Michigan State University Athletics
Photo by: MSU Athletic Communications
10/26/2026 11:03:00 AM | Football
SERIES NOTES
• Saturday marked the eighth all-time meeting between Michigan State and UCLA . . . the Bruins hold a slight edge in the all-time series, 5-3, following a 38-13 victory in East Lansing last season in the first game between the programs as Big Ten schools, and with Saturday's outcome . . . the Spartans won the first three games in the series, including wins in the 1954 and 1956 Rose Bowl Games, along with the 1965 season opener in East Lansing, but UCLA has won the last four match-ups . . . Saturday also marked the fourth time that the Spartans and Bruins have faced each other in the Rose Bowl Game (MSU with a 2-2 record with victories in 1954 and 1956; lost in 1966 and today).
• Saturday was only the second-ever meeting between MSU and UCLA in Los Angeles during the regular season . . . in the only previous match-up between the two schools in LA during the regular season, UCLA posted a 56-14 win over the Spartans on Sept. 28, 1974, in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.Â
• Saturday's match-up for No. 9 UCLA was Michigan State's third game vs. a ranked opponent, including second vs. a Top 10 foe (vs. No. 3 Notre Dame on Sept. 19; vs. No. 25 Northwestern on Oct. 17).
OFFENSEÂ
• Michigan State freshman quarterback Kayd Coffman made his first start of his collegiate career on Saturday . . . Coffman is the first freshman QB to start a game for the Spartans since Sept. 16, 2000, when Jeff Smoker started vs. Missouri in a 13-10 Victory for MSU . . . Coffman is the third-ever true freshman Spartan QB to start, joining the list with Smoker and Dave Yarema on Oct. 30, 1982, at Indiana in a 22-14 win for the Spartans.
• Coffman was starting in place of redshirt sophomore QB and team co-captain Alessio Milivojevic, who was out with an injury . . . Coffman completed his first four passes, including his first collegiate TD pass on his fourth pass of the day, a 14-yard pass to redshirt junior running back Kenneth Williams . . . Coffman finished 4-of-10 passing with the one TD and one INT on the day, with three sacks and two official rushing attempts.
• Coffman was making his first start and his second appearance of his Spartan career, with both coming on the road, seeing limited action at Wisconsin (Oct. 3), with three rushing attempts and no passing attempts in that game.
• Redshirt junior running back Kenneth Williams scored his first offensive career TD and his second overall TD with the 14-yard scoring catch in the first quarter . . . he had one career score on a kick return while at Nebraska during his two years at Nebraska (2024-25)
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• Kenneth Williams finished with career highs of 17 carries for 54 yards, adding three catches for 12 yards and the 14-yard TD . . . Williams' 17 carries and 54 yards were both more than his career totals coming into Saturday's game, as he had just eight rushing attempts for 37 yards, and two catches for 23 yards in his previous 21 career games played, as he was primarily a kick return specialist at Nebraska.
• After a one game lapse, MSU's offensive line returned to its most-used starting lineup for Saturday's game, with left tackle Ben Murawski, left guard Connor Moore, center Trent Fraley, right guard Nick Sharpe and right tackle Rakeem Johnson . . . Moore, Fraley, Sharpe and Johnson have started all eight games . . . Murawski started the first six games, before missing the Northwestern game with an injury, but returned to the starting line-up Saturday at UCLA.
• MSU scored its TD on a two-play, 15-yard scoring drive that took 51 seconds was the Spartans' second-straight scoring drive that only took two plays, after a two-play scoring drive for their third and final TD of the Northwestern game.
• The pair of two-play scoring drives ties the Spartans' second-fewest of the season, behind a 1-play, 11-yard scoring drive in the Illinois game (Oct. 10) . . . overall it was MSU's sixth scoring drive of three plays or less.
 • The 0:51 drive was MSU's fourth drive of 1:00 or less, joining the 11-second drive vs. Illinois, as well as a 27 second scoring drive for the first score vs. Eastern Michigan (Sept. 12) along with a 1:00 drive last week vs. Northwestern.
DEFENSE
• The Spartan defense notched a season-high two takeaways with a pair of fumble recoveries, as MSU had just three takeaways in the previous seven games, including only one fumble recovery previously . . . both fumble recoveries on Saturday were 56-yard returns, first by junior defensive back Devin Vaught in the first quarter and then by graduate defensive back Nikai Martinez in the second quarter.
• Junior defensive back Devin Vaught had a 56-yard fumble recovery on a literal takeaway ripping the ball away from UCLA running back Anthony Woods at the MSU 29-yard line and returning it 56 yards to the UCLA 15, setting up the Spartans' opening score of the game . . . it was Vaught's both first forced fumble and fumble recovery of not only the season but of his collegiate career.
• Vaught then added his second forced fumble of the game, month, year and even career, a quarter later, forcing a fumble on a run by UCLA's J Thomas, punching the ball loose to force the fumble at the MSU 25, and it was scooped up by graduate safety Nikai Martinez, who returned it 56 yards.
• Vaught held the title of having MSU's longest two defensive returns, as the 56-yard fumble return was the new top mark, bettering a 37-yard interception return from the Illinois game (Oct. 10), and he held the title for all of one quarter, before Martinez tied him for the longest return with his 56-yard return.
• Vaught finished with eight tackles, also sharing top tackle honors with Martinez, and has now led the team or shared the lead in tackles twice this season, also tying for top tackle totals in the Eastern Michigan game (Sept. 12) . . . Vaught has now ranked in the top two in tackles on the Spartan defense in five of the eight games, are part of ranking in the top three in a total of seven of the eight contests.
• Graduate safety Nikai Martinez also registered his first fumble recovery of the season and his collegiate career, which came two weeks after his first career forced fumble, which came in the Illinois game (Oct. 10).
• Martinez's 56-yard fumble return not only tied for MSU's longest defensive return, but also was a new career-long defensive return, topping his previous long of a 42-yard interception return which came in 2023 while he was at UCF, against Villanova.
• By tying Vaught for the team lead with eight tackles, Martinez registered eight or more stops for the second time in the last three games, with nine tackles vs. Illinois, and now has five or more tackles in each of the last three games and a total of four times this season.Â
 • Senior linebacker Dion Crawford added seven tackles, and he has posted five or more stops in five of seven games played, as he did not play in the season-opener vs. Toledo (Sept. 4), including seven or more in four games played.
SPECIAL TEAMS
 • Graduate placekicker Liam Boyd split the uprights from 46-yards out in the fourth quarter . . . Boyd is now 11-of-14 on field goals this season . . . Boyd also made one PAT and is now 16-of-16 on PATs this season . . . with Saturday's pair of special teams kicks, Boyd is now 20-of-26 on FGs and 38-of-38 on PATs for his career.
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• Saturday marked the eighth all-time meeting between Michigan State and UCLA . . . the Bruins hold a slight edge in the all-time series, 5-3, following a 38-13 victory in East Lansing last season in the first game between the programs as Big Ten schools, and with Saturday's outcome . . . the Spartans won the first three games in the series, including wins in the 1954 and 1956 Rose Bowl Games, along with the 1965 season opener in East Lansing, but UCLA has won the last four match-ups . . . Saturday also marked the fourth time that the Spartans and Bruins have faced each other in the Rose Bowl Game (MSU with a 2-2 record with victories in 1954 and 1956; lost in 1966 and today).
• Saturday was only the second-ever meeting between MSU and UCLA in Los Angeles during the regular season . . . in the only previous match-up between the two schools in LA during the regular season, UCLA posted a 56-14 win over the Spartans on Sept. 28, 1974, in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.Â
• Saturday's match-up for No. 9 UCLA was Michigan State's third game vs. a ranked opponent, including second vs. a Top 10 foe (vs. No. 3 Notre Dame on Sept. 19; vs. No. 25 Northwestern on Oct. 17).
OFFENSEÂ
• Michigan State freshman quarterback Kayd Coffman made his first start of his collegiate career on Saturday . . . Coffman is the first freshman QB to start a game for the Spartans since Sept. 16, 2000, when Jeff Smoker started vs. Missouri in a 13-10 Victory for MSU . . . Coffman is the third-ever true freshman Spartan QB to start, joining the list with Smoker and Dave Yarema on Oct. 30, 1982, at Indiana in a 22-14 win for the Spartans.
• Coffman was starting in place of redshirt sophomore QB and team co-captain Alessio Milivojevic, who was out with an injury . . . Coffman completed his first four passes, including his first collegiate TD pass on his fourth pass of the day, a 14-yard pass to redshirt junior running back Kenneth Williams . . . Coffman finished 4-of-10 passing with the one TD and one INT on the day, with three sacks and two official rushing attempts.
• Coffman was making his first start and his second appearance of his Spartan career, with both coming on the road, seeing limited action at Wisconsin (Oct. 3), with three rushing attempts and no passing attempts in that game.
• Redshirt junior running back Kenneth Williams scored his first offensive career TD and his second overall TD with the 14-yard scoring catch in the first quarter . . . he had one career score on a kick return while at Nebraska during his two years at Nebraska (2024-25)
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• Kenneth Williams finished with career highs of 17 carries for 54 yards, adding three catches for 12 yards and the 14-yard TD . . . Williams' 17 carries and 54 yards were both more than his career totals coming into Saturday's game, as he had just eight rushing attempts for 37 yards, and two catches for 23 yards in his previous 21 career games played, as he was primarily a kick return specialist at Nebraska.
• After a one game lapse, MSU's offensive line returned to its most-used starting lineup for Saturday's game, with left tackle Ben Murawski, left guard Connor Moore, center Trent Fraley, right guard Nick Sharpe and right tackle Rakeem Johnson . . . Moore, Fraley, Sharpe and Johnson have started all eight games . . . Murawski started the first six games, before missing the Northwestern game with an injury, but returned to the starting line-up Saturday at UCLA.
• MSU scored its TD on a two-play, 15-yard scoring drive that took 51 seconds was the Spartans' second-straight scoring drive that only took two plays, after a two-play scoring drive for their third and final TD of the Northwestern game.
• The pair of two-play scoring drives ties the Spartans' second-fewest of the season, behind a 1-play, 11-yard scoring drive in the Illinois game (Oct. 10) . . . overall it was MSU's sixth scoring drive of three plays or less.
 • The 0:51 drive was MSU's fourth drive of 1:00 or less, joining the 11-second drive vs. Illinois, as well as a 27 second scoring drive for the first score vs. Eastern Michigan (Sept. 12) along with a 1:00 drive last week vs. Northwestern.
DEFENSE
• The Spartan defense notched a season-high two takeaways with a pair of fumble recoveries, as MSU had just three takeaways in the previous seven games, including only one fumble recovery previously . . . both fumble recoveries on Saturday were 56-yard returns, first by junior defensive back Devin Vaught in the first quarter and then by graduate defensive back Nikai Martinez in the second quarter.
• Junior defensive back Devin Vaught had a 56-yard fumble recovery on a literal takeaway ripping the ball away from UCLA running back Anthony Woods at the MSU 29-yard line and returning it 56 yards to the UCLA 15, setting up the Spartans' opening score of the game . . . it was Vaught's both first forced fumble and fumble recovery of not only the season but of his collegiate career.
• Vaught then added his second forced fumble of the game, month, year and even career, a quarter later, forcing a fumble on a run by UCLA's J Thomas, punching the ball loose to force the fumble at the MSU 25, and it was scooped up by graduate safety Nikai Martinez, who returned it 56 yards.
• Vaught held the title of having MSU's longest two defensive returns, as the 56-yard fumble return was the new top mark, bettering a 37-yard interception return from the Illinois game (Oct. 10), and he held the title for all of one quarter, before Martinez tied him for the longest return with his 56-yard return.
• Vaught finished with eight tackles, also sharing top tackle honors with Martinez, and has now led the team or shared the lead in tackles twice this season, also tying for top tackle totals in the Eastern Michigan game (Sept. 12) . . . Vaught has now ranked in the top two in tackles on the Spartan defense in five of the eight games, are part of ranking in the top three in a total of seven of the eight contests.
• Graduate safety Nikai Martinez also registered his first fumble recovery of the season and his collegiate career, which came two weeks after his first career forced fumble, which came in the Illinois game (Oct. 10).
• Martinez's 56-yard fumble return not only tied for MSU's longest defensive return, but also was a new career-long defensive return, topping his previous long of a 42-yard interception return which came in 2023 while he was at UCF, against Villanova.
• By tying Vaught for the team lead with eight tackles, Martinez registered eight or more stops for the second time in the last three games, with nine tackles vs. Illinois, and now has five or more tackles in each of the last three games and a total of four times this season.Â
 • Senior linebacker Dion Crawford added seven tackles, and he has posted five or more stops in five of seven games played, as he did not play in the season-opener vs. Toledo (Sept. 4), including seven or more in four games played.
SPECIAL TEAMS
 • Graduate placekicker Liam Boyd split the uprights from 46-yards out in the fourth quarter . . . Boyd is now 11-of-14 on field goals this season . . . Boyd also made one PAT and is now 16-of-16 on PATs this season . . . with Saturday's pair of special teams kicks, Boyd is now 20-of-26 on FGs and 38-of-38 on PATs for his career.
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Players Mentioned
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Saturday, October 17
Monday, October 12