Michigan State storms back but falls, 38-37 in overtime to Illinois

Michigan State dropped its fourth straight game Saturday in a hard-fought homecoming battle against Illinois. The Spartans rallied late to force overtime but ultimately fell 38-37. MSU drops to 2-4 on the season and 0-3 in big Ten play with the loss.

The 50th all-time meeting between the two programs ended in heartbreak for the Spartans at Spartan Stadium, as their two-point conversion attempt in overtime came up short. The series began in 1955, and MSU still leads it 27-21-2, but Illinois has now won two straight, including a 38-16 win in Champaign in 2024. Illinois scored first in overtime on Michael Clayton II’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Hudson Clement, and after Jaziun Patterson answered with a 1-yard touchdown run, the Spartans went for the win, but the two-point try failed.

Alessio Milivojevic finished 22 of 26 passing for 196 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Carson Gulker also saw action and completed his lone attempt for 19 yards, and added 7 yards on two rushes. Patterson was the story of the day, rushing for 92 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries, including a long of 36, and adding three catches for 26 yards and another score.

Jayden Savoury led the receiving corps with 49 yards on six catches from seven targets. Fredrick Moore made the most of his two catches, totaling 42 yards and a 24-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. On the defensive side, Cam Stodghill led the team with 11 total tackles, including five solo. Nikai Martinez added nine tackles and a forced fumble, and Devin Vaught had five solo tackles and an interception that he returned 37 yards to set up a touchdown. As a team, MSU totaled 342 yards to Illinois’ 409 and converted 6 of 10 third downs, but committed nine penalties for 68 yards.

For the Illini, former Spartan Katin Houser finished 20 of 29 passing for 194 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and also ran for a touchdown, before Clayton replaced him late in the third quarter. Clayton went 6 of 8 for 88 yards and two touchdowns, including the game winner. Clement led Illinois with 105 receiving yards on six catches, Collin Dixon added seven catches for 62 yards and a touchdown, and Aidan Laughery rushed for 70 yards on 17 carries and caught a touchdown pass. James Kreutz led the Illinois defense with 15 tackles, including a sack, and Ethan Moczulski made all three of his field goal attempts.

First Half

MSU trailed Illinois 10-0 after a rough first quarter in which the Spartans managed just 8 yards of total offense on two possessions. After MSU won the toss and deferred, Houser hit Clement for 39 yards on the opening drive to reach the Spartans’ 24, but the defense stiffened, Kenny Soares Jr. hurried Houser into a third-down incompletion, and the Illini settled for Moczulski’s 40-yard field goal.

The Spartans’ first series went nowhere when Kreutz sacked Milivojevic for a 5-yard loss, more trouble for an offensive line that has struggled in recent weeks, made worse by Connor Moore’s early-season injury, though Rhys Dakin flipped the field with a 74-yard punt for a touchback. Illinois followed with an 80-yard scoring drive that started with a 13-yard pass interference penalty on cornerback Tre Bell, who was back on the field after his status was in doubt before last week’s game at Wisconsin. The drive kept going when Houser found Laughery on fourth-and-2 at the MSU 36, and it reached the 8 on a 27-yard strike to Brayden Trimble. Laughery then caught a 5-yard touchdown pass with 3:21 left in the quarter.

Kenneth Williams gave the Spartans decent field position with a 21-yard kickoff return, and Milivojevic connected with Rodney Bullard Jr. for 9 yards, but Patterson was dropped for a 2-yard loss on third-and-1, and an illegal formation penalty on the ensuing punt handed Illinois 5 extra yards. The Illini closed the quarter at their own 31 after a pair of completions to Dixon, including an 8-yard gain on third-and-5.

The Spartans found their offense in the second quarter but still went to the locker room trailing 20-7 at halftime. Illinois carried its drive from the end of the first quarter into the second, with Javari Barnett running for 15 and 7 yards, Laughery converting a third-and-5 with an 11-yard run, and Houser keeping it on third-and-1 at the MSU 4 before scoring on a 2-yard run with 8:57 left, capping an 82-yard drive.

MSU answered with its best possession of the half, a 75-yard march that Patterson powered by running, catching, and taking a direct snap to convert a third-and-2 at the Illinois 9. Milivojevic kept the chains moving with completions of 16 yards to Savoury, 15 yards to Bullard, and 13 yards to Patterson, then found Patterson for a 6-yard touchdown with 3:29 left, and Liam Boyd’s extra point made it 17-7.

Illinois drove into MSU territory before halftime, and Martinez forced a Laughery fumble at the Spartans’ 25, but Illinois’ Jake Renfro recovered it. MSU used all three of its timeouts to save time, and Anelu Lafaele and Dion Crawford hurried Houser into a third-down incompletion at the 17, holding the Illini to Moczulski’s 35-yard field goal as the half ended. The Spartans had 83 yards of total offense at the break, 75 of them on the touchdown drive.

Illinois dominated the first half statistically, outgaining the Spartans 261-83, running 42 plays to MSU’s 17, and holding the ball for 20:52 to MSU’s 9:08. Houser completed 18 of 23 passes for 178 yards as the Illini piled up 17 first downs to the Spartans’ 5 and converted 4 of 7 third downs, while MSU went 1 of 3. The lone bright spots for the Spartans were Dakin’s 64.5-yard punting average and an efficient 75-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter, but MSU also committed the half’s only two penalties, which cost 18 yards.

Second Half

The Spartans cut Illinois’ lead to 23-17 in the third quarter, scoring 10 points even though they lost a fumble on their first possession. Milivojevic opened the half with completions of 14 yards to Chrishon McCray and 12 yards to Bullard on third-and-5. A holding penalty on Ben Murawski then wiped out a Patterson catch, and on the next play Juice Clarke forced a fumble by Brennan Parachek that Daniel Brown recovered for Illinois at midfield.

The MSU defense held from there: Jeremiah Favorite broke up a third-and-3 pass at the 20, and the Illini settled for Moczulski’s 38-yard field goal with 8:48 left. The Spartans answered with a 64-yard drive keyed by Patterson’s 36-yard run and Marvis Parrish’s 6-yard catch on third-and-5. A 13-yard completion to Moore on fourth-and-2 at the Illinois 19 was wiped out by an illegal formation penalty on Moore, and Boyd made a 42-yard field goal instead to make it 23-10 with 2:52 left.

Braylon Collier forced a fumble on the kickoff return, but Illinois returner Mac Resetich fell on it. Three plays later, Mikeshun Beeler pressured Houser, and Vaught intercepted Houser’s pass at the Illinois 48 and returned it 37 yards to the 11.

Patterson ran 11 yards up the middle for a touchdown on the next play, a call that stood after review, with 1:30 left.

Illinois turned to backup quarterback Clayton on its final series as Houser headed for the locker room with an injury, and he hit Dixon for 14 yards to the Illinois 39 as the quarter ended.

The Spartans erased a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game 31-31 and force overtime, even though a disputed penalty cost them a recovered onside kick. Illinois went up 31-17 when Clayton hit Dixon for a 14-yard touchdown with 13:14 left. A face mask penalty on Favorite kept that drive going, and a pass interference call on Martinez gave the Illini a second chance at the two-point conversion, which Laughery converted. MSU answered with a 72-yard drive that survived a false start on fourth down. Milivojevic converted fourth-and-7 with an 18-yard pass to Moore, then found Moore for a 24-yard touchdown with 7:47 left.

Boyd’s onside kick was recovered by Samson Gash, but officials flagged Gash for offsides. Replays showed Gash was clearly onside, but offsides is not reviewable, so the penalty stood. Officials did review whether Gash was inbounds on the recovery and initially ruled he was out of bounds, which would have given the Illini excellent field position, but they reversed that ruling after a better camera angle showed he was inbounds. Because of the penalty, MSU had to kick again and opted to kick deep.

The defense made up for it after Illinois ran nearly four minutes off the clock, as DiMari Malone and Ben Roberts stopped Clayton for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the Illinois 33 with 3:27 left. A 27-yard touchdown pass from Gulker to Bryson Williams was called back for an illegal block in the back on Moore. Later in the drive, Bullard fumbled at the end of an 11-yard run, but Savoury recovered at the 2, and Patterson scored on a direct snap with 1:17 left.

Illinois went three-and-out, and Patterson was sacked on the final play of regulation, sending the game to overtime.

Overtime

Illinois scored on the first play of overtime, Clayton’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Clement, and Moczulski’s extra point gave the Illini a 38-31 lead. MSU answered in five plays, with Patterson, who lined up at quarterback for the final two plays of the drive, scoring on a 1-yard keeper up the middle. MSU coach Pat Fitzgerald chose to go for two and the win, but the play broke down, and Milivojevic was forced to throw to Savoury, who was tackled quickly to seal the Illinois win.

Michigan State returns to the field against Northwestern. Kickoff is set for noon, and the game will stream exclusively on Peacock.