Mistakes were made, tempers flared, and coaching gaffes were aplenty in Michigan State football’s 38-27 loss to Nebraska on Saturday evening.
The Spartans looked like they might just steal one from the Cornhuskers, holding Dylan Raiola in check for three quarters, but endless mistakes and poor coaching led to a double-digit road loss to Matt Rhule and Nebraska. It was just an overall poor performance.
The game got off to a rough start with a quick three-and-out followed by a four-minute touchdown drive by Nebraska to make it 7-0 quickly. Then, the Spartans had a punt blocked on the next possession to make it 14-0 Cornhuskers in the blink of an eye.
That punt block should have never happened because a penalty gave Nebraska another chance to rush the punter and make a play.
Michigan State would score 21 straight points even with Aidan Chiles looking clearly hampered and not himself. He threw two bad interceptions and was off the entire game, finishing with under 100 yards passing. Alessio Milivojevic came in and scored two touchdowns — one passing and one rushing.
If we’re looking for the real reason the Spartans lost, it had to be the poor play-calling early to put them behind big early. And then when they came back, the Spartans fumbled a kickoff return, giving Nebraska the ball right back after they tied it at 21-21.
Turnovers, poor usage of second-half timeouts, and probably the wrong move to play Chiles after that first-half injury when he wasn’t looking like himself led to the 11-point loss in Lincoln.
You can tip your cap to Nebraska for winning by double figures, but Michigan State gave this one away in a game where the defense played really well in the final three quarters.
Jonathan Smith has some questions to answer.