Michigan State University Athletics
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell/MSU Athletic Communications
Post-Game Notes: Northwestern
10/17/2026 7:19:00 PM | Football
SERIES NOTES
• Saturday's game marked the 61st meeting between Michigan State and Northwestern . . . the Spartans lead the all-time series, 40-21, including a 19-10 record in East Lansing . . . MSU's three-game win streak in the series was halted with Saturday's loss . . . Saturday's match-up was the first meeting between the Spartans and Wildcats since the 2021 season opener and the visiting team has won the last two meetings, after a 38-21 victory for Michigan State as All-American Kenneth Walker III ran for 264 yards and four touchdowns in his Spartan debut . . . this was the first meeting between MSU and NU in Spartan Stadium since the Spartans beat the 11th-ranked Wildcats, 29-20, on Nov. 28, 2020.
• The 3-point scoring margin was MSU's second-straight loss by three points or less after last week's 38-37 OT loss to Illinois.
 • Saturday's 3-point scoring margin was the first one-score difference in the series since 2017's meeting won by NU, 39-31 in 3OT, as MSU's recent three wins have been by 17 (38-21 in 2021), 9 (29-20 in 2020) and 21 (31-10 in 2019) points, along with a 29-19 loss to NU in 2018.
OFFENSE
• MSU's 305 yards of total offense on Saturday marked the Spartans' second-straight game with 300+ yards and the fourth game this season . . . it was MSU's second-highest output in a Big Ten game this season behind last week's 342 yards.
• Redshirt-sophomore quarterback Alessio Milivojevic was 19-of-30 passing for 216 yards and two TDs, with no interceptions . . . the 30 attempts was Milivojevic's third game this season with 30+ attempts, while the 216 yards was his third game with 200+ yards passing this season . . . a native of Naperville, Illinois, Milivojevic was facing a team from his home state of Illinois for the second time in his career, and have both come in as many weeks after playing Illinois last week.
• Milivojevic also ran for a TD on Saturday with a 3-yard run in the first quarter for MSU's opening score . . . it was Milivojevic's first rushing TD of the season and second of his career, with a career-long scoring scamper, after his 1-yard plunge last season at Nebraska (10/4/25).
• Milivojevic's two TD passes was his second-straight multi-TD outing, with two last week vs. Illinois, as part of his third game this season with multiple TD tosses, matching his outing vs. Eastern Michigan (9/12/26), as part of his fifth career game with multiple TDs . . . the Spartan signal-caller has at least one TD toss in four of the seven games, now with seven TDs on the season and 17 for his career after 10 touchdown passes last season.
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• The 216 yards Saturday gives Milivojevic 2,530 yards for his career, becoming the 21st QB in MSU history with 2,500 career passing yards . . . Milivojevic needs just 47 yards for the No. 20 spot, currently held by Steve Juday (1963-65) with 2,576 yards.
• With the 17 career TD passes, Milivojevic also moves up to tie for No. 21 on MSU's career TD passes list, matching Bobby McAllister (1985-88) and Jim Miller (1990-93) . . . next up tied for the No. 19 spot is Tom Yewcic (1951-53) and Eugene Glick (1946-49).Â
• Redshirt-senior wide receiver Chrishon McCray snared his first TD of the season with a 53-yard pass from Milivojevic in the fourth quarter . . . it was McCray's fourth TD catch as a Spartan and the 17th of his collegiate career, with 13 during his three seasons at Kent State (2022-24) . . . McCray finished the game with three catches for 64 yards, with multiple catches in six of the seven games, including with three or more catches in the last four games . . . the 64 yards was McCray's second-highest total of the season behind his top mark of the year of 69 yards in game one vs. Toledo (9/3/26).
• Redshirt-freshman wide receiver Bryson Williams snared the first TD catch of his collegiate career with the 32-yard catch from Milivojevic in the second quarter . . . the 32-yard catch was also his longest catch of his career . . . Williams now has two catches for 51 yards this season and three receptions for 59 yards in his career.
• Redshirt-freshman tight end Jayden Savoury led MSU with four catches Saturday, going for 33 yards . . . Savoury now has snared multiple receptions in all seven games this season, including his third-straight game with four or more catches as part of the in five of the seven games this season.
• Redshirt-junior Fredrick Moore had three catches for 43 yards, including a 29-yard catch that was a new career-long reception, topping his previous career-high of 24 yards last week vs. Illinois on a TD catch . . . Moore now has multiple catches in six of the seven games, and Saturday was his fourth game with three or more receptions.
• Graduate running back Jaziun Patterson made his third-straight start and had 15 carries for 72 yards . . . the 72 yards was his second-most of the season behind his top mark of 93 yards last week vs. Illinois . . . Patterson has rushed for 50 or more yards in the last four games.
DEFENSE
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• Redshirt-senior defensive lineman Ben Roberts registered a career-high for the second-straight week with eight stops on Saturday, after seven tackles last week, which topped his previous top mark of four tackles, done twice, last vs. Nebraska (9/26/26).
• Roberts now has 15 tackles in the last two games, after entering last week with a combined 11 tackles through the first five games.
• Roberts also registered a career-high 2.0 sacks and finished with a career-best 3.0 tackles for loss on Saturday . . . his previous top marks were 2.0 TFLs with 1.0 sack vs. Rutgers (11/30/24).
• The 3.0 TFLs not only marked the fourth game for Roberts with at least 0.5 TFL in a game this season, but was also 1.0 more than his season total of 2.0 tackles for loss entering Saturday.
• Senior linebacker Dion Crawford registered a season-high 14 tackles, which tied his career-high of 14 stops last season vs. Minnesota (8/25/25) while he was at Buffalo.
• Crawford's 14 stops was his first double-digit total of his Spartan career and his fifth career game with 10+ tackles.
• Crawford has recorded three or more stops in all six games played, missing the season-opener vs. Toledo with an injury, and had posted five or more stops in four games, with Saturday's 14 tackles topping his previous season-high mark of eight tackles vs. Wisconsin (10/3/26).
• Senior linebacker Cam Stodghill registered 11 tackles for the second-straight game after 11 stops last week vs. Illinois . . . Stodghill now has 10+ tackles in seven of his last 14 games played with five double-digit tackle outings in his seven games played last year at Albany and now twice in seven games at MSU . . . overall, it was Stodghill's eighth career game with 10+ tackles during his career at Albany (2023-25), now with two in 2026, along with five outings in 2025 and one in 2024.
• Redshirt-junior safety Devin Vaught tied a season-high with eight tackles for the third time this season.
SPECIAL TEAMS
• Junior punter Rhys Dakin had three punts for a 48.0 ypp average with a long of 58-yards, adding a 56-yarder . . . he now has 11 punts of 50+ yards this season and 37 for his career.
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• Saturday's game marked the 61st meeting between Michigan State and Northwestern . . . the Spartans lead the all-time series, 40-21, including a 19-10 record in East Lansing . . . MSU's three-game win streak in the series was halted with Saturday's loss . . . Saturday's match-up was the first meeting between the Spartans and Wildcats since the 2021 season opener and the visiting team has won the last two meetings, after a 38-21 victory for Michigan State as All-American Kenneth Walker III ran for 264 yards and four touchdowns in his Spartan debut . . . this was the first meeting between MSU and NU in Spartan Stadium since the Spartans beat the 11th-ranked Wildcats, 29-20, on Nov. 28, 2020.
• The 3-point scoring margin was MSU's second-straight loss by three points or less after last week's 38-37 OT loss to Illinois.
 • Saturday's 3-point scoring margin was the first one-score difference in the series since 2017's meeting won by NU, 39-31 in 3OT, as MSU's recent three wins have been by 17 (38-21 in 2021), 9 (29-20 in 2020) and 21 (31-10 in 2019) points, along with a 29-19 loss to NU in 2018.
OFFENSE
• MSU's 305 yards of total offense on Saturday marked the Spartans' second-straight game with 300+ yards and the fourth game this season . . . it was MSU's second-highest output in a Big Ten game this season behind last week's 342 yards.
• Redshirt-sophomore quarterback Alessio Milivojevic was 19-of-30 passing for 216 yards and two TDs, with no interceptions . . . the 30 attempts was Milivojevic's third game this season with 30+ attempts, while the 216 yards was his third game with 200+ yards passing this season . . . a native of Naperville, Illinois, Milivojevic was facing a team from his home state of Illinois for the second time in his career, and have both come in as many weeks after playing Illinois last week.
• Milivojevic also ran for a TD on Saturday with a 3-yard run in the first quarter for MSU's opening score . . . it was Milivojevic's first rushing TD of the season and second of his career, with a career-long scoring scamper, after his 1-yard plunge last season at Nebraska (10/4/25).
• Milivojevic's two TD passes was his second-straight multi-TD outing, with two last week vs. Illinois, as part of his third game this season with multiple TD tosses, matching his outing vs. Eastern Michigan (9/12/26), as part of his fifth career game with multiple TDs . . . the Spartan signal-caller has at least one TD toss in four of the seven games, now with seven TDs on the season and 17 for his career after 10 touchdown passes last season.
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• The 216 yards Saturday gives Milivojevic 2,530 yards for his career, becoming the 21st QB in MSU history with 2,500 career passing yards . . . Milivojevic needs just 47 yards for the No. 20 spot, currently held by Steve Juday (1963-65) with 2,576 yards.
• With the 17 career TD passes, Milivojevic also moves up to tie for No. 21 on MSU's career TD passes list, matching Bobby McAllister (1985-88) and Jim Miller (1990-93) . . . next up tied for the No. 19 spot is Tom Yewcic (1951-53) and Eugene Glick (1946-49).Â
• Redshirt-senior wide receiver Chrishon McCray snared his first TD of the season with a 53-yard pass from Milivojevic in the fourth quarter . . . it was McCray's fourth TD catch as a Spartan and the 17th of his collegiate career, with 13 during his three seasons at Kent State (2022-24) . . . McCray finished the game with three catches for 64 yards, with multiple catches in six of the seven games, including with three or more catches in the last four games . . . the 64 yards was McCray's second-highest total of the season behind his top mark of the year of 69 yards in game one vs. Toledo (9/3/26).
• Redshirt-freshman wide receiver Bryson Williams snared the first TD catch of his collegiate career with the 32-yard catch from Milivojevic in the second quarter . . . the 32-yard catch was also his longest catch of his career . . . Williams now has two catches for 51 yards this season and three receptions for 59 yards in his career.
• Redshirt-freshman tight end Jayden Savoury led MSU with four catches Saturday, going for 33 yards . . . Savoury now has snared multiple receptions in all seven games this season, including his third-straight game with four or more catches as part of the in five of the seven games this season.
• Redshirt-junior Fredrick Moore had three catches for 43 yards, including a 29-yard catch that was a new career-long reception, topping his previous career-high of 24 yards last week vs. Illinois on a TD catch . . . Moore now has multiple catches in six of the seven games, and Saturday was his fourth game with three or more receptions.
• Graduate running back Jaziun Patterson made his third-straight start and had 15 carries for 72 yards . . . the 72 yards was his second-most of the season behind his top mark of 93 yards last week vs. Illinois . . . Patterson has rushed for 50 or more yards in the last four games.
DEFENSE
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• Redshirt-senior defensive lineman Ben Roberts registered a career-high for the second-straight week with eight stops on Saturday, after seven tackles last week, which topped his previous top mark of four tackles, done twice, last vs. Nebraska (9/26/26).
• Roberts now has 15 tackles in the last two games, after entering last week with a combined 11 tackles through the first five games.
• Roberts also registered a career-high 2.0 sacks and finished with a career-best 3.0 tackles for loss on Saturday . . . his previous top marks were 2.0 TFLs with 1.0 sack vs. Rutgers (11/30/24).
• The 3.0 TFLs not only marked the fourth game for Roberts with at least 0.5 TFL in a game this season, but was also 1.0 more than his season total of 2.0 tackles for loss entering Saturday.
• Senior linebacker Dion Crawford registered a season-high 14 tackles, which tied his career-high of 14 stops last season vs. Minnesota (8/25/25) while he was at Buffalo.
• Crawford's 14 stops was his first double-digit total of his Spartan career and his fifth career game with 10+ tackles.
• Crawford has recorded three or more stops in all six games played, missing the season-opener vs. Toledo with an injury, and had posted five or more stops in four games, with Saturday's 14 tackles topping his previous season-high mark of eight tackles vs. Wisconsin (10/3/26).
• Senior linebacker Cam Stodghill registered 11 tackles for the second-straight game after 11 stops last week vs. Illinois . . . Stodghill now has 10+ tackles in seven of his last 14 games played with five double-digit tackle outings in his seven games played last year at Albany and now twice in seven games at MSU . . . overall, it was Stodghill's eighth career game with 10+ tackles during his career at Albany (2023-25), now with two in 2026, along with five outings in 2025 and one in 2024.
• Redshirt-junior safety Devin Vaught tied a season-high with eight tackles for the third time this season.
SPECIAL TEAMS
• Junior punter Rhys Dakin had three punts for a 48.0 ypp average with a long of 58-yards, adding a 56-yarder . . . he now has 11 punts of 50+ yards this season and 37 for his career.
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