Post-Game Notes: Minnesota

GAME NOTES
• Graduate defensive lineman Grady Kelly was Saturday's game captain . . . he joined three of MSU's season captains for the coin toss in junior linebacker Jordan Hall, senior offensive lineman Matt Gulbin and graduate defensive lineman Quindarius Dunnigan.

SERIES NOTES
• Saturday's game marked the 50th meeting between Michigan State and Minnesota . . . despite the loss, the Spartans still lead the all-time series, 30-20, while the series is now tied at 13-13 in games played in Minneapolis.

• MSU is now 2-3 in games at Huntington Bank Stadium, which opened in 2009 . . . Overall, Michigan State has won 24 of the last 33 meetings, dating back to 1977, including five out of the last eight.

OFFENSE
• MSU started its sixth different quintet of offensive linemen out of the nine games this season . . . redshirt freshman Rakeem Johnson started at right guard to register his first starting assignment of the season and second of his career.

• The Spartan offense' 88-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter was MSU's longest scoring drive of the season, topping two scoring drives of 87 yards, first done vs. Youngstown State (9/6/25) and at USC (9/20/25), and did so needing nearly a quarter less of the plays, needing just three plays on Saturday, boosted by Elijah Tau-Tolliver's 85-yard scamper, as the YSU drive was 12 plays and USC game was 11 plays.

• Redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic also made the first start of his college career by opening Saturday's game at signal-caller . . . Milivojevic was playing in his seventh career game . . . with starting Milivojevic under center, it stopped junior quarterback Aidan Chiles' consecutive games started streak at 20 in a row, as Chiles had started all 20 previous games of his Spartan career since transferring to MSU prior to the 2024 season.

• Milivojevic was 20-of-28 passing for 311 yards, all career-highs, while tying his career-best with one TD.

• With a completion to Omari Kelly in the second quarter, Milivojevic completed his ninth pass of the game to top his previous career-high of eight completions vs. UCLA (10/11/25) . . . his 28 passing attempts and the 311 yards topped his previous highs of 18 attempts and 100 yards, also in the UCLA game.

• Milivojevic's 311 yards were the fifth-best passing outing by a Spartan QB vs. Minnesota, and the most since Brian Hoyer's 330 passing yards against the Gophers in 2006, which is the top single-game performance vs. Minnesota . . . Milivojevic is the eighth MSU QB with 300+ yards vs. Minnesota.

• Milivojevic connected with graduate wide receiver Rodney Bullard Jr. for a 71-yard TD pass, catch and run on MSU's opening possession of the second half . . . Bullard caught it at the MSU 45 and out-ran the Minnesota defense to the end zone for the TD as well as for Milivojevic's longest pass of his Spartan career.

• Senior running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver registered a season-high 127 yards rushing, highlighted by an 85-yard scamper in the fourth quarter . . . he also had a season-high 11 carries, bettering his previous season-highs of eight carries in the season-opener vs. Western Michigan (8/29/25) and his top yardage output of the season of 37 yards vs. Youngstown State (9/13/25).

• Tau-Tolliver's 85-yard run tied the ninth-longest rushing play on MSU's single-game longest plays list, tying Sherman Lewis' 85-yard scamper vs. Notre Dame in 1963 . . . the 85-yard run by Tau-Tolliver is the longest non-TD play in school history, as the other nine longest plays went for scores.

• Along with tying the ninth-longest rushing play in MSU history, Tau-Tolliver's 85-yard run was the longest by a Spartan since Kenneth Walker III's school-record 94-yard rush for a TD vs. Rutgers in 2021.

• The 85-yard run was his career-long rush, bettering his collegiate career longest rush of 70 yards vs. Weber State (10/19/24) and overall, it was Tau-Tolliver's eighth career 100-yard outing of his collegiate career, as he had seven during his time at Sacramento State (2021-24) . . . the 11 carries was Tau-Tolliver's 12th career outing double-digit rushing attempts, as he had one in all 11 games played last year at Sac State.

• Tau-Tolliver's 127 yards was his third-longest rushing total of his career, behind 141 yards vs. Weber State (10/19/24) and 127 vs. Texas A&M-Commerce (9/21/24).

• Tau-Tolliver's 127-yard outing marked back-to-back 100-yard rushing outings by a Spartan running back as sophomore Makhi Frazier rushed for a career-high 109 yards last week vs. Michigan (10/25/25).

• While the 127 yards rushing by Tau-Tolliver is not among the top eight single-game rushing outings vs. Minnesota, it is the most by a Spartan running back vs. Minnesota since LJ Scott had 194 in the 2017 meeting.

• Sophomore running back Brandon Tullis scored a rushing TD for the second straight game with a 1-yard scoring plunge in the fourth quarter . . . it was Tullis' fourth rushing TD of the season and his career.

• Graduate wide receiver Rodney Bullard Jr. caught his first TD pass as a Spartan in scoring his second total TD this season, adding a TD run in the Youngstown State game (9/13/25) . . . it was also Bullard's second catch of the season, adding to a 17-yard catch in the same aforementioned YSU game . . . overall, it was Bullard's 20th career receiving TD, as he had 19 during his career at Valdosta State (2022-24) and his 22nd all-purpose TD, with 20 receiving, one rushing and one kick return score.

• Bullard finished with a season-high 102 yards receiving on four catches after entering the game with just the one catch for 17 yards this season.

• Saturday's 102-yard outing was Bullard's first 100-yard game since a career-high 158 yards vs. Virginia Union (12/7/24) during his time at Valdosta State (2022-24) . . . it was Bullard's sixth career 100-yard outing, after five at VSU with one in 2023 and four in 2024.

• The 71-yard pass play was Bullard's third-longest reception of his collegiate career behind two 75+ yard catches while at Valdosta State, an 84-yard catch vs. Delta State (11/9/24) and a 75-yard catch vs. Erskine (9/21/24).

• Bullard's 71-yard catch was both MSU's second-longest passing and total offensive play at the time, behind a 75-yard TD pass play from Chiles to O.Kelly in the game at USC (9/20/25), before getting topped by Tau-Tolliver's 85-yard run in the fourth quarter, which is now the longest offensive play, bumping the Milivojevic-to-Bullard pass play to No. 3.

• The 103-yard outing by Bullard is MSU's second 100-yard receiving game by a Spartan this season, joining Omari Kelly's 133 yards at USC (9/20/25).

• Sophomore wide receiver Nick Marsh had four catches on Saturday for 75 yards . . . Marsh extended his streak of at least one reception in 20 straight games, with one in every game that he's appeared in the Green & White, including multiple receptions in the last 19 games played after one catch in his Spartan debut.

• With the 75 yards receiving, Marsh notched 75 yards in back-to-back games after posting 75 yards vs. Michigan last week . . . it was his fourth straight game with 60+ yards, as part of posting 50+ yards in a game a total of six times this season and for the 11th time in his career.

• Marsh has snared four or more catches in each of the last five games and in a total eight of the nine games this season and a total of 14 times in his two-year Spartan career.

• Senior wide receiver Omari Kelly snared a season-high eight receptions, topping his previous top mark of the season with seven catches in Spartan debut vs. Western Michigan (8/29/25) . . . the eight catches tied his second-best career outing, behind his career-best of nine catches during his time at Middle Tennessee State in a game vs. Western Kentucky (9/14/24), and matching eight catches two times in 2024 while at MTSU.

• Kelly's 94 yards receiving marks his second-best outing of the season, behind his Spartan high 133 yards vs. USC (9/20/25).

• Freshman wide receiver Charles Taplin made his Spartan debut in the third quarter and caught an 8-yard pass on his first snap.

DEFENSE
• The Spartan defense held the opposition to three-and-out on the opening drive for the third time this season, also doing so in the UCLA (10/11/25) and Boston College (9/6/25) contests.

• Graduate edge Isaac Smith registered his first sack as a Spartan, downing the Gopher QB in the fourth quarter . . . Smith now has 4.5 sacks in his collegiate career, including 3.5 during his time at Texas Tech (2022-24).

• Junior linebacker Jordan Hall logged a career-high two forced fumbles and now has three this season.

• Hall also logged a team-high tying 10 tackles, marking his second double-digit tackle outing of the season behind his career-high 15 stops vs. Boston College (9/6/25) and his third career game with 10+ tackles, along with 12 vs. Penn State in the 2023 season finale.

• Hall now has posted three or more tackles in all nine games, including six or more stops in the last five games as part of seven total times.

• Senior defensive back Nikai Martinez recorded a career-high 10 tackles for his first career outing in double-digits, and all three top outings have come on the road.

• Saturday's 10 tackles by Martinez topped his previous career high of seven stops, done twice before, first at Oregon (10/4/24) and again this season at USC (9/20/25).

• Graduated defensive back Malcolm Bell tallied a season-high two pass break-ups; he now has a team-leading five on the season.

• Bell added seven tackles to tie a season-high, also with seven on the road in game at Indiana (10/18/25).

• Bell also tied his career-high with 1.0 tackle for loss, which is also a season-high after two games with 0.5 TFL each . . . it ties Bell's career-best 1.0 TFL reached twice during his time at UConn, first vs. Army in 202 and again vs. Temple (10/5/24).

SPECIAL TEAMS
• Ray Guy Award Watch List member junior punter Ryan Eckley had five punts for a 46.2 ypp average and a long of 49 yards, marking just the third outing of the nine games this season that he did not have at least one punt of 50+ yards.

• Eckley had one inside the 20, giving him 12 inside the 20 this season.

• Redshirt freshman placekicker Martin Connington's 46-yard missed field goal on MSU's first possession was Connington's first miss inside 50-yards of the season, missing from 56-yards out as time expired in the first half in the game at USC (9/20/25) and a 50-yarder in cold, windy conditions at Indiana (10/18/25).

• Connington had a career-high four field goal attempts, as he split the uprights from 34-yards out on MSU's third play of the fourth quarter, before missing from 23-yards out later in the fourth frame, and then connecting from 36-yards out in OT, to finish 2-for-4 on the day and is now 9-of-13 field goals on the season . . . he added a pair of PATs to move to 19-of-20 on the season.

Players Mentioned

Malcolm Bell

Rodney Bullard Jr.

Aidan Chiles

Martin Connington

Quindarius Dunnigan

Ryan Eckley

Makhi Frazier

Matt Gulbin

Jordan Hall

Rakeem Johnson

Grady Kelly

Omari Kelly

Nick Marsh

Nikai Martinez

Alessio Milivojevic

Isaac Smith

Charles Taplin

Elijah Tau-Tolliver

Brandon Tullis

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