Michigan State football winners/losers for Week 12: Program image keeps taking hits
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EAST LANSING — Free Press sports writer Chris Solari takes a look at the Michigan State football players who helped or hurt their stock in the Spartans’ 28-10 loss to Penn State on Saturday, Nov. 15.
Winners
RB Elijah Tau-Tolliver
On senior day, the Sacramento State transfer put together his second straight strong performance. Tau-Tolliver raced 57 yards for a touchdown on MSU’s first offensive play and finished with 79 yards on six carries and 73 receiving yards on eight catches.
Defense
Joe Rossi’s defense played well enough to keep the Spartans in the game, though it wore down late as PSU held the ball for nearly 37½ minutes. That included an astounding 11:27-3:33 edge in the final quarter, when the Nittany Lions got 143 of their 367 yards and half of their points.
TE Michael Masunas
With quarterback Alessio Milivojevic struggling to find time to throw in his second straight star, his tight end became a key safety valve and his best downfield target. Masunas caught three passes for 29 yards, with two of those going for first downs in the third quarter.
Losers
Program image
The boos for Jonathan Smith and his staff grew louder as the game unraveled late. But MSU’s problems go well beyond the X’s and O’s (though a seven-game losing streak and questionable scheming suggest there are plenty of woes there, too). NCAA infractions and penalties, released Wednesday fall on the previous staff and are the most minor of concerns. The blame for Smith unknowingly playing an ineligible player – causing his five wins in 2024 to be vacated – rests somewhere between MSU’s compliance office and the NCAA, which retroactively informed the school about the situation in January this year. Not telling Smith about an ongoing NCAA investigation during his 2023 interview process is on the previous athletic administration, which lured Smith from his alma mater Oregon State while MSU was still finalizing the hiring of current president Kevin Guskiewicz. That doesn’t even add in the ignominy of Mel Tucker’s firing (or his ongoing $75 million wrongful termination lawsuit against MSU) nor the collective that pulled NIL money from players in 2023 and boosters’ reticence to financially back Smith – whose job is at stake not even two years after being hired. It all adds up to a major mess for Guzkiewicz and new athletic director J Batt to figure out as they try to fix the future of their football program – with every black mark by the school giving players’ and coaches’ agents leverage for more money in contract negotiations to join the organization.
Offensive line
The faces have gotten younger due to injuries, but the Spartans’ pass protection problems continue to be the biggest in-game hurdle. Milivojevic was sacked five times, without counting the times he was either hit in the pocket or forced out of it repeatedly by PSU’s defense. That came after he was dropped seven times in an overtime loss at Minnesota on Nov. 1. For the season, the Spartans have allowed 35 sacks. That is tied for seventh among FBS teams.
Passing game
This was a collective issue, though the protection problems did not allow for much time for routes to develop or for Milivojevic to deliver clean passes down field to his receivers. Nick Marsh and Omari Kelly combined for just five catches (on 12 targets) for 20 yards, and they were the only wideouts to contribute in the pass game. Milivojevic finished 17-for-27 for 128 yards with no TDs or interceptions, and just two completions longer than 15 yards – both to Tau-Tolliver out of the backfield.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football winners, losers: Spartans’ image taking hits
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