Post-Game Notes: Nebraska
10/5/2025 12:54:00 AM | Football
GAME NOTES
• Senior wide receiver Omari Kelly was the game captain . . . he joined season captains Sam Edwards, Matt Gulbin and Quindarius Dunnigan for the coin toss.
• Saturday's game used a commemorative coin for the coin toss, honoring the memory of Michigan State punter Mike Sadler and Nebraska punter Sam Foltz, who both died tragically in a car crash in 2016.
SERIES NOTES
• Saturday was MSU's first visit to Lincoln since 2018 . . . the loss snaps Michigan State's two-game win streak in the series, as MSU has won four of the last seven meetings since 2013 . . . Saturday was also the 14th all-time meeting between the Spartans and Huskers, and Nebraska now leads the all-time series, 10-4, including 7-1 in games played in Lincoln . . . additionally, Nebraska now leads the series in Big Ten games, 5-4.
OFFENSE
• Michigan State did not score on its opening possession for the first time this season, as the Spartans had scored a TD on their first drive of the previous four games.
• MSU's 17-play, 75-yard, 9:45 scoring drive spanning the end of the first quarter and start of second quarter was the Spartans' longest drive of the season by number of plays and time of possession . . . the 17 plays in 9:45 topped the previous long of 12-plays in 6:37 during the same drive vs. Youngstown State (9/13/25).
• The 17-play drive was the longest by number of plays since a 17-play drive vs. Tulsa on Aug. 30, 2019 . . . the 9:45 scoring drive was the longest since at least 2014, bettering the previous longest drive in that span from a 9:24 drive on Dec. 28, 2017, vs. Washington State in the 2017 Holiday Bowl.
• MSU's 14-point third quarter tied its season-high for most points in a quarter for the third time this season, and all three times have been the third quarter, scoring 14 points in the third quarter in the season-opener vs. Western Michigan (8/29/25) and in the third quarter vs. Youngstown State (9/13/25).
• Junior quarterback Aidan Chiles was 9-for-23 passing for 85 yards . . . he added 23 yards rushing on a career-high 13 carries and scored a career-best two rushing TDs . . . the 13 rushing attempts topped the previous top mark of his career of 12, reached three previous times, most recently vs. Boston College (9/6/24)
• Chiles registered his first career multi-rushing TD outing Saturday, with both coming in the third quarter . . . he had one rushing TD eight times previously, before establishing a new career-best Saturday.
• Chiles scored his third rushing TD of the season with his 16-yard scamper on 4th-and-4 on MSU's first possession of the second half, and the ensuing PAT tied the game at 14-all . . . Chiles rushed four times for 40 yards on the scoring drive, including rushing for three first downs during the drive, including two on fourth down . . . along with the scoring scamper on fourth down, he added a 10-yard run on fourth-and-6, and a 7-yard run on third-and-5 for a first down.
• It was Chiles' second-straight game with at least one rushing TD after one last game at USC (9/20/25) . . . it's also the third and fourth rushing TDs of the season for Chiles, giving him at least three rushing TDs in each of his three years as a college QB, with three in 2023 at Oregon State and three last season in his first season as a Spartan, before his four now in 2025.
• Chiles' streak of throwing for at least one TD in a game was snapped as he had thrown for at least one score in each of the previous four games this season and in 10 straight games dating back to the last six games of 2024 . . . Saturday was only the ninth time in 26 career games that Chiles was held without a TD toss.
• Redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic completed his first pass as a Spartan on his first attempt of the day, coming early in the second quarter with a 10-yard pass to sophomore wide receiver Nick Marsh, coming on in place of Chiles who was temporarily sidelined with an injury.
• Milivojevic then registered the first TD pass of his Spartan career two plays later with a 2-yard TD toss to junior tight end Jack Velling.
• Milivojevic finished 6-of-7 passing for 71 yards and one TD, adding one rush for a 1-yard TD, scoring the first rushing TD of his career.
• He becomes the second Spartan QB this season to rush for a TD and throw for a TD in the same game, and the second straight game that a Spartan QB did so . . . Milivojevic joins Chiles who accomplished the feat twice this season, against Boston College (9/6/25) and USC (9/20/25).
• Senior tight end Jack Velling snared a TD catch for the second straight game after one last time out at USC . . . Velling now has two TDs on the season and three for his Spartan career as part of his 14th TD of his collegiate career . . . all three of Velling's catches went for either a TD or first down, as his first catch of the day was the TD catch, while adding first-down receptions on back-to-back catches in the fourth quarter, setting up MSU’s final TD of the day, with a 16-yard pass on 2nd-and-10 from the MSU 40, and then a 19-yard catch on the next play to the NEB 25.
• Sophomore running back Makhi Frazier had 18 carries for 58 yards . . . the 18 carries is a new career-high, bettering his previous top mark of 17 carries vs. Boston College (9/6/25).
• Frazier also had more than one reception for the first time in his career, as he had snared one catch a total of five different games, and finished Saturday with a career-high four catches for 17 yards.
• Sophomore wide receiver Nick Marsh shared team-high honors with Frazier with four receptions for a team-leading 41 yards . . . Saturday was Marsh's fourth game with four or more catches as part of his 10th career game with four or more receptions . . .
• With four receptions Saturday, Marsh extended his team-leading streak of at least one reception to 16-straight games, every game that he's appeared in as a Spartan.
• Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Evan Boyd snared his first reception as a Spartan with a 14-yard catch in the first quarter . . . Saturday was Boyd's fifth game in the Green & White after transferring from Central Michigan . . . it was his first reception since Oct. 26, 2024, as he missed the last four games at CMU due to injury.
DEFENSE
• Michigan State's defense limited Nebraska to a season-low 261 yards of total offense, holding the Huskers under 300-yards of total offense for the first time this season . . . the Spartan defense also held the Huskers to a season-low 194 yards passing, not only their first game being limited under 200 yards passing but their lowest by nearly 50 yards, as Nebraska's previous season-low for passing yards was 243 in the season-opener vs. Cincinnati played in Kansas City.
• The MSU defense registered a season-high five sacks, topping the previous top mark of the season of four sacks in the season-opener vs. Western Michigan (8/29/25) . . . the five sacks are the most by the Spartan defense since seven vs. Florida Atlantic in the 2024 season-opener (8/30/24).
• The Spartan defense held Nebraska scoreless in the second quarter, marking the fifth quarter this season that MSU kept the opposition off the scoreboard, doing so in three quarters (first, second and third) in the season-opener vs. Western Michigan (8/29/24) and the first quarter vs. Boston College (9/6/24).
• Junior linebacker Jordan Hall snared the first interception of his career with his oskie in the third quarter . . . Hall now has four career passes defended as he has three career pass break-ups.
• Hall finished with a team-leading eight tackles, as he has now registered eight or more stops in three of his four complete games played, matching eight tackles in the season-opener vs. Western Michigan (8/29/25) and a career-high 15 stops in the Boston College game (9/6/25).
• Junior defensive lineman Jalen Thompson logged a season-best and tied his career-high with 2.0 tackles for loss, matching his career-best of 2.0 TFLs for the third time, last doing so in the 2023 meeting vs. Nebraska (11/4/23) . . . Thompson added 1.0 sack for his second sack of the season and fourth of his career.
• Thompson also registered a season-high five tackles, which ties his career best of five also from the aforementioned 2023 match-up vs. Nebraska.
• Graduate defensive back Darius Snow only tallied two tackles, but they were both very impactful, with a tackle just before the first down marker on a fake punt early in the third quarter, getting the ball back to the offense, and adding a sack late in the third quarter, for first sack of career.
SPECIAL TEAMS
• Ray Guy Award Watch List member redshirt junior punter Ryan Eckley boomed four punts for a 51.0 ypp average, his second straight game averaging over 50+ yards for the season, as well as the fourth time in four games in which he has punted more than once, as he only punted once vs. Youngstown State (9/13/25)
• Eckley had three 50+ yards punts on Saturday, as he continues to have at least two punts of 50 or more yards in a game that he punted at least twice for the fourth time this season . . . Eckley now has 12 punts of 50+ yards out of his 17 total punts on the season . . . Eckley had a 54-yarder in the second quarter and added a pair of 51-yarders in the fourth quarter.
• Redshirt freshman Martin Connington was 3-of-3 on PATs and is now 13-of-13 for the season.
