The Film Room: Nebraska Edition
Well Spartan Nation, here we are. 3-2 through 5 games and a bye week. Certainly not where we wanted the MSU football program to be in year 2 under Head Coach Jonathan Smith,
but alas, here we are. If nothing else, this weekend’s game with Nebraska gave us plenty of film to analyze for this week’s breakdown. While we can’t cover every single issue that led to MSU’s 38-27 loss in Lincoln, we can certainly take a closer look at the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Good
If you’ve read my film breakdowns in the past, you know that I have been as critical as anyone when discussing Michigan State’s defense so far this season. This past Saturday, Joe Rossi’s unit finally started to show progress. It all started up front, as State was able to go from zero sacks against USC to five versus Nebraska. Let’s take a look at how the Spartan front was able to accomplish this.
Above, Nebraska is starting off their third drive of the game deep in Spartan territory after a 57-yard punt return. The State defense of past games this season would almost guarantee giving up points with this starting field position, but Malik Spencer and company had different plans. As I have been pleading with Joe Rossi to do, he finally gets creative with pressures on this 1st and 10, and catches the Cornhusker offense off-guard. Check out below the assignments of the far side of MSU’s defensive front.
To begin, Edge Rusher Isaac Smith (#13) and Defensive Tackle Ben Roberts (#55) will be running a basic “twist” stunt up top. Rossi doesn’t stop there. In a traditional look from MSU’s 4-2-5 defense, boundary safety Malik Spencer (#43) would be aligned at 10 or so yards off the ball. Here though, Spencer slowly creeps down until he is about even with the inside LBs at four or five yards.
This alignment, and his impressive timing up of the snap count, allow the veteran saftey to get a great jump off the edge. But it is the combination of the D-Line stunt and safety blitz that allows Malik to go untouched and make the play on Dylan Raiola. Watch below as the Nebraska Left Guard and Tackle are preoccupied with defending the “twist” from Roberts and Smith, and do not notice Spencer coming hot off the edge until it is too late.
Courtesy of the great inside angle from Fox Sports 1, here is another view below. Notice the eyes of the Husker O-Line be caught on MSU’s interior stunt for a split second too long, giving Spencer just enough time to get into the backfield and make the play.
While watching, I genuinely could not remember the last time I had seen an MSU defensive player get into the backfield so quickly. Not only that, but the fact that Joe Rossi and staff dialed this pass rush-style blitz up on a 1st and 10, a usual rushing down, shows me one of two things: either A) the defensive coaches picked up a tendency of Nebraska to run play-action passes on 1st and 10, or out of this bunched formation or B) to adjust for the lack of QB pressures so far in 2025, the staff is willing to send more exotic pass rushes, even on downs that often call for run plays. Either way, that is a positive mark for Joe Rossi in my book. (Finally).
This same defensive possession gets even better. The very next play, an MSU edge rusher outright beats his man to get through and generate a sack. The play after that, a penalty and bad snap/sack combo force Nebraska even further out of field goal range, and into a 4th and 42. Absolutely unheard of for the 2025 Michigan State defense. This series was undoubtedly the most fun I have had watching this, and while I would love to rewatch each play, let’s focus our appreciation on David Santiago’s second down sack.
How refreshing was it to see the Spartan defensive line getting pressure, not only because of good scheme but also because of sheer technique and talent for once? It was great for us fans, but even better for the squad, as Rossi’s unit allowed the sputtering offense to hang around nearly the entire game.
Speaking of refreshing, one of the bright spots in MSU’s trip to Memorial Stadium was the play of Redshirt Freshman Quarterback: Alessio Milivojevic. Alessio looked cool, controlled, and comfortable, finishing the day 6/7 with 71 yards and a touchdown through the air and on the ground. If you read my 2025 QB position group preview, you’d recall that throughout Spring Ball and Summer Camp, the young signal-caller earned high verbal praise from both coaches and players. It was definitely nice to see some of these skills we have heard about come to life in #11’s first meaningful game experience.
Above, the Spartans are moving quickly in the middle of Alessio’s late TD drive. Notice two important things about Nebraska’s defense: first off, the cornerback nearest the boundary to the bottom of your screen is “head-up” with Omari Kelly, likely signifying man coverage. Secondly, the weakside safety for the Cornhuskers is creeping towards the middle of the field, likely leaving the middle linebacker as the only defender who can be matched up with the running back, Tullis, out of the backfield. MSU has a slant-wheel concept called, which is a great way to counter UNL’s defensive look.
As marked by the red circles, Nebraska is essentially in a man-to-man coverage to the boundary side of the field. Alessio picks up on the aforementioned tells, diagnoses a one on one with Tullis on the outside, and delivers a perfect ball in the breadbasket to move the chains.
Not a bad showing for the young quarterback. Stepping in early in the first half to deliver a TD strike, and leading a 4th-Quarter touchdown drive certainly inspired some more confidence in MSU’s QB2 for me. The future is bright for Mr. Milivojevic in East Lansing.
The Bad
Unsurprisingly, I have much to complain about with the offensive playcall. It seemed like nearly every play from Brian Lindgren was either an unsuccessful run play or deep shot where Chiles, more often than not, had to run for his life. Worse yet, the few short passes thrown by the Spartans were not executed well, and for the most part not targeting playmakers like Nick Marsh and Omari Kelly, who recorded only five combined catches for 50 yards. Below is a play that highlights a few concerns I have with the offense.
MSU is backed up to start a crucial drive after forcing a Cornhusker punt midway through the fourth quarter. Following a two-yard first down run, Lindgren calls a quick swing pass to Makhi Frazier out of the backfield. The only problem? The receivers to the top of your screen don’t do anything even remotely similar to blocking their men. Watch as the cornerback lined up opposite Omari Kelly (furthest wideout towards the top) shoots the gap aggressively while Kelly runs right by him.
Not ideal. 1- Coach Lindgren, I understand wanting to get Makhi Frazier involved. But after 18 carries netting very little output, why are we targeting our running back extensively in the short passing game, while refusing to use the fresh legs and big play ability of the most explosive player on the offense in Marsh? 2- How are miscommunications happening on this simple of a play in Week Six?? Both Velling and Kelly are veteran players, and should know that when a swing screen is called, they are responsible to block the defensive backs in front of them. Mistakes like this cannot happen if you want to finish a comeback on the road in a hostile environment.
The run game was not much better. In last week’s film room, we discussed how Nebraska, to this point in the season, had struggled in defending the run. While this definitely proved true in terms of the QB scramble, the Huskers made the proper adjustments to shut down Frazier and Tullis for MSU. After rewatch of the game, the lack of a running presence from the Spartan offense I believe can also be attributed to Brian Lindgren.
Beyond a lack of offensive rhythm in his playcall, Lindgren severly underutilized the play-action game, specifically bootleg concepts in this game. We have talked all year about how the MSU offense has been at its best when running the ball well and setting up bootleg plays to Michael Masunas and Jack Velling. This relationship works both ways. When MSU is keeping edge rushers honest with the threat of boot fakes, and getting Aidan Chiles out on the perimeter, it slows down defensive lines just enough to allow for bigger holes for Spartan RBs. I want you to find and watch #15 for Nebraska in the following play. He begins lined up as UNL’s boundary side Defensive End, in a wide “5” technique, or outside of MSU’s offensive tackle.
This is the perfect look to run a naked bootleg off of. Fake that zone scheme handoff to the field, and have Chiles roll out left. This not only would fool nearly the entire Nebraska defense in their over-pursuit to stop the run, but also would get Aidan Chiles out on the edge with an easy opportunity to use his legs and run if no pass options were there, something that had been working all afternoon. An
Instead, Lindgren seemed to only use the play-action game to set up deep drops that kept Aidan in the pocket, forcing him to artificially manuever outside the Husker pass rush. Hopefully something to learn from for the West Coast playcaller.
Now, to the elephant in the (film) room. Chiles himself. Finishing 9/23 with only 85 yards is concerning, no matter how you look at it. I do give Aidan some credit for, on what was far from his best day, finding answers by using his legs. And I do appreciate the fight and fire he played with, from start to finish. That being said, the discombobulation of the offense is not all Brian Lindgren’s fault, and in a game where your star quarterback is making his 17th start at MSU, in a game where your program desperately needs a win to get some positive momentum going, your starter and captain cannot afford to have an “off-day”.
Aidan looked more like he did in 2024 for much of Saturday’s contest. Antsy in the pocket, throwing off platform when not necessary, and huge inconsistencies in his deep ball accuracy. The 3rd and 4 below illustrates a few of these sub-optimal yet recurring themes.
Late in the game. Nebraska has just taken a three-point lead after an MSU Special Teams mishap. Chiles and the offense need to convert and put points on the board this possession to regain momentum and give the defense a break. Lindgren calls for a condensed set to the bottom of your screen, where Chrishon McCray will be running an outside release go-ball from the “point”, or top, of the bunch. To the top of your screen, you have Nick Marsh, pressed by Nebraska’s boundary corner, also given a go ball.
I can understand why Chiles decided to go to McCray. Over the top safety help to Marsh’s side of the field makes that throw a little riskier. However, as I am sure QB Coach Jon Boyer has said to Aidan many a time, if you are going to make that decision, you better make it right, and make the throw. Let’s see what happens…
Aidan overthrows the speedy slot WR. To make matters worse, Marsh absolutely burns his man at the line of scrimmage up top, and appears to be a much better option. Hindsight is always 20/20, and we all saw Chiles and Marsh exchange some words on the sideline later on in the game, but at the end of the day, you have to put the ball in the hands of your best player at some point. Unfortunately for Spartan fans, Chiles gets a grade of 0/2 from me on this play, missing a point for both decision making and accuracy. Don’t think I am letting OC Lindgren off the hook here either. As I have reiterated, I do not love the repetitive plays calling for deep shots. On a 3rd and 4, where is Velling over the middle? Where are the crossing routes for me to break down, or Marsh on a curl? All things MSU has shown an ability to do this season, but decided to go away from against Nebraska, to their own detriment.
The Ugly
While we are on the topic of offense, let’s talk about that O-Line. In last weeks write-up, we talked about how crucial it would be for MSU to step up in pass protection of Chiles. Needless to say, they did not. According to Sports Illustrated, Nebraska generated 20 QB hurries on 30 dropbacks (23 from Chiles, 7 from Milivojevic). According to PFF, RT Ashton Lepo, the subject of many a complaint online during the game, making his first start of the year, graded out at a 41.9. This is good for the worst single game outing by any offensive player for MSU in 2025. Beyond just the statistics, it was obvious to see the struggles of Jim Michalczik’s group up front. Aidan Chiles was forced out of the pocket nearly every play, banged up on 4 sacks, and fighting for his life back there. Several crucial downs were marked by pressure in the face of Spartan QBs, here is a look at arguably the most important.
4th and 8 with the game on the line. We once again get a look at a “twist” stunt, this time by the edge rusher and defensive tackle of Nebraska. Most Spartan fans are aware of Lepo’s struggles at right tackle, but on this particular play, it’s left tackle Conner Moore — who began the season on the right side before Stanton Ramil’s injury — who gets beaten, badly.
Yikes. Not the way you want the posession to end. The simple stunt gets picked up, but Moore gets absolutely dominated off the ball and Chiles ends up taking a lick from his blind side. Ugly stuff from an offensive line that will face even more tough defensive lines as the Big Ten slate rolls on.
To wrap up and leave everyone on a frustrated note, the ugliest of plays from Memorial Stadium on Saturday came from special teams. As Coach Smith said following the game, it is very hard to win a game in which you had a punt blocked returned for a touchdown.
Pre-snap, it seems simple enough. Each blocker is responsible for a certain defender for a two or three second count, until the ball is punted and then it is off to the races to down another boot from Eckley. Here it is drawn up below.
While I am no artist, hopefully you can tell through the lines that all three Spartans to the right of the long-snapper will be sliding inwards, towards the ball, in hopes of cutting off those Husker defenders with the closest straight-line path to the punter. The responsibility of the “up-men” in the backfield is to slide to their right and take on any outside rushers hoping to get their hands on a Ryan Eckley boot. While #35, Sam Edwards gets his job done and picks up the outside most rusher, #55, Rakeem Johnson, completely misses and lets his man get through unscathed to make a play on the ball.
Ugly. Something out of a Ross Els-era special teams mishap. Simple, missed assignments like these plagued the Spartans all day long in every phase of the game. Simple, missed assignments like these are what snatched defeat from the claws of victory for State, nullifying the 21 unanswered points put up by the green and white. Simple, missed assignments that are unacceptable for a no-longer inexperienced team, well into year two of this Jonathan Smith rebuild.
Takeaways and Looking Forward
Not the most enjoyable film room article, but the Nebraska game provided much to learn from and improve on for the future, for all levels of the MSU football program. There were crucial plays that went the Huskers’ way throughout, and so many more plays I wish I could have included today. But at the end of the day, I feel like this gathering of clips summed up the game best: improved pressures helping the overall defensive make strides, questionable offensive playcall hurting the Spartans’ rhythm, subpar play from QB1, and some all out disasters in terms of Special Teams and pass protection.
As much as it pains me to write this sentence, UCLA at home is looking like it will be a must-win game. Nico Iamaleava and the Bruins are coming off of a surprise victory over Penn State, bringing their record to 1-4 on the season. For MSU, the goal should be simple. Improve in every aspect that struggled against Nebraska, and finish week 7 with a victory. This is not nearly as easy as it sounds, as there are no layups in today’s Big Ten, although State does get the help of a 9 AM local time kickoff for the visiting squad from Southern California.
So, what do you think TOC? What would you like to see more or less of against the Bruins this Saturday? Can the Spartan defense continue on this upward trajectory, while the offense gets back to its successful ways, and get back to playing complimentary football? How much of the trends we have been seeing in back to back losses do you place on the coaching staff versus player execution? What would you like to see more of in these film breakdowns? Let me know in the comments below. Go Green! Beat UCLA!
