East Lansing, Mich. - For the second time this season, Mel Tucker and the Michigan State Spartans pulled the biggest stunner of a college football weekend.

Michigan State rode surprising success in the ground game in the first half, timely capitalization from quarterback Rocky Lombardi, a 48-yard field goal by Matt Coghlin with 3:35 to play and terrific pass coverage in the fourth quarter to upset No. 8-ranked Northwestern, 29-20, Saturday at Spartan Stadium.

Michigan State has been plagued by turnover problems all year, with the exception of this victory, and its surprising win at then-No. 13 Michigan on Oct. 31.

If Michigan State (2-3) can harness this grade of performance from its defense and offensive line to go along with this level of ball security, maybe these type of wins will become less surprising.

“Culture doesn’t change overnight but wins like today show what type of football we’re capable of playing when we’re focused and we’re process-driven,” Tucker said. “It was an awesome team effort.

“We were able to control the line of scrimmage today, run the ball, stop the run. We were able to really show the mental toughness it takes to win and beat good teams.”

Northwestern (5-1) came into the game ranked among the best in the nation in takeaways, and Michigan State was near the bottom in turnover margin. But those roles reversed in this game.

Michigan State committed only one turnover and enjoyed a plus-three in turnover margin, including Kalon Gervin’s fumble recovery in the end zone on the last play of the game after Northwestern’s failed hook-and-ladder play.

Shakur Brown had two interceptions, each leading to Michigan State field goals.

“Honestly, we were just tired of losing,” Lombardi said. “I think that’s what it comes down to. We want to win and we have the players to win. We knew we had a shot to win. It’s all about what we needed to improve on. Our offensive line improved drastically this week. I’m very thankful for those guys.”

Lombardi started and played the whole game, completing 11-of-27 passes for 167 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

Junior running back Connor Heyward turned in his best game since 2018 with 96 yards rushing on 24 carries. He also had a team-high four catches, albeit for just nine yards.

Michigan State’s running game has struggled all season, but the Spartans rushed for 195 yards on 47 carries, the best by any team against the Wildcats this season.

“Our offensive line played outstanding,” Lombardi said. “Northwestern is a stout run defense. Our offensive line has progressed all year and they have continued to get better.

“I think it comes down to everyone is getting comfortable with the scheme and everyone is getting more comfortable with each other and we just continue to improve.”

That improvement was undetected last week as the Spartans’ game at Maryland was canceled. Now the Spartans have upped their record to 2-3 with a visit scheduled from Ohio State next week.

“We know we’re a good team and we know we can beat good teams but it’s kind of hard to believe in yourself until you do,” Lombardi said. “It was a really big team win. Obviously we needed this win as a team and it was good to get out there and get a good win against a good team.”

The Spartans’ offensive interior solid all day against Northwestern’s tough defensive tackles, and Michigan State occasionally had success optioning Northwestern’s talented defensive ends with QB reads and gives off the zone read option.

In taking a 17-0 lead in the second quarter, Michigan State drove 85 yards on 14 plays - eight of them on the ground. Lombardi got the drive going with a 9-yard carry on a quarterback draw on thrid down.

Michigan State sprinkled in the QB draw and zone read keepers throughout the day, just enough to help the Spartans out-gain the Wildcats 362-285.

Lombardi finished with 65 yards rushing on 10 carries.

“We have 550,00 living alumni out there that are pulling for us and deserve to see this brand of football,” Tucker said. “We’re getting closer to the brand of football that we need to play here that is up to the standard we set.”

This marked MSU’s fifth win as a double-digit underdog since 2015. It was cause for celebration in the locker room, as well as renewed belief.

“The locker room was electric. It was live,” said senior linebacker Antjuan Simmons, who had a big stop on fourth-and-one to end Northwestern’s first drive of the day and help set the tone for MSU’s line of scrimmage excellence. “Guys were in there dancing, going crazy. It was fun.

“We just had to soak it all in and enjoy the moment."

Michigan State is one of only three teams in the country this year with two victories over Top 15 opponents. The other two are Alabama and Georgia.

It was a great win for the program. We get to add another Top 10 win to our resumé. This is big for us, big for our senior class, big for everybody.”

Northwestern had fought back from a 17-0 deficit to take a 20-17 lead with 13:54 to play.

Then, Lombardi committed MSU’s only turnover of the day when he was intercepted by Northwestern linebacker Paddy Fisher on a third-and-two crossing route. Fisher briefly held intended receiver Jayden Reed while rerouting him. Lombardi was throwing where Reed was supposed to emerge on the other side of Fisher, but Reed never got there.

With Northwestern leading, and taking over at the Michigan State 40-yard line off a turnover, it looked like a valiant three quarters of football from the Spartans was going to fizzle toward another defeat.

However, the turning point came on the next snap. Northwestern wide receiver Kyric McGowan and quarterback Peyton Ramsey miscued on a jet sweep handoff, resulting in a fumble. MSU’s Jack Camper recovered at the Michigan State 47-yard line.

“I come in here every week and I’m like, ‘The momentum is going to swing back and forth and it’s going to swing at any moment,’” Simmons said. “We just happened to have that momentum swing right after Rocky threw that pick. That’s what good teams do for each other. We just have to build on that.”

Michigan State capitalized with a six-play drive which resulted in a Coghlin 43-yard field goal and a 20-20 tie. Michigan State retained momentum for the rest of the game.

Northwestern didn’t gain a first down on its last four possessions. The second of those possessions ended with a Shakur Brown interception on a third-and-seven desperation heave across the field.

Brown broke hard on the ball from his cover-three zone third of the field and delivered a punishing collision to Northwestern receiver Berkeley Holman while making the interception. Holman appeared to be knocked out on the play and was tended to on the field for several minutes afterward. He was removed from the field on a stretcher, but gave a thumbs-up sign as he was carted to the locker room. Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald said after the game Holman was responding well to questions, moving all of his extremities, which Fitzgerald said was "great news."

Following Brown’s interception, Michigan State drove 19 yards to set up Coghlin’s 48-yard field goal which gave Michigan State the lead for good with 3:35 to play.

The key play of that drive was a Lombardi scramble keeper for 12 yards on third-and-10 from the 50.

Lombardi had been relieved by redshirt-freshman Payton Thorne in each of the last two games, and was out-played by Thorne in MSU’s most recent game against Indiana. But Lombardi regained the job in the past two weeks of practice.

“The things he did well in practice, those were the things we felt he would be able to take into the game and execute,” Tucker said. “Rocky did a good job today. He had really good support from his teammates, the offensive line, the backs, our receivers. He doesn’t have to do it by himself. He knows that. He was able to play within our scheme and take what the defense gave him and make some good throws and run the ball well, and those were the things he did well in practice.”

Lombardi struggled with short passes in the flat, but delivered a beautiful 75-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Nailor to give Michigan State a 7-0 lead, and then stretched the lead to 17-0 with a perfect touch pass to Jayden Reed for a 15-yard touchdown on a slot fade in the second quarter.