Saturday, November 16
Urbana-Champaign, IL
2:30 PM ET
Michigan State University
4-6 , 2-5
16
at
38
Illinois
7-3 , 4-3
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Michigan St.
6
3
7
0
16
Illinois
14
7
3
14
38
Photo by: Rey Del Rio/MSU Athletic Communications
Illinois Tops Michigan State, 38-16
11/16/2024 7:03:00 PM | Football
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Michigan State fell at Illinois, 38-16, before a crowd of 52,660 on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
The Spartans are now 4-6 (2-5 Big Ten) on the season, while Illinois improves to 7-3 (4-3 Big Ten).
Sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles was 23-of-40 passing for 256 yards and two touchdowns for the Spartans, while fifth-year senior wide receiver Montorie Foster Jr. led the team with six catches for 76 yards. Redshirt junior Nate Carter compiled 48 all-purpose yards, including a 5-yard TD reception in the third quarter.
Defensively, linebacker Darius Snow led MSU with seven tackles, while fellow linebackers Jordan Turner and Cal Haladay each had six stops.
Although the total yardage was close, with Illinois compiling 369 yards to MSU's 343, third downs proved to be the difference, with the Illini converting on 8-of-15 attempts, while the Spartans were just 2-of-15.
"First, congrats to Illinois," said MSU head coach Jonathan Smith. "Played really well, they executed well, it's a good football team. Played a brand of ball that is tough to come back from the way we were executing.
"I think the difference was on third down, the quality of play they had; I'm staring at the numbers, but we were 2-of-15. That's the difference in the game. I do think I'll give them some credit too, on their punt returns, good player, we knew that guy was a good player coming into this thing, but we had a few of them get out on us and that hidden yardage I think was the difference in the game as well. So congrats to them. We got some things on a short week. We got to do better and keep working. We got a lot still to play for with two, but we got a disappointed group in that locker room right now."
SCORING SUMMARY
Illinois struck first on a 57-yard touchdown pass from Luke Altmyer to Pat Bryant, giving the Fighting Illini a 7-0 lead at the 9:52 mark in the opening quarter.
The Spartans responded on their next drive as Aziah Johnson caught a career-long 52-yard touchdown pass from Chiles, but MSU did miss the point-after attempt.
Illinois' Josh McCray capped a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive over the course of 6:47 with an 11-yard run with 1:06 left in the first to make it 14-6 in favor of the Fighting Illini.
Illinois extended its lead to 21-6 on Zakhari Franklin's leaping 4-yard grab in the end zone with 2:01 left in the first half.
Michigan State cut into the deficit before the half with a nine-play, 55-yard scoring drive in just 59 seconds after Jonathan Kim connected on a 38-yard field goal to make it 21-9 at the break.
The Spartans got the ball first in the second half and took advantage, driving 75 yards on 10 plays while taking 5:25 off the clock in scoring their second TD of the game. MSU converted two fourth downs on the drive, including Carter's 5-yard catch in the end zone on fourth-and-2 for his first career TD reception.
The Illini drove into the red zone on their first possession of the third quarter, but the Spartans forced a David Olano 37-yard field goal to keep the margin within one score, 24-16, at the 5:45 mark.
Illinois outscored the Spartans, 14-0, in the fourth quarter, behind two McCray rushing touchdowns. His second TD of the game came from 1-yard out with 7:30 remaining, and he scored his third rushing TD again from 1-yard out with just 1:56 left to make the final, 38-16.
UP NEXT
Michigan State returns to East Lansing to face Purdue on Friday, Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. in Spartan Stadium. The game will be televised nationally on FOX.
The Spartans are now 4-6 (2-5 Big Ten) on the season, while Illinois improves to 7-3 (4-3 Big Ten).
Sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles was 23-of-40 passing for 256 yards and two touchdowns for the Spartans, while fifth-year senior wide receiver Montorie Foster Jr. led the team with six catches for 76 yards. Redshirt junior Nate Carter compiled 48 all-purpose yards, including a 5-yard TD reception in the third quarter.
Defensively, linebacker Darius Snow led MSU with seven tackles, while fellow linebackers Jordan Turner and Cal Haladay each had six stops.
Although the total yardage was close, with Illinois compiling 369 yards to MSU's 343, third downs proved to be the difference, with the Illini converting on 8-of-15 attempts, while the Spartans were just 2-of-15.
"First, congrats to Illinois," said MSU head coach Jonathan Smith. "Played really well, they executed well, it's a good football team. Played a brand of ball that is tough to come back from the way we were executing.
"I think the difference was on third down, the quality of play they had; I'm staring at the numbers, but we were 2-of-15. That's the difference in the game. I do think I'll give them some credit too, on their punt returns, good player, we knew that guy was a good player coming into this thing, but we had a few of them get out on us and that hidden yardage I think was the difference in the game as well. So congrats to them. We got some things on a short week. We got to do better and keep working. We got a lot still to play for with two, but we got a disappointed group in that locker room right now."
SCORING SUMMARY
Illinois struck first on a 57-yard touchdown pass from Luke Altmyer to Pat Bryant, giving the Fighting Illini a 7-0 lead at the 9:52 mark in the opening quarter.
The Spartans responded on their next drive as Aziah Johnson caught a career-long 52-yard touchdown pass from Chiles, but MSU did miss the point-after attempt.
Illinois' Josh McCray capped a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive over the course of 6:47 with an 11-yard run with 1:06 left in the first to make it 14-6 in favor of the Fighting Illini.
Illinois extended its lead to 21-6 on Zakhari Franklin's leaping 4-yard grab in the end zone with 2:01 left in the first half.
Michigan State cut into the deficit before the half with a nine-play, 55-yard scoring drive in just 59 seconds after Jonathan Kim connected on a 38-yard field goal to make it 21-9 at the break.
The Spartans got the ball first in the second half and took advantage, driving 75 yards on 10 plays while taking 5:25 off the clock in scoring their second TD of the game. MSU converted two fourth downs on the drive, including Carter's 5-yard catch in the end zone on fourth-and-2 for his first career TD reception.
The Illini drove into the red zone on their first possession of the third quarter, but the Spartans forced a David Olano 37-yard field goal to keep the margin within one score, 24-16, at the 5:45 mark.
Illinois outscored the Spartans, 14-0, in the fourth quarter, behind two McCray rushing touchdowns. His second TD of the game came from 1-yard out with 7:30 remaining, and he scored his third rushing TD again from 1-yard out with just 1:56 left to make the final, 38-16.
UP NEXT
Michigan State returns to East Lansing to face Purdue on Friday, Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. in Spartan Stadium. The game will be televised nationally on FOX.
Team Stats
MSU
ILL
Total Yards
343
369
Pass Yards
256
231
Rushing Yards
87
138
Penalty Yards
73
20
1st Downs
18
18
3rd Downs
2
8
4th Downs
4
1
TOP
28:32
31:28
1st Quarter
MSU 0, ILL 7
ILL - Bryant,Pat 57 yd pass from Altmyer,Luke (Olano,David kick) 2 plays, 74 yards, TOP 01:04
MSU 6, ILL 7
MSU - Johnson,Aziah 52 yd pass from Chiles,Aidan () 4 plays, 75 yards, TOP 01:59
MSU 6, ILL 14
ILL - McCray,Josh 11 yd run (Olano,David kick), 13 plays, 75 yards, TOP 06:47
2nd Quarter
MSU 6, ILL 21
ILL - Franklin,Zakhari 4 yd pass from Altmyer,Luke (Olano,David kick) 12 plays, 64 yards, TOP 06:09
MSU 9, ILL 21
MSU - Kim,Jonathan 38 yd field goal 9 plays, 55 yards, TOP 00:59
3rd Quarter
MSU 16, ILL 21
MSU - Carter,Nate 5 yd pass from Chiles,Aidan (Kim,Jonathan kick) 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 05:25
MSU 16, ILL 24
ILL - Olano,David 37 yd field goal 8 plays, 56 yards, TOP 03:50
4th Quarter
MSU 16, ILL 31
ILL - McCray,Josh 1 yd run (Olano,David kick), 8 plays, 49 yards, TOP 05:16
MSU 16, ILL 38
ILL - McCray,Josh 1 yd run (Olano,David kick), 4 plays, 38 yards, TOP 02:10
Game Leaders
CMP
23
TD
2
YDS
256
INT
0
Players Mentioned
RB
/ FootballQB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
LB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
K
/ Football
LB
/ Football
LB
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