EAST LANSING, Mich. — They ran, they pounded, they kicked. And they sweat. They sweat a lot.
By the fourth quarter, the Spartans were drenched in perspiration and adversity. It wasn’t exactly how Pat Fitzgerald wanted his debut to go, but it was good enough. And in the end, Fitzgerald saw a lot of things he wanted to see, and a few things he’d rather not.
On a brutally humid Friday night, Michigan State perspired and persevered, and eventually escaped a sticky situation, beating Toledo 30-20 in Spartan Stadium. You could see the foundation Fitzgerald is trying to set, as the Spartans dominated the line of scrimmage and time of possession. You also could see the holes they have to plug, as the Rockets rallied to take a 20-19 lead in the fourth quarter on a 71-yard run by running back Connor Walendzak, before MSU put them away.
It took five field goals by Liam Boyd — the last a 51-yarder in the final two minutes — to seal it. Quarterback Alessio Milivojevic was clutch when he had to be and Fitzgerald was aggressive when he needed to be. Toledo is one of the better MAC teams, so nobody should have expected a blowout. But Fitzgerald was more relieved than ecstatic afterward.
“I don’t know if you noticed, I’m still sweating,” he said in the interview room, wiping his face with a towel. “It was thick out there. We had the ball for 43 minutes, that’s a long time. … I’m really grateful, really thankful, to be their coach. We just gotta do a better job. There was a lot of new, but the one thing that jumps out to me is, I thought the guys responded.”
They kept going out, and going back in. Hydration was key, and several players had to leave due to cramping. But all were on the field for the final drives.
Running back Cam Edwards led the way with a scintillating array of cutback runs, and Rodney Bullard Jr. was the receiving star. Edwards just arrived in the offseason as a transfer from Connecticut, and Bullard just returned to the team two weeks ago, finally regaining his eligibility after a clerical error.
Perhaps most impressive was the poise and toughness (physically and mentally) of Milivojevic, who was 26 for 34 for 247 yards, while getting sacked three times. The money moment came on fourth down from Toledo’s 5 with 10:37 left in the game, MSU trailing by one, and Fitzgerald wanted more.
The kicker was trustworthy. But so was Milivojevic. He rolled to his right, evaded pressure, and fired a pass to Bullard in the back of the end zone. He hit Bullard again for a two-point conversion to make it 27-20 and all that remained was more defense, and one more kick.
“All I’ll say is, I can be better,” Milivojevic said. “Everyone had faith we were going to win that game. We knew this was our game to lose, and we were gonna go out there and take it.”
For the most part, the Spartans stayed cool in the heat, and got hot in the clutch. Fitzgerald went for it on fourth down three times and converted two, none bigger than the pass to Bullard.
“Scared money doesn’t make money,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m not here to win a punting contest. I wanted to be aggressive, not reckless, but aggressive.”
The Spartans (1-0) will face a similar opponent next Saturday when Eastern Michigan comes to town. Then there’s a night game at Notre Dame, when everyone will learn a whole lot more.
For starters, MSU looked like a team in control, especially with Edwards and the running game. The Spartans outgained the Rockets 397-273 but were stunned by two big plays — Walendzak’s 71-yard run and John Alan Richter's 60-yard touchdown pass to Adjatay Dabbs. The Spartans committed some costly penalties, but only four overall, and possessed the ball for 43 of the 60 minutes.
If not for those defensive breakdowns, and red-zone slowdowns that forced them to settle for field goals, this would not have been so sweaty.
“At times, I thought (the offensive line) was really dominant,” Fitzgerald said. “At other times, self-inflicted wounds. … We can be so much better. And we’re gonna coach our tails off to get there.”
The question has lingered in East Lansing since Mark Dantonio left and apparently took the program’s cherished toughness identity with him. Could the Spartans find the right coach for the right fit? Whatever happens the rest of this season, it looks like Fitz fits.
From the opening drive, Fitzgerald’s straightforward tenets — well-established in 17 seasons at Northwestern — were on display. MSU pounded with the running game and attacked with a physical defensive front. When the Spartans have been successful, this has been the formula, and Edwards is the type of back they’ve ridden.
The transfer who ran for 2,690 yards in four seasons at Connecticut, conjured images of MSU’s past power backs. An overreaction in an opener against a MAC foe? Maybe, but not totally.
Edwards had 34 yards on MSU’s opening drive, but twisted an ankle and was in and out. He finished with 98 yards rushing and showed the footwork and vision of — dare I say? — Kenneth Walker III. It helped that he was running behind a rebuilt offensive line, stocked with three transfer linemen. Edwards’ first rumble was a 10-yard dash up the gut, and MSU ran 11 times on its 13-play opening drive.
It was a powerful start, with a timely twist from offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan. On second-and-goal from Toledo’s 2, Milivojevic split out as a receiver. Edwards took the direct snap and plowed in for the first touchdown of the Fitzgerald era.
MSU was punishing the Rockets, punching hard but missing the knockout. When Boyd made the first of his five field goals, the Spartans led 10-0, more points than they scored in a first quarter all last season. It’s good to have an accurate kicker, of course. Not good to use him too often.
Toledo hung around, a play or two away from being a play or two away. Dabbs used a double move to slip past cornerback Charles Brantley for his 60-yarder, and suddenly MSU’s lead was down to 13-7 midway through the second quarter.
The Spartans kept driving, mixing runs with short, sharp passes. Edwards had 76 yards rushing in the first half and Milivojevic was 14 for 17, but MSU led only 19-7, and danger signs were lurking.
Edwards sat out two drives in the third quarter. Linebacker Jordan Hall, MSU’s defensive leader, was hampered by an injured elbow that periodically sent him to the sideline. The Rockets started getting pressure on Milivojevic and Dabbs continued popping big plays and the Spartans found themselves in trouble. Richter’s 6-yard TD heave to Dabbs made it 19-14 in the third quarter, and the Spartans officially were facing their first blast of adversity.
They weathered it, even if they had to sweat it.
“All we could do is go 1-0 and that’s what we did,” Fitzgerald said. “Now I’d like to go practice because we got a lot of work to do.”