REHASH & ANALYSIS: Michigan State drops sixth-straight, falls to Minnesota, 27-12

Minneapolis – Michigan State’s dire football season took another gut punch on Saturday with an 27-12 loss at Minnesota, Saturday at Huntingon Bank Stadium.

The Spartans led 6-0 at the end of the first quarter, and 6-3 late in the first half, but saw its run defense wear down while the Spartan offense was dormant for three-and-a-half quarters. Freshman QB Sam Leavitt provided some brief life in the fourth quarter, but the Gophers’ ground attack was the difference.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Michigan State interim head coach Harlon Barnett said after the game. “But we just have to keep playing, though. Like I told them, we have the last home game at Spartan Stadium for this 2023 season for our seniors. We have to send them out right. (Nebraska) is another team that we feel like we can go up and compete against and give ourselves a chance to win.”

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Michigan State safety Jaden Mangham recovered a fumble caused by Derrick Harmon on the first possession of the game, and had an interception in the third quarter.

Michigan State starting quarterback Katin Houser threw for 117 yards on 12-of-22 passing. Leavitt replaced Houser in the fourth quarter.

Leavitt threw for 73 yards, one touchdown and one interception on 8-of-12 passing. He finished as Michigan State’s leading rusher with 52 yards on six attempts.

“You saw Sam come in and move the ball and go down and get our only touchdown,” Barnett said. “That doesn’t mean Katin is a bad player or didn’t do well and all that stuff. Everybody always puts it on the quarterback, but like I said earlier this week, you have to look at everything, all of the elements involved. There’s 11 guys out there. There’s not just one guy out there on offense, there’s 11 guys out there. So we’ll evaluate it and see what’s best for the team.”

Nathan Carter rushed for 44 yards on 11 carries.

Montorie Foster finished as Michigan State’s leading receiver, totaling 55 yards on four catches. Tre Mosley had 51 receiving yards on three catches. Tyrell Henry caught Michigan State’s lone touchdown of the day on a nine-yard pass.

Michigan State kicker Jonathan Kim went 2-for-3 on field goal attempts. His lone miss came in the third quarter from 53 yards, with Michigan State trailing 10-6. The kick sailed wide left.

Minnesota running back Jordan Nubin rushed for 204 yards on 40 carries.

Athan Kaliakmanis threw for 200 yards, one touchdown and one interception on 14-of-22 passing for the Golden Gophers. Minnesota receiver Daniel Jackson caught seven passes for 120 yards and one touchdown.

The Spartans finished with four penalties to Minnesota’s three.

Michigan State forced three Minnesota turnovers (two fumbles and one interception). The Spartans gave up two of their own, the last of which came on a Leavitt interception with 1:25 to play.

“If you can turn people over, you have a very, very high chance of winning, when you win the turnover battle,” Barnett said. “When we get those turnovers, we have to convert them into touchdowns as opposed to field goals. That’s what you’d like to see, especially with the field position that we had when we had the two early ones.”

TURNING POINT: QUESTIONABLE DECISION

After Michigan State gained momentum by cutting the lead to 17-12 with 8:37 left, the Spartans attempted an on-side kick. Minnesota recovered.

That highly-aggressive decision failed, similar to questionable fourth-down decisions to go for it against Iowa and Michigan in recent games.

Minnesota scored seven plays later on a 2-yard TD run by Nubin.

Minnesota ran the ball on all seven plays of the TD drive, with gains of 2, 3, 7 (plus 10 for defensive holding on Jalen Thompson), 5, 1 and 18.

The 18-yarder came on a pivotal third-and-six situation at the Michigan State 20-yard line with less than 5 minutes to play. Michigan State had been occasionally going with a 4-3 defense if Minnesota went with a two-tight end personnel group. On this play, Michigan State subbed its 4-3 out and went with a 4-2-5 to match a three-WR personnel group, despite the fact that Minnesota hadn’t thrown the ball for 14 straight offensive plays, dating back to the Mangham interception.

Michigan State stuck with the 4-2-5 defense and allowed a crippling, 18-yard Nubin run to the Michigan State 2-yard line.

“We’re still on that finish piece,” Barnett said. “We have to finish in everything that we do. We didn’t quite finish once again, so we’ll keep working at it.”

LEAVITT PROVIDES (MOMENTARY) LIFT

Trailing 17-6, the freshman Leavitt entered the game and piloted Michigan State on an eight-play, 75-yard TD drive.

It was Michigan State’s first TD since the 3:41 mark of the third quarter against Rutgers.

On the drive, Leavitt showed quick feet and toughness with carries of 6, 6, 9 and 13 yards.

Through the air, he was 4-for-4 on the drive for nets of -2, 29, 5 and 9 (TD).

The 29-yarder was a back-shoulder heave to Jaron Glover, with Glover doing a good job to come back for the ball. The strong-armed Leavitt threw it safely to an area that only his receiver could get it.

The 9-yard TD was a beauty, a slant to Henry. A 2-point conversion completion to Foster was stopped short of the goal line.

On Leavitt’s second drive, he was sacked and stripped by Minnesota defensive end Jay Joyner with 3:55 left.

On Leavitt’s third and final drive, he drove Michigan State to the Gopher 21-yard line, but his cover-two hole shot pass attempt for Glover was intercepted by cornerback Tre’Von Jones.

Earlier in the drive, Leavitt completed passes for 5 (Carter) and 8 (Henry on a shallow crosser).

Leavitt’s best pass of the day, a deep in-route to tight end Jaylan Franklin, was dropped at the 20-yard line on this drive, wiping out what should have been a gain of 23.

ASSERTING CONTROL

Minnesota took control of the game with a nine-play TD drive, all on the ground. Nubin had gains of 3, 9, 8, 3, 7, 2, 19 and 18 yards (TD) on the drive as the Gophers achieved dominance on the ground. Minnesota never faced third down on the drive.

The drive was aided by an 18-yard zone read keeper by Kaliakmanis, when strong safety Angelo Grose bit on the run fake and lost containment.

Nubin’s 18-yard TD run came with some controversy. Michigan State safety Mangham was crackback blocked by a Minnesota wide receiver, a play that was outlawed in recent years and should have been flagged for an illegal block, according to BTN rules analyst Dean Blandino.

THE FIRST HALF

Michigan State mustered only four first downs in the first half, being out-gained 245-80, but the Spartans trailed only 10-6 at intermission.

Michigan State’s defense forced turnovers on the Gophers’ first two possessions, resulting in a pair of Johnathan Kim field goals from 38 and 42 yards out. That gave Michigan State a 6-0 lead on a pair of short-field, three-and-out possessions.

Michigan State defensive tackle Derrick Harmon forced the first fumble, stripping RB Sean Tyler at the Gopher 26-yard line. Mangham recovered the fumble.

Freshman linebacker Jordan Hall’s sack caused a fumble on third-and-8 to end the Gopher’s next possession. Junior defensive end Avery Dunn recovered at the Gopher 34-yard line.

On that play, Hall blitzed as part of a five-man rush, joining a corner blitz while d-end Brandon Wright dropped into coverage. Kaliakmanis found no one open and was hauled in by Hall.

Michigan State’s special teams had a strong first half, with Simeon Barrow blocking a field goal, Kim hitting two field goals, and punter Ryan Eckley hammering punts of 54 and 53 yards, and a 34-yarder which was downed at the 6-yard line.

Minnesota cut the lead to 6-3 with a Dragan Kesich 25-yard field goal. Michigan State got off the field on third-and-four when Nubin was stopped by Barrow for a gain of 1, thanks in part to Hall setting the edge and allowing the interior to rally to the ball.

The Gophers took their first lead on a Kaliakmanis 22-yard TD pass to Jackson. Jackson got a step on Michigan State CB Dillon Tatum, on an inside release. In cover-one/man-to-man coverage, Tatum did not have safety help to the inside.

That TD drive covered 94 yards in eight plays, with the Michigan State pass defense showing slippage. Kaliakmanis found Jackson on a 30-yard deep crosser against cover-one/robber, finding separation against nickel back Malik Spencer.

Earlier in that drive, Kaliakmanis had completions of 18 and 13 against cover-three zone.

Mosley dropped a pass on a third-and-short crossing route in the first quarter. Later, Mosley made a good adjustment on a ball to make his best catch of the season on a 30-yard gain on the first play of a drive, right after Mangham’s interception. Mosley was helped off the field after sustaining an upper body injury.

Michigan State will host Nebraska on senior night in its next game on Nov. 4. Barnett asked for one thing from Spartan fans ahead of that game.

“Show up for the Nebraska game, for the last Spartan home game for these guys who have stuck around when they could’ve left,” Barnett said. “They still represent Michigan State football, they’re still playing their hearts out, they’re showing up everyday, doing what they’re asked to do. So if nothing else, I just hope everybody comes out and supports the players at our last home game versus Nebraska and be loud and cheer these guys on because, again, we could’ve been in a situation where we could’ve lost 20, 30 guys and we only lost a few. They’re working their butts off. I’m really proud of these guys. I’ll never forget them. Hopefully Spartan Nation appreciates them just as much as I do.”