EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State let a fourth-quarter lead slip away Saturday in East Lansing, falling 24-21 to No. 25 Northwestern when Jackson Kleather hit a 34-yard field goal with 2 seconds left.
The Spartans were up 21-13 early in the final period after Alessio Milivojevic found Chrishon McCray on a 53-yard scoring throw. Milivojevic threw for 216 yards and two touchdowns on 19-of-30 passing.
Aidan Chiles, the Spartans’ starting quarterback in 20 games before he transferred, pulled the Wildcats even at 21 with 7:24 remaining on a 1-yard run and a 2-point pass to Alex Honig. He completed 18 of 27 throws for 226 yards.
Michigan State had a chance to win it after a failed Northwestern fake punt gave the Spartans the ball at the Wildcats 28-yard line. They ran the clock down, but Matthew Smith blocked a 33-yard try by Liam Boyd, and Chiles answered with an eight-play, 64-yard march that put Kleather in range for the winner.
It was the fifth loss in a row for Michigan State, now 2-5 and 0-4 in the Big Ten, and the second straight home game decided in the final seconds after a 38-37 overtime loss to Illinois a week earlier. Northwestern improved to 5-1 and 2-1 in league play.
Coach Pat Fitzgerald was facing Northwestern for the first time since the school fired him four years ago. The Spartans play UCLA next.
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