Michigan State redshirt junior running back Nate Carter rushed for 118 yards on Saturday night against the rival Michigan Wolverines, which is his highest total since joining the Spartans in 2023. He also scored a rushing touchdown.
Carter had a 34-yard run on a third-down-and-9 play in the first quarter, which was the longest rush of the game for either team. He added two catches for 56 yards, including a 30-yard reception on a crucial third-down-and-10 play late in the fourth quarter.
However, Carter's stellar performance against the Wolverines was not enough for the Spartans, as mistakes ultimately proved to be too much for MSU to overcome in a 24-17 loss to Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Despite Michigan State out-gaining Michigan in total yardage 352-265 — including accumulating 44 more rushing yards than the Wolverines (163-119) — and controlling the clock (MSU had the ball for 37:05 of game play, while Michigan had it for just 22:55), the Spartans were defeated.
Michigan did not turn the ball over. Michigan State only had one giveaway, but it was a costly one, as quarterback Aidan Chiles fumbled the football with just 14 seconds to go in the first half, leading to a field goal for the Wolverines and giving U-M a 9-7 advantage at halftime. Michigan also did not have a single penalty, while Michigan State had six for 35 yards.
The Spartans also missed a 25-yard field goal on their first drive of the game, leaving three points off of the board. Later, another special teams blunder — when a player who was not receiving the kickoff, Sam Edwards, signaled for the fair catch and the player who was receiving the ball, Alante Brown, did not signal it back — gave the Spartans poor field position in the third quarter because the ball was spotted at the point of the catch. Additionally, MSU failed to recover an onside kick in the third quarter, but the Spartan defense bailed the team out and quickly forced Michigan's offense to go three-and-out. On Michigan State's final drive of the game, Chiles threw an incomplete pass on fourth-down-and-five from Michigan's 16-yard line to turn the ball over on downs.
Carter knows that the Spartans did not take advantage of all of their chances, and that Michigan was able to capitalize on Michigan State's mistakes.
"Just too many missed opportunities," Carter said following the game. "When we move the ball like that, and we get into the red zone, we have to capitalize on those opportunities. We have to finish with points. And, unfortunately, we didn't do that, and as you see, that kind of hurt us late in the game.
"So, we have to do a better job of really finishing in the red zone, finishing with touchdowns, which helps us put ourselves ahead, especially in late, tight games. It's just not making those mistakes, especially that close to the red zone, not making those mistakes. So, those are the big things we really have to focus on as a team."
Turnovers, the lack of scoring touchdowns in the red zone and costly mistakes have plagued the Spartans all throughout the 2024 season. After a 32-20 win over Iowa on Oct. 19, it felt like Michigan State was turning a corner in that regard. However, some of those issues resurfaced on Saturday night against Michigan.
"I think it just comes down to really just execution," Carter said about MSU's struggles. "Especially, with emotions high, with the rivalry of this game, we have to be able to calm our emotions down. We have to be able to execute the little details at the end of the day.
"Michigan, they're a really good team. They're really good, sound defense. But at the end of the day, it's all about us, so what do we do in order for us to put ourselves in the best position to score? And ... we just didn't do that today, execute like we should've."
Michigan State ran the ball 42 times for 163 yards (3.9 yards per carry) and a touchdown against the Wolverines. The Spartans threw the ball 23 times for just 189 yards. Carter noted that MSU's game plan coming into Saturday was to have a "balance between the run game and the pass game," and it was able to move the ball to some degree, but drives weren't finished with points often enough.
"We knew that we had an opportunity based on the film that we watched to be able to move the ball on these guys," Carter said. "We were able to do that successfully, I believe. Unfortunately, we can't keep getting stalled out when it gets to the red zone because that's what hurts us. So we have to figure out a way in order for us, when we drive the ball down there (to the red zone), to finish with points, hopefully touchdowns."
Regarding the penalties for the Spartans, Carter said, "We just shoot ourselves in the foot a lot."
As for his impressive individual performance, Carter praised the blocking from the offensive line, wide receivers and tight ends and noted that he was "blessed to have the opportunity" to play and perform at a high level.
The Michigan State run game as a whole has shown serious signs of improvement over the past two games. Last week against Iowa, the Spartans had a season-high 212 rushing yards as a team. This week against Michigan, Carter not only had a season high, but as mentioned, the 118 rushing yards were his most in a Spartan uniform.
Carter is pleased with what he has seen in the run games from his team as of late, but he knows the Spartans still have room for improvement as well.
"It's really encouraging," Carter said about MSU's run game. "And what we can see is we have so much potential, and we keep saying this week-in and week-out. And, we're going to improve. We're on a constant (path toward) improvement. That's what (head) Coach (Jonathan) Smith always talks about, is making sure that every single day, every single week, we're looking at the film, and we're saying, 'OK, how can we improve? How can we improve in the run game? How can we improve overall as offense, (and) in the passing game? How can we improve overall as a team?' So each and every day, we have to work on that constant level of improvement in order for us to win these close, tight games going forward."
Losing to a bitter rival is never easy, but Michigan State doesn't have too much time to sulk after losing to Michigan, as an undefeated Indiana team comes to East Lansing on Nov. 2. The 8-0 Hoosiers are going to provide another tough test for the now 4-4 Spartans.
Carter thinks his team had every opportunity to beat the Wolverines on Saturday night, but the Spartans ultimately fell short. He believes MSU will learn from its mistakes against the Wolverines and will be ready to take on a good Indiana squad.
"I think more than ever, we're going to be more focused and locked in (on Indiana)," Carter said. "We believe we should have won this game (against Michigan), and I think everyone in that locker room knows that we probably should have won this game. There was no doubt in our mind coming into this game that we (should) have won. And there's no doubt in our minds that every single game after this isn't a winnable game. So, we have to continue to work, we have to continue to grind. We have to continue to do all that we can do so we can finish every single game out with a 'W' to end out the season the way that we want to."
While it was Carter's second time playing in the Paul Bunyan Trophy game, and his third time overall facing off against the Wolverines (he has also played against Michigan while at UConn in 2022), it was the first taste of the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry for Smith and many of his staff members.
While Carter noted he didn't see much of a difference in preparation from Smith and company when it comes to playing Michigan compared to the previous regime, he did explain how the new staff is changing the culture in East Lansing.
"The one thing I love about this coaching staff is that they (implemented) a 'fight on' mentality," Carter said. "We'll always continue to fight. We knew coming into this game it could be a four-quarter fight, and it doesn't matter how the game started, how the game ended that day, (Michigan was) going to fight until the end. And unfortunately, I believe that we fought to the end, but we didn't end up coming (up) with the 'W.' And that's unfortunate, and us as men, we have to learn how to continue to grow, and how to continue to push forward in the midst of adversity, in the midst of not getting the result that we want.
"And I think this coaching staff really, really preaches that to us. And it's encouraging, coming from this coaching staff, how they've changed the culture. And (with) us being a player-led team ... we gotta continue to lead each other, so that we can be able to lead this team to be victorious down the stretch for the games coming forward."
The running back also praised the maturity of Chiles, despite his young age at 19 (and despite the turnover issues). Carter noted that Chiles is calm and poised, and keeps the offense at a steady level with his mentality of never getting too high or too low.
Carter, a team captain, was saying all of the right things in his postgame media availability session. But how do the Spartans take the words and put it all into action?
For Carter, he has a process. That process starts with him as individual, and then includes his positional group, and then moves on to the offense as a whole, and then the entire team.
"That's where it comes down to — it comes down to action," Carter said when asked how the team can improve. "It comes down to first focusing on on me individually. What can I do as a leader? What can I do as a captain to help push this team to be greater, to help push this team to be better with little things? Then it goes on (from) looking at myself in the mirror (to) then looking at the running back room — how can we grow, how can we get better? And then looking at the offense and looking at the overall team. So, I would say that (is) probably the formula of how this works.
"At the end of the day, it's good to be able to say these things, but what's really going to matter is how are we going to get into Sunday and then go into our practice on Tuesday? How are we going to turn that to action so that on Saturday we can come out with the 'W?'"
Next up, as mentioned, Michigan State hosts Indiana on Nov. 2, with the Old Brass Spittoon on the line. The game is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time kickoff and will stream exclusively on Peacock.
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