---
title: "Michigan State Carries Five-Game Skid Into UCLA Trip"
url: https://www.herelansing.com/2026/10/19/michigan-state-carries-five-game-skid-into-ucla-trip/
date: 2026-10-19T05:32:00-04:00
modified: 2026-10-19T05:32:00-04:00
author: "Ian E. Mendoza"
categories: ["Sports"]
site: "HERE Lansing"
attribution: "HERE Lansing"
---

# Michigan State Carries Five-Game Skid Into UCLA Trip

> EAST LANSING, Mich. — Fresh off another close loss in East Lansing, Michigan State football will try to stop a five-game slide Saturday when it plays UCLA, with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. Eastern. The Spartans sit at 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten after two straight one-possession losses. Northwestern beat them 24-21

*Source: [HERE Lansing](https://www.herelansing.com/2026/10/19/michigan-state-carries-five-game-skid-into-ucla-trip/) — October 19, 2026 by Ian E. Mendoza*

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Fresh off another close loss in East Lansing, Michigan State football will try to stop a five-game slide Saturday when it plays UCLA, with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. Eastern.

The Spartans sit at 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten after two straight one-possession losses. Northwestern beat them 24-21 at home this past Saturday when Jackson Kleather hit a 34-yard field goal with two seconds on the clock, a week after Illinois edged them 38-37 in overtime when a 2-point try failed.

Michigan State had the lead against Northwestern, 21-13, early in the fourth quarter after Alessio Milivojevic found Chrishon McCray on a 53-yard scoring throw. Milivojevic finished 19-for-30 for 216 yards with two touchdown passes and also ran for a short score.

A blocked kick late in the game helped swing it to the visitors. Northwestern quarterback Aidan Chiles, who started 20 games for Michigan State over the previous two seasons, threw for 226 yards against his old team.

Coach Pat Fitzgerald, in his first meeting with the school that fired him four years ago, said afterward that his focus had turned to the UCLA game.