed the winning kick as time expired.
“Definitely disappointed, definitely not the outcome that we wanted but we know we have one more game left,” Hall said. “We’re gonna have the same approach last week as we did this week, continue to try to get better with this one game left, continuing to bond together and make memories.”
MSU’s losing streak is extended to eight in a row, and have one last chance to get a Big Ten victory. The Spartans will finish the campaign at Ford Field against Maryland with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. Jacob Maurer and Kyle Keegan are on the broadcast for the finale from Detroit, listen locally on 88.9 FM or streaming at https://impact89fm.org/.
