EAST LANSING – Before turning his attention to UCLA, Pat Fitzgerald expressed his concern for a continuing four-letter problem for Michigan State football.
MOBP.
“Missed opportunities for big plays,” Fitzgerald said Monday, Oct. 19.
The first-year coach delivered both praise and criticism for quarterback Alessio Milivojevic in the wake of Saturday’s 24-21 loss to Northwestern.
The third-year sophomore threw for 216 yards on 19-for-30 passing and accounted for all three of the Spartans’ scores – two touchdowns through the air and another on the ground. He delivered a perfect over-the-top throw to Chrishon McCray in one-on-one coverage on a deep post route for a 53-yard
TD in the fourth quarter and delivered a 32-yard pass for redshirt freshman Bryson Williams’ first career touchdown to cap a hurry-up drive at the end of the first half.
But Milivojevic also twice missed a wide-open Rodney Bullard Jr., and Fitzgerald pointed to two other instances where his starter didn’t even make an attempt to throw to open receivers. One of those, in the first quarter with Bullard breaking free deep, resulted in a lost fumble by Milivojevic in the only sack MSU allowed in the game.
“This is what happens with the quarterback,” Fitzgerald said. “You get the blame and you get the credit.”
For the season, Milivojevic ranks 16th among Big Ten quarterbacks in passing yards (1,198, or 180.4 per game) and passer efficency rating (132). The 6-foot-3, 223-pound native of Naperville, Illinois, is 15th with seven TD passes, while his three interceptions ties him for sixth-best among starters. His 65.4% completion percentage ranks eighth.
But Milivojevic, now 11 consecutive starts into his MSU career, also understands how critical some of his misfires and misreads have been.
“When he’s that open, all you gotta do is just give him a chance to go make a play,” he said Saturday of the missed throws to Bullard. “And that’s what I have to do better. … Those two throws, you just gotta put it on his body – obviously two I want back.
“But I’m always gonna play with confidence, that’s just the type of player I am.”
The book on the Bruins
Mired in a five-game losing streak, the Spartans (2-5, 0-4) remain on the hunt for their first Big Ten victory when they travel to the Rose Bowl to face the red-hot 10th-ranked Bruins on Saturday (3:30 p.m., CBS). Milivojevic has yet to win a road game in four tries and is 3-8 overall as a starter going back to the final four games of last season.
“We’ve got great confidence in ’Less and belief in him,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s a heck of a leader. … But the hallmark of really good quarterbacks and really good coaches and really good programs is you win. And when you don’t, the criticism is fitting.”
UCLA, under first-year coach Bob Chesney, beat Wisconsin on Saturday night, 17-7. Backup quarterback Ty Dieffenbach was 22-for 33-for 264 yards with an interception (on an end-of-half Hail Mary) and no touchdowns after the Cal Poly transfer got his first start with the Bruins in place of Nico Iamaleava, who is done for the season with a knee injury.
The 6-6, 227-pound senior Dieffenbach, who began his career under ex-MSU assistant Pat Narduzzi at Pitt, made his UCLA debut by going 3-for-6 with a winning touchdown pass (to running back Wayne Knight) in relief of Iamaleava in a 17-15 road win at Oregon a week earlier.
“A similar skill set [to Iamaleava],” Fitzgerald said of Dieffenbach. “Not the exact same skill set, but similar ability to extend the play. You can tell they have complete trust and confidence in his arm. I mean, he can really rip it. Really impressive.
“And then you couple that with their skill. I mean, their offensive skill is as good as we’ve seen all year. It’s every bit as good, if not better, than the skill we saw at Notre Dame on tape.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
Subscribe to the "Spartan Speak" podcast for new episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Next up: Bruins
Matchup: Michigan State (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) at No. 10 UCLA (6-0, 3-0).
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24; Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California.
TV/radio: CBS; WJR-AM (760).
Line: Bruins by 14.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football knows it can't keep missing on big plays
