EAST LANSING – Pat Fitzgerald reflected on his long absence from the sidelines and return as the Michigan State football coach.
It had been 1,379 days since he last donned the headset. It had been longer since his last victory, four years and nine days since he last tasted victory. And that was in Ireland – Fitzgerald’s last win on American soil came Oct. 16, 2021.
To say the Spartans’ resolve-testing, grit-needed 30-20 victory over Toledo on Friday night, Sept. 5, felt good would be an understatement.
But to say that Fitzgerald was satisfied with his MSU debut and first game coaching a school other than his alma mater Northwestern would be an overreach.
“If you come into the building, you'll see our value pyramid. Right at the top is, ‘Respond.’
It's right below, ‘Winning,’” Fitzgerald said as the clock clicked past midnight into Saturday morning inside Spartan Stadium. “You have to respond to win. That's tried, true and tested in every athletic competition. It's never going to be a yellow brick road to success.”
The adversity Fitzgerald anticipated all week arrived in abundance and in many forms.
There were costly penalties, like the holding call on left guard Conner Moore that derailed MSU’s third drive and run-game momentum up to that point.
The first possession of the season resulted in a Cam Edwards direct-snap touchdown run, but the second stalled inside the red zone and resulted in the first of five Liam Boyd field goals. Moore’s hold early in the second quarter curtailed momentum after an interception by defensive end Kenny Soares Jr. set the offense up in Toledo territory.
On the Rockets’ ensuing possession, cornerback Charles Brantley got flagged for a third-down defensive holding penalty that prevented a three-and-out. Five plays later, Brantley got burned over the top for a 60-yard touchdown pass from Rockets quarterback John Alan Richter to Adjatay Dabbs.
Still, the Spartans carried a 19-7 lead into halftime. Then the toll of in-game attrition began to mount.
Linebacker Jordan Hall suffered an apparent right arm injury on MSU’s second defensive possession of the game, played through it for the rest of the first half, then stayed on the sidelines in the third quarter and much of the fourth. The senior captain returned for the final drives.
Left tackle Ben Murawski disappeared into the injury tent sometime after blocking for Boyd’s 54-yard field goal attempt that was blocked following another petered-out drive to open the third quarter. He returned later on Boyd’s final field goal.
Edwards and his backup Marvis Parrish also both left the game for long stretches, leaving No. 3 running back Jaziun Patterson to take the load on the ground for much of the second half.
“We always practice the next-man-up mentality,” said senior receiver Rodney Bullard Jr., who caught seven passes for 90 yards. “We have a lot of confidence in a lot of guys in all of our rooms to be able to produce when it's their time to perform.”
After the block on Boyd, MSU’s lead dwindled via another coverage bust for 31 yards that set up a second Richter-to-Dabbs touchdown pass, the 6-yard score just over a leap by cornerback Tre Bell. Edwards got stuffed on a fourth-and-inches Wildcat run on the ensuing possession.
Two plays later, Toledo’s Connor Walendzak found a crease where linebackers Brady Pretzlaff and Caleb Wheatland got blocked to his left and safety Devin Vaught and Soares got held up to his right. Walendzak raced 71 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. With 13:47 to play, MSU found itself trailing, 20-19.
“There is no excuse for all the plays that we gave up. … We came out with a fire – I felt like we were on point with everything we were doing,” said Bell, who had three tackles including a sack and another for a loss plus a pass breakup. “Then we came out in the second half, and we got punched in the mouth.”
How the Spartans responded, Fitzgerald hopes, will become ingrained in their DNA for the next three-plus months and beyond.
Quarterback Alessio Milivojevic quickly marched MSU down the field with a pair of 26-yard passes to Bullard, absorbing a roughing-the-passer penalty on the second. Then on fourth-and-inches at the Toledo 5, the Spartans went for it and rolled Milivojevic to his right to throw. He found Bullard wide open for the touchdown, then found the receiver for the 2-point conversion. MSU’s defense did the rest, and Boyd added his fifth field goal with 1:55 to play to deliver Fitzgerald his first victory with the Spartans.
“I think there was an unwavering faith that we were going to win that game,” said Milivojevic, who finished 26 of 34 for 247 yards with no turnovers. “I never felt any time that the sideline dipped to nothing. And the entire time, we knew that this was our game to lose and we're going to go out there and take it.”
There was plenty for Fitzgerald to like, including a dominating 43:16-16:44 time of possession and a 26-10 edge in first downs. There also was plenty for him to critique and improve in every facet of his fledgling program, with Eastern Michigan and Week 2 next Saturday (3:30 p.m./BTN).
“For us as a staff, today was a big test, right? Our first time together collectively. And I thought the communication was outstanding,” he said. “I thought the adjustments were on point. The in-game coaching was really good, and we identified the issues and tried to make corrections. So proud of the staff for that.
“But I just can't wait to get back to practice on Monday and correct the things that we can be better at.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State 'got punched in the mouth' by Toledo. But Spartans found their way to 1-0
