Michigan State’s Sixth Straight Loss Was Completely Preventable
Michigan State should have won on Saturday against Minnesota. The Spartans outgained the Golden Gophers by 166 yards, had more pass yards, more rush yards, and held the ball for about nine more minutes.
But bad football teams find ways to lose games, and it's not because of the picked-up flag in overtime. That's what Saturday's 23-20 overtime crusher feels like.
On this episode of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast, let's break down what was a very preventable defeat, which now drops MSU to 3-6 overall, 0-6 in Big Ten play, and puts the Spartans on the verge of being eliminated from bowl contention for the fourth straight year.
Video of the full podcast can be watched below.
Watch the MSU Spartans Insider Podcast here:
In addition, a partial transcript of head coach Jonathan Smith's postgame press conference has been provided.
Jonathan Smith
SMITH: OK, well, really tough. I always want to start giving credit to our opponent, Minnesota, Coach FlecK, congrats on a win.
But tough to fully describe. But really, some good moments defensively, really throughout the day. I thought they did a great job in the first half, holding them to 10 points, getting a stop at the end. Kept us in that one because we were struggling in the first half with protection.
Regrouped at halftime. Guys continued to battle, take the lead with a minute [and] 50 [seconds] left. And then they scored in regulation with 36 seconds.
You think about the stretch of time of their score and in nine minutes in the second quarter, next time they score is 30 seconds left in the game. So I go back to the defensive effort.
I thought Alessio [Milivojevic] battled throughout, wanted to continue to protect him more.
Credit to our group in regards to momentum swings. You think about that, you go down there, it's first-and-goal. We come away with zero [points] 'cause we missed a short field goal. Our guys didn't flinch, kept on going.
And then you get into overtime and the touchdown is going to beat a field goal.
Q: What was the explanation the officials gave you for picking up the pass interference flag during overtime?
SMITH: The explanation was, you know, there's not just one referee out there. They got eight of them. The communication of the group of eight that put eyes on the call, late, one came in with a stronger opinion to pick it up. And I felt like it was delayed in getting there, but that that was what the explanation was.
Q: What did Alessio do to begin getting starting reps?
SMITH: We started on Sunday, all the way back to start of this week, and verbalized to both of them that they were going to get 50-50 reps, let them work.
But the last three weeks offensively, we felt like we needed to look at a spark, changing things up. And some of that was splitting the reps throughout the week. End of the day, both of them had good weeks of practice.
End of the day was, you know, look at what we had done the last three weeks. We'd been playing two quarterbacks anyways, trying to find a spark for the offense.
That really separated them on our decision.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.