Post-Game Notes: Michigan

SERIES NOTES
• Saturday marked the 117th meeting between Michigan State and Michigan. The Wolverines lead the all-time series, 74-38-5. Since 1999, UM holds a two-game edge, 14-12.

• Since 1953, the winner of the Michigan State-Michigan game has been presented the Paul Bunyan Trophy. The four-foot wooden statue was donated by then-Governor G. Mennen Williams to mark Michigan State's acceptance into the Big Ten. Since 1953, Michigan leads the series 41-29-2. The trophy depicts the legendary giant lumberjack astride an axe with feet planted on a map of the state with flags representing the schools.

OFFENSE
• MSU had six different rushers on the night, including five different ball carriers on the opening drive, on the way to out-gaining UM on the ground, 163-119, marking only the seventh time in the last 55 games that the most productive ground attack was not the winning team.

• The Spartans' 163 rushing yards marked the fourth time this season MSU has rushed over 150 yards, and MSU is now 3-1 on the year when rushing for over 150 yards.

• Saturday was Michigan State's second game in a row and third overall game this season in scoring both a rushing and passing TD, also doing so last week vs. Iowa (10/19/24) and against Prairie View A&M (9/14/24) . . . it was the sixth game this season the Spartans have scored at least one rushing TD, also posting a ground score in the contests vs. Florida Atlantic (8/30/24), Prairie View A&M (9/14/24), at Boston College (9/21/24), at Oregon (10/4/24) and vs. Iowa (10/19/24) . . . Saturday was the Spartans' fifth game this season with at least one passing TD, also doing so at Maryland (9/7/24), vs. Prairie View A&M (9/14/24), vs. Ohio State (9/28/24) and vs. Iowa (10/19/24).

• MSU's first scoring drive of Saturday's game was nearly identical to its final scoring drive last time out vs. Iowa (10/19/24), as the fourth-quarter drive vs. the Hawkeyes was a 9-play, 75-yard drive in 5:19 that was capped off by a 1-yard TD by redshirt junior running back Nate Carter, while the first-quarter drive vs. the Wolverines was a 9-play, 62-yard drive in 5:13 that was capped off by a 2-yard TD by Carter.

• The Spartans' 13-play, 75-yard drive that ate up 7:08 in the fourth quarter was Michigan State's longest TD drive of the season for both plays and time of possession, topping previous longs of 11 plays vs. Maryland (9/7/24) and 6:11 vs. Prairie View A&M (9/14/24) . . . MSU's longest drive of the season for all three categories was an 18-play, 89-yard drive in 9:24 that ended with a field goal at Boston College (9/21/24).

• Redshirt junior running back Nate Carter scored his third rushing TD of the season with his 2-yard plunge to the end zone in the first quarter for the Spartans opening TD of the night . . . it was Carter's second straight game with a rushing TD after his one score last week vs. Iowa, as part of his third of the season, along with seventh during his MSU career and 10th collegiate TD.

• Carter finished with a season-high tying 19 carries for a season-high 118 yards, registering his first 100-yard outing of the season and first since 108 vs. Iowa last season . . . it was also his MSU career high, bettering his previous Spartan-best of 113 in his Green & White debut in the 2023 season-opener vs. Central Michigan (9/1/23) . . . with 118 yards, Carter topped his previous season-high of 91 yards vs. Prairie View A&M (9/21/24).

• Overall, it was Carter's fourth 100-yard game as a Spartan and eighth of his collegiate career . . . he also logged his fifth game of 48 or more rushing yards and second straight after 49 yards last time out vs. Iowa . . . the 19 carries was his third double-figure rushing outing of the season and first since 11 carries at Maryland (9/7/24), to register his second double-digit rushing attempts during B1G action.

• Carter snared a 26-yard reception in the first quarter for what at the time was his MSU career-long as well as the second-longest reception of his career behind a 47-yarder during his freshman season at UConn . . . he then topped that MSU career-best with a 30-yard reception in the fourth quarter, setting up MSU at the UM 21 on the Spartans' final drive . . . Carter ended the night with a team-leading and collegiate career best 56 yards on two receptions.

• With the 118 rushing yards and 56 receiving yards, Carter finished with an MSU career-high 174 all-purpose yards, and the second-most of his collegiate career, behind his top mark of 200 yards, vs. Utah State (9/27/22) while at UConn.

• Sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles was 17-of-23 for 189 yards and one TD, setting career-high in passing percentage for second-straight game with 73.9 percent after 73.3 percent last game vs. Iowa . . . it was Chiles' second straight game and third in the last four outings with a TD pass as part of his seventh of the season and 11th of his collegiate career . . . Chiles added eight rushing attempts.

• Freshman wide receiver Nick Marsh snared his second TD catch of the season with his 20-yard scoring catch and run for a TD in the fourth quarter . . . Marsh finished with a team-high tying four catches for 42 yards, for his third game with four or more receptions.

• With a reception in the first quarter, senior wide receiver Montorie Foster Jr. extended his team-leading streak of at least one reception to 21 games in a row, dating back to 2022 . . . Foster now has at least one catch in 31 of his last 43 career games played . . . he ended with a team-high tying four catches for 44 yards.

• Junior tight end Jack Velling was one of three team-leaders with four catches for 40 yards . . . the four receptions was Velling's fourth game this season with three or more catches.

DEFENSE
• The Spartan defense has registered at least 3.0 tackles for loss in each of the eight games this season, finishing the game with 4.0 TFLs.

• Junior defensive back Malik Spencer registered a season-high 10 tackles, tallying double-digit stops for the second time of his career as his top two tackle totals have come against Michigan as his career-high of 11 was vs. UM last season (10/21/23) . . . Spencer has registered six or more tackles in four of the last five games with six tackles vs. Boston College (9/21/24) and seven stops in both the Ohio State (9/28/24) and Oregon (10/4/24) . . . with seven solo stops, Spencer tied a career-high for solo tackles, matching seven done twice last year, vs. Iowa (9/30/23) and Indiana (11/28/23) . . . Spencer added 0.5 tackle for loss, tying his season-high for the second time this season, vs. Ohio State (9/28/24).

• Graduate linebacker Cal Haladay tied a season high with six stops for the second straight game and third time this season, also registering half dozen tackles at Maryland (9/7/24) and last week vs. Iowa (10/19/24) . . . Haladay has posted four or more tackles in all eight games this season and has recorded five or more in five of the eight contests.

• Haladay posted two tackle assists to give him exactly 200 tackle assists for his career, becoming just the third player in Spartan history with 200 tackle assists, joining Greg Jones (229, 2007-10) and Dan Bass (272, 1976-79) . . . Haladay now has 347 career tackles, ranking No. 9 on MSU's career tackles list, needing just three more stops to become just the eighth Spartan player with 350 career tackles.

• Senior linebacker Jordan Turner tallied five tackles to log five or more stops in seven of the eight games this season and fourth in a row.

• Junior defensive back Nikai Martinez registered his first tackle for loss as a Spartan with his 1-yard TFL in the second quarter . . . Martinez now has 4.0 career TFLs after tallying 3.0 during his time at UCF.

SPECIAL TEAMS
• One of the three reigning Lou Groza Award Stars of the Week, graduate placekicker Jonathan Kim made a 46-yard field goal in the third quarter and is now 7-of-9 on field goals in the last two games after making 6-of-7 last week vs. Iowa and missing his first FG attempt in the first quarter (25 yards out), which was his first miss of the season inside of 55 yards . . . Kim is now 16-of-18, leading the B1G and ranking tied for third in the FBS in field goals made.

• Kim has made at least one field goal in six of the eight games this season and in 15 of his 20 games as a Spartan.

• Kim was also 2-of-2 on PATs and is now 15-of-16 in extra points this season . . . he added three kickoffs with touchbacks on all three, for his most touchbacks in the last four games, but third game with three or more touchbacks . . . Kim now has 22 touchbacks this season, giving him 20+ touchbacks in six years as a collegiate kicker and now has 50 touchbacks for his MSU career and 239 touchbacks for his collegiate career.

• For his career, Kim is also now 35-of-36 on PATs and 29-of-37 on FGs.

• Ray Guy Award Watch List member redshirt sophomore punter Ryan Eckley punted for the first time since Oct. 4 at Oregon after the Spartans' bye week and MSU did not punt at all in MSU's last game vs. Iowa . . . Eckley ended the night with three punts for a 51.7 yards per punt average with all three going 50 or more yards . . . he boomed a 51-yarder on his first punt of the night, early in the second quarter, and added a 54-yarder later in the second stanza and finished the night with a 50-yarder in the third quarter.

• Eckley now has 14 punts of 50+ yards this season and 38 for his career.

Players Mentioned

Nate Carter

Aidan Chiles

Ryan Eckley

Montorie Foster Jr.

Cal Haladay

Jonathan Kim

Nick Marsh

Nikai Martinez

Malik Spencer

Jordan Turner

Jack Velling

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