EAST LANSING — Hall, no.
Michigan State football had a would-be forced fumble by Malcolm Bell and recovery by Jordan Hall negated by a controversial penalty early in the third quarter and Michigan football went on to score, en route to a 31-20 victory at Spartan Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 25.
Bell appeared to have timed the snap and got to Michigan QB Bryce Underwood 19 yards back, forcing a fumble that Hall recovered to give the Spartans the ball on U-M’s side of the field, trailing 10-7. But after the play, Bell was flagged for offsides on a call NBC’s refereeing expert disagreed with.
And so, the Wolverines advanced to MSU’s 16, and, three Justice Haynes rushes later, rumbled into the end zone to make it 17-7. U-M tacked on another touchdown from Haynes with 3:08 remaining in the third quarter.
In all, the Spartans were penalized 12 times for 105 yards, while the Wolverines took just six flags for 61 yards.
Outside of a strong drive in the second quarter, Michigan State (3-5, 0-5 Big Ten) was mostly unable to move the ball over the first three quarters in its fifth straight loss in conference play and fourth straight loss of the Paul Bunyan Trophy to Michigan (6-2, 4-1).
Aidan Chiles completed just 14 of 28 passes – including a 4-for-13 first half – for 130 yards and lost a fumble. He finally started to connect in the fourth quarter, going 7-for-7 for 71 yards, capped by a connection with star wideout Nick Marsh for a 24-yard gain to get MSU to the half-yard line. On the next play, Brandon Tullis pushed into the endzone to make it a nine-point game.
Underwood wasn’t much better; the true freshman completed eight of 17 passes for 86 yards and no touchdowns for the Wolverines.
On a roll in the second quarter
After a dud of a first quarter, MSU started the second with a bang as Makhi Frazier took a hand off from Chiles and zoomed around the right side for a 49-yard gain, launching the Spartans to the U-M 25. Five plays later, Frazier picked up another chunk of 10 yard to get MSU down to the 4.
From there, the Spartans got to the 2, then were bounced back to the 17 on an unnecessary roughness call on Elijah Tau-Toliver, but MSU immediately got back to the 2 on a pass interference call in the end zone. That led to a three-play series of Chiles QB sneaks, with the Spartan leader finally crossing the goal line with 8:24 left in the half.
Lopsided first quarter
The Wolverines jumped out to an early lead on a 21-yard field goal from Dominic Zvada with 10:07 remaining; that kick capped a 10-play drive that covered just 31 yards after U-M recovered a fumble by Chiles on the Spartans’ first drive.
After a pair of three-and-out drives by the Spartans sandwiched around one by the Wolverines, U-M got its offense in motion, covering 63 yards on seven plays. The Wolverines took a 10-0 lead on Bryce Underwood’s run around the left side with 3:58 remaining.
U-M dominated the first quarter, with seven first downs to MSU’s 14 total yards.
Next up for MSU
The Spartans hit the road for their final game before their second bye week, visiting Minnesota (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) on Nov. 1 (3:30 p.m., Big Ten Network). The Golden Gophers are coming off a 42-3 loss to Iowa on Saturday. Michigan State hasn’t beaten Minnesota since 2017 (30-27)m with losses to P.J. Fleck’s squad in 2022 (in East Lansing) and 2023 (in Minneapolis).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Spartans’ chance at rally stunted by penalties in 31-20 loss to Michigan
Reporting by Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
