EAST LANSING – Nick Sheridan entrusted Michigan State football’s offensive line with grinding out the final 28 yards and 3 1/2 minutes of a tie game.
Milk the clock. Get a score. End the losing streak.
None of it came to fruition.
The Spartans ran the ball four times, getting one first down before stalling. An illegal snap penalty backed the ball up five yards, and MSU got back three of them again on the ground. Plenty of time remained, though, as Liam Boyd lined up for a 33-yard field-goal attempt, which was blocked.
That failed drive gave Northwestern and Aidan Chiles a minute to move into field goal territory for the eventual winning kick with two seconds left in the Spartans’ 24-21 loss, their fifth in a row. And it left a sour taste with the big men who have shown continual improvement but could not close it out.
“It definitely hurts,” center Trent Fraley said after practice Tuesday, Oct. 20. “They let it be up to us, and we just didn’t go up to what our standard was. We didn’t do our job to the best of our ability.
“It’s definitely something that we’re working on now. And we just want to continue to improve so whenever we’re in that situation again, we can execute.”
The Spartans (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) hit the road for the Rose Bowl and a date with No. 10 UCLA (6-0, 3-0). Kickoff for the nationally televised game (CBS) is 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Pasadena, California.
It’s a new challenge for an MSU offensive line against a Bruins defense that ranks 21st in the country at 16.2 points allowed, having given up just 25 total in their last three wins. UCLA allows just 292.3 total yards and 97.7 rushing yards per game, both of which are 20th nationally. Its 26.6% third-down defense is fifth-best in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
And with the Bruins' offense ranked fourth in the country with 34:01 of possession time, MSU will need to maximize the opportunities it gets when it has the ball.
“They do a ton up front, and they create a lot of communication, a lot of pressure, a lot of movement. … They’re excellent,” offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan said Tuesday of the UCLA defense. “They’re very well-coached. They have a great scheme. They have a great demeanor – I think they play defensive football the right way.”
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While Sheridan was pleased with how the offensive line protected quarterback Alessio Milivojevic, he also pointed to “searching for the inches” in the run game after a second straight close loss. And the final offensive possession, after MSU took a 21-13 lead early in the fourth quarter, was a case study in his assessment.
With starting left tackle Ben Murawski out against the Wildcats, the Spartans gave up just one sack in the first quarter. Rakeem Johnson, who shifted from right tackle to replace Murawski, got beat off the left edge. Milivojevic, who had Rodney Bullard Jr. breaking free deep, did not time the pressure and got hit as he wound up to throw. He fumbled, and Northwestern recovered deep in MSU territory, but the defense held the Wildcats to a field goal.
The Spartans ran for 89 yards, 72 of them from Jaziun Patterson, and just two negative-yardage plays – the Milivojevic sack and a 1-yard Marvis Parrish loss. However, they got just 15 first downs in the game and went 3 for 12 on third downs and 2 of 4 on fourth.
“I think during the game, we executed our run scheme really efficiently,” Johnson said Tuesday.
Northwestern appeared to gift-wrap a chance at victory, failing to convert a fake punt thanks to special teams snuff-outs from Trey Lisle with pressure and DeJae White with a pass breakup, as MSU got the ball at the Wildcats 28 with 3:29 to play.
The plan was to run the ball, with Patterson getting 12 yards on his first two carries before the 2-minute timeout. He picked up three more and then got stuffed for no gain as Northwestern used its final two timeouts. Coming out of a timeout, Fraley was whistled for an illegal snap. On third-and-12, Patterson picked up three yards. Coach Pat Fitzgerald called a timeout with 1:06 left as the drive stalled, then Boyd’s kick was blocked.
“The false start on third-and-7 was detrimental. And then we had poor execution,” Sheridan said. “We didn’t execute well at the end of the game, just being frank with you. … We were completely aligned on what we were trying to do. And so if you run the ball and get 3 1/2 three [plays] in a row, you’re gonna get a first down. We could’ve bled the clock and kicked it right at the buzzer.
“But you can’t get a false start. You can’t do that in that moment. And we didn’t block those pictures clean enough.”
After coming back before falling in overtime against Illinois a week earlier, the Spartans’ fade against Northwestern still stings. But the development of the line play to get in position to win remains a silver lining with five games remaining.
“Of course it’s tough. As a football player, everyone wants to win, for sure,” Johnson said. “But as you guys have seen, we’re getting really close. … We see how close we are, so it’s really pushing us to just get that one extra step and go win some games out there.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football offensive line has shown promise even in defeat