Michigan State Improves to 2-0, Defeats Eastern Michigan, 35-7

Saturday, September 12

East Lansing, Mich.

3:30 PM

Michigan State University

2-0 , 0-0

Eastern Michigan

1-2 , 1-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Eastern Mich.	0	7	0	0	7
Michigan St.	7	7	14	7	35

Cam Edwards, Nick Sharpe, Trent Fraley, Ben Murawski, Alessio Milivojevic and offensive line action photo Michigan State vs Eastern Michigan game on Sept. 12, 2026 at Spartan Stadium.

Photo by: Rey Del Rio/MSU Athletic Communications

Michigan State Improves to 2-0, Defeats Eastern Michigan, 35-7

9/12/2026 7:25:00 PM | Football

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)Post-Game Quotes Post-Game Stats

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State scored 21 unanswered points in the second half en route to a 35-7 victory over Eastern Michigan at Spartan Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Spartans improve to 2-0 and will take on Notre Dame for the Megaphone Trophy next Saturday on NBC and Peacock. Eastern Michigan falls to 1-2 on the season.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Alessio Milivojevic completed 12-of-20 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns, while graduate running back Cam Edwards rushed for 152 yards with a pair of touchdowns on 21 attempts. Graduate quarterback Cam Fancher completed 6-of-6 passes for 44 yards and rushed for eight more yards on two carries.

Redshirt freshman tight end Jayden Savoury led MSU with four receptions, good for a career-best 63 yards, including a 46-yard catch-and-run in the fourth quarter. Leading the Spartans in receiving yards was redshirt freshman Charles Taplin who caught three passes for a career-best 65 yards and his first career touchdown on a 38-yard strike.

Redshirt sophomore linebacker Brady Pretzlaff tallied a career-high eight tackles, tying redshirt junior safety Devin Vaught for the team high. Redshirt junior Eli Coenen led the Spartans with two sacks. Graduate cornerback Charles Brantley forced and recovered a third quarter fumble.

"I thought we came ready to play, thought we started fast," said MSU head coach Pat Fitzgerald. "And then we had a lull in the second quarter, and I think the credit goes to Eastern Michigan. I thought they put together a good plan. They were more physical than we were in the second quarter on both sides of the ball and in the kick game. I thought Nick (Sheridan), Joe (Rossi), and LeVar (Woods) were right on at halftime. As a head coach, you're listening to the adjustments, you're getting ready to put your two cents in, and by the time I even got up into the locker room after doing a couple interviews on the field, they already had the things that I expected. The things I was going to say they were already talking about it. So terrific job by those three men getting with our three units.

"And then the guys responded. The way we put together a great drive to start the second half, and then all but one to finish, at the end we were taking the clock out, but on the one to finish, we've got to take care of the ball better, obviously. But I thought it was a very dominant performance in the second half."

SCORING SUMMARY
Michigan State opened the game's scoring on its second drive, following a Chrishon McCray 31-yard punt return that gave the Spartans on the EMU 24-yard line. Three plays later, Milivojevic found Fredrick Moore in the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown pass at the 6:32 mark in the first quarter.

MSU went up 14-0 midway through the second quarter after capitalizing on a 16-play, 80-yard drive in 7:19 with a 1-yard TD run by Edwards.

Eastern Michigan got on the board late in the first half with 1:50 remaining as Noah Kim ran it in 4 yards for a touchdown that cut the Spartan lead to 14-7.

The Spartans took their first possession of the second half and marched right down the field, driving 75 yards on 13 plays while taking 6:10 off the clock, capped by a 2-yard TD run by Edwards, his second of the game.

After Charles Brantley forced a fumble on EMU's next series, Michigan State took advantage of the turnover as Milivojevic connected on a 38-yard touchdown pass to Charles Taplin to make it 28-7 in favor of MSU with 5:46 remaining in the third quarter. It marked Taplin's first career TD reception.

Two series later, Edwards busted loose for a game-long rush of 40 yards to set up Jaziun Patterson's 7-yard TD run that gave MSU a 35-7 advantage with 7:48 left in the game.

UP NEXT
Michigan State travels to Notre Dame to take on the Fighting Irish Saturday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Notre Dame Stadium. The game will be televised on NBC/Peacock.