South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
A Sparty party
1st-year MSU coach beats rival behind Lombardi-White duo
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Outside of Michigan State’s football program, few expected the Spartans to beat No. 13 Michigan.
The people who mattered, though, had all the confidence they needed to pull off the upset.
Rocky Lombardi threw for 323 yards, including 196 to Ricky White, and three touchdowns to help Michigan State stun theWolverines 27-24 on Saturday.
“I know we were three-touchdown underdogs, but everybody on this team knew going into the game that we had a chance and we had a good chance,” Lombardi said.
The Spartans (1-1, 1-1 Big Ten) appeared to be the better team all afternoon on both sides of the ball in Mel Tucker’s debut as coach in the rivalry. Tucker became just the second coach to beat Michigan in his first attempt with the Spartans, joiningAlabama coach Nick Saban, who did it in 1995. The former Colorado coach started his career as a graduate assistant for Saban at Michigan State in 1997.
“Just to be mentioned in the same breath with coach Saban is humbling for me,” Tucker said. “But it’s more about our players and our staff coming together.”
TheWolverines (1-1, 1-1) were favored to win by 20-plus points and ended up
needing a late score to avoid losing by double digits.
Jim Harbaugh’s team never led and didn’t appear to have much energy in front of family and friends in their mostly empty stadium that holds 110,000-plus fans when there isn’t a pandemic. Running back HassanHaskins scoredona2-yardrun with
37 seconds left to help Michigan pull within three points. Theonside kickwas recovered by Michigan State running back Connor Heyward. Lombardi converted a fourth
and-2 fromthe Michigan 36 with a sneak to seal the victory.
Lombardi completed 17 of 32 passes and Heyward caught two of his TD passes. White, who averaged 24.5 yards on eight receptions against a shaky secondary, also scored on a catch in a breakout performance from a freshman wide receiver.
Play of the day
Late in the first half, a pivotal play helped the Spartans pull off the upset.
Linebacker Antjuan Simmons, playing across the street from where he played in high school, broke up Haskins’ pass in the end zone intended for tight end Carter Selzer.
“He was open,” Haskins acknowledged. “Itwasmy fault. I should’ve put it up a little more.”
The Wolverines settled for a field goal that cut their deficit to 14-10 late in the first half and that cost them four points in a game lost by three.
“I said it lastweek after the game, thatwe would be a better team this weekend,“Simmons said. “I meant it.”
The takeaway
Michigan State: Tucker’s team bounced back from a seven-turnover setback in last week’s 38-27 loss to Rutgers with a signature win early in his tenure.
“State fans and former players and everyone deserve the brand of football that we were able to show out there,” Tucker said.
“Tough, physical, hard-nosed football, team game, unselfish play, guys playing together, guys playing for each other.” Michigan: Harbaugh has a lot ofwork to do to turn the team around, especially in the secondary that was picked on early and often by the Spartans.
“They were getting behind our defense and getting the big play,“Harbaugh said. “Thatwas a huge difference in the game.”