Senior tight end Jack Velling had a career-high eight catches for 88 yards at Iowa.
Post-Game Notes: Iowa
11/23/2025 7:46:00 AM | Football
GAME NOTES
• Senior running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver was Saturday's game captain . . . Tau-Tolliver was joined by three of MSU's season captains for the coin toss in junior linebacker Jordan Hall, graduate defensive lineman Quindarius Dunnigan and senior linebacker Sam Edwards.
SERIES NOTES
• Saturday's game marked the 51st meeting between Michigan State and Iowa . . . The Hawkeyes now own a slim 26-23-2 series lead, including a 16-10-1 advantage in Iowa City . . . the home team has now won the last five meetings, including the Spartans beating Iowa in East Lansing last season, 32-20, led by Jonathan Kim's school-record six field goals . . . the 2025 meeting in Iowa City was very similar to the last matchup in Kinnick Stadium in 2023, when the Spartans held a 16-13 lead after three quarters, but the Hawkeyes rallied to score 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to earn the 26-16 comeback win.Â
• The one possession score difference Saturday was the third one possession game out of the last six meetings and the fourth out of the last eight, as 2025's 20-17 score joined the 17-10 Victory for MSU in 2017 and the Spartans' 16-13 win in 2015 in the Big Ten Championship game, along with a 19-16 (2OT) loss to Iowa in 2012.
• Furthermore, of the last 13 matchups between the Spartans and Hawkeyes, seven have been decided by one score or less, as MSU and Iowa played three straight meetings that came down to one score difference with a 34-27 (2OT) loss in 2007, a 16-13 MSU win in 2008 and a 15-13 loss in 2009.
OFFENSE
• MSU's 14 points in the third quarter tied the Spartans' most points in a quarter for the fourth time this season, and all four times have been the third quarter . . . it is first time since the third quarter of the game at Nebraska (10/4/25), also scoring 14 points in the third quarter in the Western Michigan (8/29/25) and Youngstown State (9/13/25) games.
• Redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic registered his first multi-TD pass outing of his career after four games with one TD apiece coming into Saturday, as both of Milivojevic's passing scores happened in the third quarter.
• Milivojevic made his third consecutive start, including his second on the road, and he finished with career-highs of 25-of-42 passing, as the 25 completions topped his previous top mark of 20 completions, which also came on the road, at Minnesota (11/1/25) and the 42 attempts bettered his prior mark of 28, in same game at Minnesota.
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• Milivojevic's 255 yards was his second-highest output of his career, behind his career-best 311 yards at Minnesota.
• Redshirt junior wide receiver Chrishon McCray snared his third catch of the game on the 45-yard TD catch from Milivojevic in the third quarter and it was not only good for the TD, but was also McCray's 100th career catch . . . McCray had 81 receptions during his time at Kent State and that was his 19th at MSU, as he's in his first season as a Spartan.
• McCray had two TD catches, both coming in the third quarter, to become the first Spartan receiver with two TD receptions in a game since sophomore teammate and fellow wide receiver, Nick Marsh, had a pair of TD catches vs. Boston College (9/6/25).
• The two TDs Saturday give McCray three TD catches on the season and 16 for his collegiate career, as he had 13 during his time at Kent State (2022-24) . . . it was his fifth career multi-TD catch outing, with a pair of two TD catches in 2023, in addition to a two-TD and a three-TD performance in 2024.
• McCray finished with six catches for 75 yards, both good for his season highs, topping his top receptions and yardage outings, which were both also on the road, as his previous season-high was four catches at Indiana (10/18/25) and 48 yards at USC (9/20/25) . . . McCray's six catches tied for his third-best career outing, behind his top career mark of 10 catches vs. Miami (Ohio) in 2023 and eight catches vs. Ball State in 2024 during his time at Kent State.
• Sophomore running back Brandon Tullis had eight carries for a career-high 56 yards, which topped his previous career-high total of 52 yards in the season opener vs. Western Michigan (8/29/25) . . . Tullis registered a new career-long rush with a 35-yard run in the third quarter, bettering previous career-long of 14 yards vs. Boston College (9/6/25).
• Senior wide receiver Omari Kelly had one catch for 6 yards . . . his lone catch of the game came in the second quarter and was his 100th career reception, as it was his 42nd catch as a Spartan, after he had 58 previously before transferring to MSU (53 at Middle Tennessee State in 2024; five at Auburn in 2022-23).
• Senior tight end Jack Velling had new career-highs with eight catches for 88 yards . . . Velling had five catches for 62 yards in the first half, which were both good enough for his second-best output in a game this season, behind his previous season and career-high of six catches for 70 yards vs. Youngstown State (9/13/25) . . . Velling then snared his sixth catch of the day on MSU's opening drive of the second half to tie his career-high, adding his new career-best seventh catch and his eighth catch of the day on MSU's drive in the third quarter.
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• Velling's previous career highs for receptions were six catches, done three times before, in the Youngstown State (9/13/25) game this season and twice before last season, at Boston College (9/21/25) and at Oregon (10/4/25) . . . his previous career-best for yards was 83 yards vs. UCLA (10/14/23) during his time at Oregon State.
• Sophomore wide receiver Nick Marsh had four catches to extend his streak of at least one reception in 22 straight games, with one in every game that he's appeared in for the Green & White, including multiple receptions in the last 21 games played after one catch in his MSU debut.
• Redshirt junior tight end Michael Masunas tied his career-high for the second game in a row with three catches, matching his career-high for the third time total after equaling his output from last time out vs. Penn State (11/15/25) and Boston College (9/6/25) . . . Masunas tied his career-high with the three catches for a new career-best 47 yards in the first half alone . . . Masunas' previous career-high yards was 31 vs. Boston College (9/6/25) . . . it was also the second game in a row and the fifth game overall this season that Masunas snared multiple catches.
DEFENSE
• MSU's defense registered its first game this season with two forced turnovers on the interception in the first quarter (Malik Spencer) and the fumble recovery (Jordan Hall) in the third quarter.
• The Spartan defense snared its fourth interception of the season and seventh total takeaway with senior defensive back Malik Spencer's interception in the first quarter . . . MSU then added its fourth fumble recovery of the season and eighth takeaway of the season with junior linebacker Jordan Hall's fumble recovery in the third quarter.
• Senior defensive back Malik Spencer snared his first interception of the season with the pick in the first quarter . . . it was Spencer's second career interception, and both have come on the road after his first career oskie last year at Oregon.
• Junior linebacker Jordan Hall recorded the first fumble recovery of his career, to complete his defensive stat collection Bingo card per say, as that was the lone category that he didn't have in his career, as he has had tackles for loss, sacks, interceptions, pass break-ups and forced fumbles, before his first recovery of his career on Saturday.
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• Hall finished with eight tackles, including 0.5 tackle for loss and one pass break-up to go with the fumble recovery . . . with the eight stops, Hall registered his seventh straight game with four or more tackles, including six or more stops in six of the last seven games . . . Hall has posted six or more tackles in eight of the 11 games plays so far this season.
• Hall's 0.5 tackle for loss was his third game this season with at least 0.5 TFL, as he now has 4.0 TFLs on the season.
• The pass break-up was Hall's first PBU of the season and his fourth career pass break-up.
• Redshirt senior linebacker Wayne Matthews III led the Spartan defense with nine tackles, his second-most of the season behind his season-best 10 stops vs. Youngstown State (9/13/25) . . . it was the second straight game that Matthews has led or shared the team lead in tackles, after sharing the lead last game vs. Penn State, as part of the third game doing so this season, including the aforementioned Youngstown State outing.
• Graduate defensive back Malcolm Bell registered his first career sack on Saturday, taking down Iowa QB Mark Gronowski in the fourth quarter.
• Bell registered a new collegiate career-high with 2.0 tackles for loss . . . Bell recorded at least 0.5 tackle for loss in the fourth straight game and the fifth this season . . . with his 1.0 TFL on Saturday, Bell now has 4.0 tackles for loss this season and 8.0 for his career.
• Bell finished with five stops on Saturday, as he's posted five or more tackles in the last three games as part of five times out of the 11 games this season.
• Graduate defensive lineman Quindarius Dunnigan logged his first forced fumble of the season and second of his career for forcing a fumble by Iowa QB Mark Gronowski in the third quarter that was recovered by teammate Jordan Hall, setting up MSU's first TD of the game.
• Dunnigan's two forced fumbles of his career have come on the exact same date, one year apart, logging his first career forced fumble on Nov. 22, 2024 vs. Purdue, then registering his second on Nov. 22, 2025 at Iowa.
• Dunnigan also sacked Gronowski in the second quarter, for Dunnigan's first full 1.0 sack of the season . . . the Spartan defensive lineman added another tackle for loss to finish with a season-high 2.0 TFL as part of five total tackles, adding a QB hurry.
• Graduate defensive lineman Ru'Quan Buckley registered a career-high five tackles, including 1.0 sack . . . the five tackles was his third-straight game played with multiple tackles, as his five stops Saturday topped his previous career-high of three tackles vs. Michigan (10/25/25), adding two tackles last time out vs. Penn State (11/15/25) after not playing in the Minnesota game with an injury.
• Buckley posted a sack for the second time in his last three games played, also logging a sack in the Michigan game (10/25/25).
SPECIAL TEAMS
• Redshirt junior punter Ryan Eckley's first punt of the game was a 44-yarder that was downed by redshirt freshman defensive back Keshawn Williams at the 1-yard line . . . it was his fifth punt downed at the 1 this season after two each in the Boston College (9/6/25) and Western Michigan (8/29/25) games.
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• Eckley's punt downed at the 1 was his ninth punt inside the 10 this season . . . while it was his only official punt inside the 20, he had two others that were kicked inside the 20 but were returned out of the 20, and Eckley now has 16 punts inside the 20 this season.
• Eckley added a 58-yarder later in the first quarter and a 54-yarder in the fourth quarter . . . he now has 20 punts of 50+ yards this season and 64 for his career.
• Redshirt freshman placekicker Martin Connington split the uprights on a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter, and is now 11-of-15 on the season.
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• Senior running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver was Saturday's game captain . . . Tau-Tolliver was joined by three of MSU's season captains for the coin toss in junior linebacker Jordan Hall, graduate defensive lineman Quindarius Dunnigan and senior linebacker Sam Edwards.
SERIES NOTES
• Saturday's game marked the 51st meeting between Michigan State and Iowa . . . The Hawkeyes now own a slim 26-23-2 series lead, including a 16-10-1 advantage in Iowa City . . . the home team has now won the last five meetings, including the Spartans beating Iowa in East Lansing last season, 32-20, led by Jonathan Kim's school-record six field goals . . . the 2025 meeting in Iowa City was very similar to the last matchup in Kinnick Stadium in 2023, when the Spartans held a 16-13 lead after three quarters, but the Hawkeyes rallied to score 13 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to earn the 26-16 comeback win.Â
• The one possession score difference Saturday was the third one possession game out of the last six meetings and the fourth out of the last eight, as 2025's 20-17 score joined the 17-10 Victory for MSU in 2017 and the Spartans' 16-13 win in 2015 in the Big Ten Championship game, along with a 19-16 (2OT) loss to Iowa in 2012.
• Furthermore, of the last 13 matchups between the Spartans and Hawkeyes, seven have been decided by one score or less, as MSU and Iowa played three straight meetings that came down to one score difference with a 34-27 (2OT) loss in 2007, a 16-13 MSU win in 2008 and a 15-13 loss in 2009.
OFFENSE
• MSU's 14 points in the third quarter tied the Spartans' most points in a quarter for the fourth time this season, and all four times have been the third quarter . . . it is first time since the third quarter of the game at Nebraska (10/4/25), also scoring 14 points in the third quarter in the Western Michigan (8/29/25) and Youngstown State (9/13/25) games.
• Redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic registered his first multi-TD pass outing of his career after four games with one TD apiece coming into Saturday, as both of Milivojevic's passing scores happened in the third quarter.
• Milivojevic made his third consecutive start, including his second on the road, and he finished with career-highs of 25-of-42 passing, as the 25 completions topped his previous top mark of 20 completions, which also came on the road, at Minnesota (11/1/25) and the 42 attempts bettered his prior mark of 28, in same game at Minnesota.
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• Milivojevic's 255 yards was his second-highest output of his career, behind his career-best 311 yards at Minnesota.
• Redshirt junior wide receiver Chrishon McCray snared his third catch of the game on the 45-yard TD catch from Milivojevic in the third quarter and it was not only good for the TD, but was also McCray's 100th career catch . . . McCray had 81 receptions during his time at Kent State and that was his 19th at MSU, as he's in his first season as a Spartan.
• McCray had two TD catches, both coming in the third quarter, to become the first Spartan receiver with two TD receptions in a game since sophomore teammate and fellow wide receiver, Nick Marsh, had a pair of TD catches vs. Boston College (9/6/25).
• The two TDs Saturday give McCray three TD catches on the season and 16 for his collegiate career, as he had 13 during his time at Kent State (2022-24) . . . it was his fifth career multi-TD catch outing, with a pair of two TD catches in 2023, in addition to a two-TD and a three-TD performance in 2024.
• McCray finished with six catches for 75 yards, both good for his season highs, topping his top receptions and yardage outings, which were both also on the road, as his previous season-high was four catches at Indiana (10/18/25) and 48 yards at USC (9/20/25) . . . McCray's six catches tied for his third-best career outing, behind his top career mark of 10 catches vs. Miami (Ohio) in 2023 and eight catches vs. Ball State in 2024 during his time at Kent State.
• Sophomore running back Brandon Tullis had eight carries for a career-high 56 yards, which topped his previous career-high total of 52 yards in the season opener vs. Western Michigan (8/29/25) . . . Tullis registered a new career-long rush with a 35-yard run in the third quarter, bettering previous career-long of 14 yards vs. Boston College (9/6/25).
• Senior wide receiver Omari Kelly had one catch for 6 yards . . . his lone catch of the game came in the second quarter and was his 100th career reception, as it was his 42nd catch as a Spartan, after he had 58 previously before transferring to MSU (53 at Middle Tennessee State in 2024; five at Auburn in 2022-23).
• Senior tight end Jack Velling had new career-highs with eight catches for 88 yards . . . Velling had five catches for 62 yards in the first half, which were both good enough for his second-best output in a game this season, behind his previous season and career-high of six catches for 70 yards vs. Youngstown State (9/13/25) . . . Velling then snared his sixth catch of the day on MSU's opening drive of the second half to tie his career-high, adding his new career-best seventh catch and his eighth catch of the day on MSU's drive in the third quarter.
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• Velling's previous career highs for receptions were six catches, done three times before, in the Youngstown State (9/13/25) game this season and twice before last season, at Boston College (9/21/25) and at Oregon (10/4/25) . . . his previous career-best for yards was 83 yards vs. UCLA (10/14/23) during his time at Oregon State.
• Sophomore wide receiver Nick Marsh had four catches to extend his streak of at least one reception in 22 straight games, with one in every game that he's appeared in for the Green & White, including multiple receptions in the last 21 games played after one catch in his MSU debut.
• Redshirt junior tight end Michael Masunas tied his career-high for the second game in a row with three catches, matching his career-high for the third time total after equaling his output from last time out vs. Penn State (11/15/25) and Boston College (9/6/25) . . . Masunas tied his career-high with the three catches for a new career-best 47 yards in the first half alone . . . Masunas' previous career-high yards was 31 vs. Boston College (9/6/25) . . . it was also the second game in a row and the fifth game overall this season that Masunas snared multiple catches.
DEFENSE
• MSU's defense registered its first game this season with two forced turnovers on the interception in the first quarter (Malik Spencer) and the fumble recovery (Jordan Hall) in the third quarter.
• The Spartan defense snared its fourth interception of the season and seventh total takeaway with senior defensive back Malik Spencer's interception in the first quarter . . . MSU then added its fourth fumble recovery of the season and eighth takeaway of the season with junior linebacker Jordan Hall's fumble recovery in the third quarter.
• Senior defensive back Malik Spencer snared his first interception of the season with the pick in the first quarter . . . it was Spencer's second career interception, and both have come on the road after his first career oskie last year at Oregon.
• Junior linebacker Jordan Hall recorded the first fumble recovery of his career, to complete his defensive stat collection Bingo card per say, as that was the lone category that he didn't have in his career, as he has had tackles for loss, sacks, interceptions, pass break-ups and forced fumbles, before his first recovery of his career on Saturday.
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• Hall finished with eight tackles, including 0.5 tackle for loss and one pass break-up to go with the fumble recovery . . . with the eight stops, Hall registered his seventh straight game with four or more tackles, including six or more stops in six of the last seven games . . . Hall has posted six or more tackles in eight of the 11 games plays so far this season.
• Hall's 0.5 tackle for loss was his third game this season with at least 0.5 TFL, as he now has 4.0 TFLs on the season.
• The pass break-up was Hall's first PBU of the season and his fourth career pass break-up.
• Redshirt senior linebacker Wayne Matthews III led the Spartan defense with nine tackles, his second-most of the season behind his season-best 10 stops vs. Youngstown State (9/13/25) . . . it was the second straight game that Matthews has led or shared the team lead in tackles, after sharing the lead last game vs. Penn State, as part of the third game doing so this season, including the aforementioned Youngstown State outing.
• Graduate defensive back Malcolm Bell registered his first career sack on Saturday, taking down Iowa QB Mark Gronowski in the fourth quarter.
• Bell registered a new collegiate career-high with 2.0 tackles for loss . . . Bell recorded at least 0.5 tackle for loss in the fourth straight game and the fifth this season . . . with his 1.0 TFL on Saturday, Bell now has 4.0 tackles for loss this season and 8.0 for his career.
• Bell finished with five stops on Saturday, as he's posted five or more tackles in the last three games as part of five times out of the 11 games this season.
• Graduate defensive lineman Quindarius Dunnigan logged his first forced fumble of the season and second of his career for forcing a fumble by Iowa QB Mark Gronowski in the third quarter that was recovered by teammate Jordan Hall, setting up MSU's first TD of the game.
• Dunnigan's two forced fumbles of his career have come on the exact same date, one year apart, logging his first career forced fumble on Nov. 22, 2024 vs. Purdue, then registering his second on Nov. 22, 2025 at Iowa.
• Dunnigan also sacked Gronowski in the second quarter, for Dunnigan's first full 1.0 sack of the season . . . the Spartan defensive lineman added another tackle for loss to finish with a season-high 2.0 TFL as part of five total tackles, adding a QB hurry.
• Graduate defensive lineman Ru'Quan Buckley registered a career-high five tackles, including 1.0 sack . . . the five tackles was his third-straight game played with multiple tackles, as his five stops Saturday topped his previous career-high of three tackles vs. Michigan (10/25/25), adding two tackles last time out vs. Penn State (11/15/25) after not playing in the Minnesota game with an injury.
• Buckley posted a sack for the second time in his last three games played, also logging a sack in the Michigan game (10/25/25).
SPECIAL TEAMS
• Redshirt junior punter Ryan Eckley's first punt of the game was a 44-yarder that was downed by redshirt freshman defensive back Keshawn Williams at the 1-yard line . . . it was his fifth punt downed at the 1 this season after two each in the Boston College (9/6/25) and Western Michigan (8/29/25) games.
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• Eckley's punt downed at the 1 was his ninth punt inside the 10 this season . . . while it was his only official punt inside the 20, he had two others that were kicked inside the 20 but were returned out of the 20, and Eckley now has 16 punts inside the 20 this season.
• Eckley added a 58-yarder later in the first quarter and a 54-yarder in the fourth quarter . . . he now has 20 punts of 50+ yards this season and 64 for his career.
• Redshirt freshman placekicker Martin Connington split the uprights on a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter, and is now 11-of-15 on the season.
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