Michigan State Falls to Indiana in Double Overtime, 39-31

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State football team fell to Indiana in double overtime, 39-31, Saturday afternoon in windy, chilly conditions at Spartan Stadium.

The Spartans (5-6, 3-5 Big Ten) had a 24-7 halftime lead, but Indiana (4-7, 2-6 Big Ten) rallied to tie the game at 31 in the fourth quarter. MSU missed a 22-yard field goal as time expired in regulation, sending the game into overtime. Both teams missed their field-goal attempts in the first overtime, but the Hoosiers scored a touchdown and two-point conversion in double overtime, while the Spartans were held out of the end zone.

"Obviously very disappointed not being able to close this game out," said MSU head coach Mel Tucker. "We got outplayed in the second half. You can point to any aspect of the team – offense, defense, special teams – where we had opportunities to execute, and didn't do them for 60 minutes. We had the opportunity to win the game and weren't able to get it done, so, very, very disappointed, especially for our seniors' last game in the Woodshed.

"We appreciate our fans coming out on a day where it was pretty chilly. We had a really good crowd, and we appreciate that. We have one game left, and I know our guys are going to show up to practice ready and prepared for the last opportunity. But certainly a very disappointed locker room."

Michigan State had two 100-yard rushers in a game for the first time since 2014, as Jalen Berger (119 yards) and Elijah Collins (107 yards) paced the Spartan ground attack. It marked Collins' fourth 100-yard rushing game and first since 2019; he also scored two touchdowns (1 yard in second quarter and 31 yards in third quarter).

Spartan quarterback Payton Thorne was 27-of-42 passing for 298 yards and two touchdowns. Keon Coleman collected his third 100-yard receiving game of the season with eight catches for 107 yards, while Jayden Reed had four receptions for 52 yards.

Cal Haladay led the Spartan defense with 10 tackles, including two for losses (5 yards). Playing in his last home game, senior Xavier Henderson registered eight tackles and Avery Dunn had seven tackles with 2.5 TFLs (14 yards) and one sack (10 yards).

Michigan State outgained Indiana, 540-288, and held the Hoosiers to just 31 passing yards, the fewest by a Spartan opponent since 2014.

SCORING RECAP
Indiana returned the opening kickoff 43 yards to midfield and took advantage of the good field position with a quick four-play touchdown drive as Hoosier quarterback Dexter Williams II raced 34 yards down the sideline for a TD run.

The Spartans responded on their first drive by going 73 yards on 10 plays, but the possession stalled out at the 2-yard line and MSU had to settle for a 19-yard field goal by Ben Patton.

MSU took the lead in the second quarter on a seven-play, 64-yard touchdown drive that was fueled by Berger, who had 45 yards rushing on the possession. On second-and-goal from the IU 5-yard line, Thorne threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Maliq Carr on a ball that was deflected off the hands of Collins.

The Spartans went up 17-7 at the 6:22 mark in the second quarter on a 1-yard TD run by Collins, and took a 24-7 lead into halftime after Coleman caught a 2-yard TD pass from Thorne with 51 seconds left in the half.

Indiana cut the margin to 24-14 early in the third quarter on Shaun Shivers' 79-yard touchdown run on the Hoosiers' first offensive play of the second half, but the Spartans bounced right back with their own long touchdown run, a 31-yard scamper by Collins that gave MSU a 31-14 lead at the 6:17 mark.

IU's Jaylin Lucas, who had a 43-yard kickoff return to open the game, was back at it following Collins' touchdown run with an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that cut the MSU lead back to 10, 31-21, with 6:04 left in the third.

The Hoosiers took advantage of a Spartan interception on the ensuing series, and although Michigan State prevented an Indiana first down after it took over on the MSU 29-yard line, IU's Charles Campbell did convert a 40-yard field goal to make it 31-24 at the 4:14 mark.

Indiana rallied to tie the game at 31 early in the fourth quarter on Josh Henderson's 1-yard touchdown run.

The Spartans drove 70 yards on 14 plays at the end of regulation to set up a 22-yard field-goal attempt by Patton, but he missed it wide left, sending the game into overtime.

After both teams had their field goals blocked in the first overtime, Indiana had the ball first in double overtime and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run by Shivers; IU also converted the two-point conversion. MSU drove the ball to the IU 10-yard line on its possession in double overtime, but a Thorne pass intended for Reed on fourth down was incomplete in the end zone to end the game.

Michigan State returns to action next Saturday, Nov. 26 at Penn State in the regular-season finale. The game will start at 4 p.m. and will be televised on FS1.

Michigan State Falls to Indiana in Double Overtime, 39-31

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Team Stats

Payton Thorne

Players Mentioned

Elijah Collins

Xavier Henderson

Players Mentioned

Elijah Collins

Xavier Henderson