The first two minutes of Michigan State’s last home game of the season injected the stadium with a sense of joy that had eluded the fanbase for most of the year. A 57-yard rushing touchdown on the first Spartan offensive play — a burst from redshirt senior running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver — brought East Lansing to life.
It was an offensive spark that would elude MSU for the rest of the game, as the unit sputtered in redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic’s second career start and ultimately fell 28-10 to Penn State, officially knocking the Spartans out of bowl contention for the fourth straight year.
"We really wanted the game to be tight throughout," said MSU head coach Jonathan Smith. "We had to create a couple opportunities situationally to take a shot, and we just did not capitalize a couple of times."
MSU’s offense was never fully lifeless, but it rarely strung together gains of positive yardage. In the second half, the Spartans crossed the 50-yard line only once until a roughing-the-passer call late in the fourth quarter pushed them to the PSU 35.
It was a key reason why a 14-10 halftime deficit, in which the Nittany Lions had just 32 more yards than MSU, turned into a 28-10 loss. PSU finished with 367 total yards, 138 more than MSU, thanks to a fourth quarter where the Spartans managed just 22 yards.
"We needed to be efficient in the run game and in some of the possession pass game to stay and maintain some drives, and we didn’t do that well," Smith said.
While MSU’s fourth-quarter offensive collapse ultimately sealed the loss, the rushing attack still showed signs of life. The team finished with 101 rushing yards, averaging 4.6 per carry, and was led by another impressive performance from Tau-Tolliver, who has been one of the few bright spots over the last two weeks.
He finished with 79 yards rushing on six carries — a 13.2-yard average — along with his opening touchdown. He also added 73 yards receiving on eight catches, giving him 152 total yards and making him the team’s leader in both rushing and receiving.
"He’s had back-to-back games and big plays," Smith said regarding Tau-Tolliver. "He’s playing his best football at the end of the year because of his approach, week in, week out."
Though the biggest offensive drop-off came in the fourth quarter, the Spartans struggled on third down all game, converting just one of 10 attempts. It was a trend for both teams, as PSU converted only two of its 10 tries.
MSU’s inability to give Milivojevic time in the pocket played a major role. A talented Nittany Lion front seven teed off on a beat-up Spartan offensive line, sending the young quarterback to the turf five times.
The most crucial sack came late in the fourth quarter, with Milivojevic at the PSU 20 when the ball was knocked free and recovered by the Nittany Lions — the final blow that emptied Spartan Stadium for the last time this season.
"They’re about fighting back, and they’re continuing to grind," Smith said regarding his players during this losing streak. "This ain’t easy. This is a big time league. It’s competitive and tough playing big time coaches and players week in and week out."
The Spartans will follow their disappointing Senior Day loss by traveling to Kinnick Stadium to face No. 21 Iowa (6-4) on Saturday in their final road game of the season.
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