Alessio Milivojevic showed up on the injury report as questionable halfway through the week, but he was ruled out with an “undisclosed” injury before kickoff. Freshman QB Kayd Coffman would get the start while redshirt freshman QB Leo Hannan would be on backup duty. With Jaz Patterson also ruled out, Michigan State started this game with their third-string QB and third-string RB.
The Spartans would suffer two early injuries – one to RB Marvis Parrish and another to DL Ben Roberts. Both injuries looked bad, and each player spent time in the tent before being carted to the locker room.
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Despite the early losses, Michigan State was able to get on the scoreboard first thanks to a forced fumble and recovery by Devin Vaught. Vaught straight up ripped the football right out of the RB’s hands in one of the cooler defensive plays I’ve seen in a minute. After his return got Michigan State in the redzone, Coffman found Kenneth Williams on the very next play for a 14-yard passing touchdown. The Spartans held a 7-0 lead halfway through the first quarter.
Williams would fumble early in the second quarter, and it led to UCLA starting their next drive in the redzone. Jaivian Thomas would run it in from seven yards out to tie the game at seven.
Vaught would go on to force another fumble, and Nikai Martinez would return it most of the field to put Michigan State back in the redzone. When it felt like the Spartans had a spark, it was quickly put out on the next play when Coffman threw a terrible pass right to a UCLA defender to give the ball right back. Coffman started the game 4-for-4, but he wouldn’t complete another pass the rest of the game. UCLA would capitalize on the interception, and Wayne Knight would score on a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Bruins a 14-7 lead at halftime.
UCLA would score two minutes into the second half with a 63-yard bomb from Ty Dieffenbach to Brian Rowe Jr to make it a two-score game. The Michigan State offense struggled the entire quarter, and another UCLA rushing touchdown, this time from Anthony Woods, would give the Bruins a 28-7 lead before the fourth quarter.
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The only thing exciting about the final frame was that we got to see Leo Hannan play, and Hannan’s stats looked better than Coffman’s despite playing only one quarter. A Liam Boyd field goal got Michigan State to double digits, but they would go on to lose 28-10.
So, Michigan State traveled across the country to play a top-10 ranked team while starting their third-string QB and RB, but would finish the game with their fourth-stringers. Coach Fitz would never use injuries as an excuse, but whatever is in the drinking water in East Lansing needs to be filtered five times over. Or, somebody needs to find the witch that cursed the football building and beg her to lift it. I mean, how does this continue to happen? I’m not sure I’ve ever watched a football team that was forced to go to their fourth-stringers due to how many injuries they’ve experienced.
If you want some optimism, at least the bye week is coming at the perfect time. Send these guys to a resort in Mexico, get them all the massages and Piña Coladas they can handle, and let them heal as much as possible. If there’s one way left to view this season as a positive, it would be Coach Fitz kicking Kyle Wittingham’s ass on November 7th in Ann Arbor.
Go Green!
