Michigan State Football: 5 takeaways from loss to Northwestern in Week 9

ANN ARBOR, MI - OCTOBER 07: Brian Lewerke #14 of the Michigan State Spartans runs for a first down during the second quarter of the game against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium on October 7, 2017 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan State defeated Michigan 14-10.(Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images) /

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EVANSTON, IL – OCTOBER 28: Cody White #7 of the Michigan State Spartans fumbles the ball as he’s hit by Montre Hartage #24 of the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field on October 28, 2017 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

3. Turnovers continue to cost games

Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. Michigan State has been the victim of plenty of lopsided turnover battles and although Saturday’s game wasn’t egregiously filled with cough-ups, there were still a number of mishaps that cost the Spartans the game.

The first example was an LJ Scott fumble with Michigan State up and looking to extend its lead deep in Northwestern territory. Luckily the Spartans recovered it and it gave the offense new life. The next play, Cody White caught a pass and looked to pick up positive yards, inching MSU closer to the goal-line and a potentially insurmountable lead, and he fumbled.

White ended up muffing a punt later in the game which nearly set Northwestern up with a first-and-goal type of situation with a chance to put the game away for good, but the Spartans recovered that one.

Lastly, a near-fumble lost by Brian Lewerke on the final play of the game led to him running to track it down, pick it up and make something happen on a broken play, but he threw an ill-advised interception to lose the game in triple-overtime.

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