Michigan State Falls at Home to UCLA

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State fell to UCLA on Homecoming, 38-13, before a crowd of 72,109 on Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic completed 8-of-18 passes for 100 yards and sophomore wide receiver Nick Marsh caught seven passes for 77 yards and one touchdown, while sophomore running back Makhi Frazier had 12 carries for 58 yards. Junior quarterback Aidan Chiles finished the day completing 8-of-17 passes for 66 yards and a 2-yard rushing touchdown.

Junior linebacker Jordan Hall led the defensive unit with seven tackles, while redshirt junior defensive lineman Alex VanSumeren had six tackles, including a half sack and a tackle-for-loss. Redshirt senior defensive back Armorion Smith added six tackles and redshirt sophomore edge David Santiago finished with five tackles.

"I'll start with just not good enough," said MSU head coach Jonathan Smith. "Start with myself – think about this staff, as we're responsible for preparing these guys for the week so they can come out and execute and play with great energy, and we didn't have it today. I told the locker room, we lost a bunch of one on ones. All three phases, the opportunity to get off the field did not take place, the way they could run the ball.  

"And so we're at the halfway point, talked about it in the locker room just now, three and three. That's the reality.  We've gotten beat the last three weeks coming out, and we've got to work to fix some things that we can fix, but we got to be able to play in the manner that we win way more one on ones than we did today."

SCORING SUMMARY

Michigan State (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) got off to a good start, forcing a UCLA three-and-out and then scoring on its first possession with a 10-play, 59-yard drive capped by a 2-yard rushing touchdown by Aidan Chiles, his fifth rushing TD of the season.

The Bruins (2-4, 2-1 Big Ten) got on the board on their second series with a 47-yard field goal by Mateen Bhaghani.

MSU came up short on fourth down on its second possession, giving UCLA good field position at the Spartan 34-yard line. The Bruins took advantage with a quick touchdown while taking just 1:39 off the clock as Jalen Berger fielded a direct snap and raced 16 yards into the end zone to make it 10-7 UCLA.

The Bruins went up 17-7 at the 10:17 mark in the second quarter on Berger's second TD of the game, this time on a 3-yard reception from Nico Iamaleava. UCLA extended its lead to 24-7 as Iamaleava connected with Titus Mokiao-Atimalala on a 12-yard touchdown with 4:09 left in the half.

UCLA scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to go up 38-7.

Nick Marsh caught his fourth TD pass of the season on a 5-yard reception from Alessio Milivojevic at the 13:09 mark in the fourth quarter.

UP NEXT

Michigan State travels to Indiana on Saturday, Oct. 18 to take on the Hoosiers in Bloomington at 3:30 p.m. The game will be streamed live on Peacock.

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Team Stats

Alessio Milivojevic

Aidan Chiles

Players Mentioned

Aidan Chiles

Makhi Frazier

Jordan Hall

Nick Marsh

Alessio Milivojevic

David Santiago

Armorion Smith

Alex VanSumeren