Michigan State football is getting set to enter its final stretch of games, and that begins on Saturday afternoon in East Lansing against Penn State.
Who would have thought before the season that this Week 12 showdown with Penn State would be a battle not only for the Land Grant Trophy, but for each team’s first Big Ten win of the season. Both Michigan State and Penn State are winless heading into Saturday’s contest, but the Nittany Lions at least have a valid reason — they fired James Franklin.
Jonathan Smith and Michigan State don’t have that excuse. They’ve just been bad since that 3-0 start, and the offense has regressed, leading to the benching of Aidan Chiles.
Without further ado, let’s dive into some bold predictions.
1. Alessio Milivojevic gets another start, throws for 250 yards
After Aidan Chiles started the first eight games of the season, he was replaced by Alessio Milivojevic against Minnesota, and he nearly pulled off the win. He looked like a bright spot in an otherwise dark and depressing 2025 season.
While Smith hasn’t revealed who the starter will be on Saturday, it feels pretty clear that he’s going to stick with the hot hand and ride Milivojevic against Penn State. And he’ll deliver again.
Milivojevic is going to pass for 250 yards against the Nittany Lions’ defense (only two Big Ten quarterbacks have been able to approach that this year), and he’ll add two touchdowns.
2. Nick Marsh finally breaks 100 yards
It’s hard to believe that arguably the best player on the team has yet to reach the 100-yard plateau this season, but I think that changes on Saturday for Nick Marsh.
The sophomore wideout has had at least 75 receiving yards in three of the past four games, but he hasn’t broken 80 since a Week 3 win over Youngstown State where he was injured. I think he finally gets over the hump and proves to be Milivojevic’s favorite target, topping 100 yards for the first time this season.
Marsh will finish with eight catches for 101 yards and a touchdown.
3. MSU loses on touchdown in final minutes
This is going to be another heartbreaker for Michigan State. While I do think the Spartans hold their own despite being clear underdogs (according to Vegas), I see this one coming down to the final minutes, and Michigan State will once again lose a game in heartbreaking fashion.
It’s already happened against Minnesota and Nebraska this year, and it happened on a couple of occasions a year ago, but that’s essentially the story of the Jonathan Smith era: coming close, but not close enough.
Michigan State will hold a 24-21 lead with Penn State driving in the final minutes, and a touchdown with about two minutes left will give the Nittany Lions the lead and the Spartans won’t be able to respond. Another tough loss to drop to 3-7.