The struggles of Michigan State football continue. They lost their sixth straight game in a 28-10 loss to No.9 UCLA and are still without a win in the Big Ten.
Pat Fitzgerald came in and brought hope to Spartan fans, but after their two non-conference games at home, he hasn’t delivered.
Traveling across the country and beating the No.9 team in the nation was never going to be easy, but if there was ever a chance to upset them, it was it with a backup quarterback playing.
The Spartans were dealt a tough hand too, however, with starting quarterback Alessio Milivojevic out for the game. MSU has been hit hard with injuries this season, and on top of losing their starting quarterback for this game, they also were without backup Cam Fancher, leaving Kayd Coffman to start against the Bruins.
The fresham QB got off to a great start. He was 4-for-4 for 42 yards and a touchdown. Coffman put the Spartans up 7-0 early with help from the defense forcing a turnover, but it was all downhill from there.
Coffman wouldn’t complete a pass the rest of the game and threw a costly interception that swung the game back in favor of UCLA.
Without any success from his quarterback after the first quarter, Fitzgerald pulled Coffman, turning to redshirt freshman Leo Hannan hoping to spark his offense.
Hannan was a slight improvement, stringing some passes together and getting MSU a field goal at the end of the game, but he also threw an interception and wasn’t spectacular.
The MSU defense deserves a lot of credit for their performance. Even without their star linebacker and a handful of players in the defensive line and secondary, they gave Coffman every chance to succeed and get the Spartans a win.
This season has been a story of fine margins for MSU. If they executed a couple of plays or took better care of the football in the red zone, we could be looking at a totally different team and record.
The two point conversion attempt in overtime against Illinois, a blocked kick against Northwestern, and against UCLA, a turnover in the red zone after their defense put them in great field position on a fumble recovery return.
The offense came to a halt after the early touchdown and couldn’t add to the lead, but the defense did them a favor and gave them possession deep in UCLA territory with another turnover.
With the game tied and sloppy play from the Bruins, MSU had a chance to take back momentum with a score. But on his first drop back of the drive, Coffman threw into double coverage and was picked off as UCLA took it the other way, flipping the field.
Fitzgerald is not excused for of his team’s lack of success this season, there are a lot of areas for improvement. However, with the injuries he’s dealing with both in the number of players out and their importance to the team, it’s not an easy position for the head coach to be in.
Whether it’s injuries, bad offensive play, switch ups to try and find a spark, MSU has had a nonstop quarterback carousel since Payton Thorne left in 2023. Noah Kim, Katin Houser, Aidan Chiles, Alessio Milivojevic, and Kayd Coffman.
Those are just starting quarterbacks; There have been multiple others to play over that period as well. Most notably Sam Leavitt, who is now the starter for the LSU Tigers.
A seemingly never-ending QB carousel and a season riddled with injuries will all come down to the rivalry game against University of Michigan.
With a bowl game all but out of the question for MSU, given they would have to win their remaining four with a tough schedule, any chance of this season being considered a success rides on the Spartans beating the Wolverines.
Michigan State QB Carousel Reaches New Low Against No.9 UCLA