Michigan State, on a three-game skid, loses 38-37 in overtime to Illinois in its 110th homecoming game

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State came home Saturday, Oct. 10, needing a win, and its homecoming crowd saw the Spartans face a familiar quarterback. MSU (2-3, 0-2 Big Ten) hosted Illinois (2-3, 0-2) at Spartan Stadium, with the game on FS1, according to both schools.

The Spartans have lost three in a row since a 2-0 start. Nebraska beat them 31-13 in East Lansing on Sept. 26, and Wisconsin held them to a field goal in a 31-3 loss last Saturday, MSU’s athletics department said in its game notes. Quarterback Alessio Milivojevic finished 15 of 32 for 103 yards in Madison, both season lows.

Illinois arrived on a two-game slide of its own, after a 42-19 loss at Ohio State and a 24-17 home loss to Purdue. Its passing game is led by Katin Houser, who started the final seven games of 2023 for Michigan State before transferring. Houser has thrown for 1,246 yards and 11 touchdowns, according to the Illinois game notes. His top target, Collin Dixon, has 40 catches for 546 yards, and his eight touchdown catches rank third in the country, Illinois says.

Michigan State was without running back Cam Edwards, who led the team in rushing when he was hurt. Coach Pat Fitzgerald said Edwards will miss the rest of the season after the injury against Nebraska. Illinois also lost a running back for the year, Ca’Lil Valentine, to a leg injury against Purdue, the Illini said.

MSU’s kicking game had been steady. Liam Boyd has nine field goals, second in the Big Ten, and punter Rhys Dakin leads the conference at 49.6 yards per kick, according to the school.

It was the 50th meeting between the programs and the first in East Lansing since 2019. MSU leads the series 27-20-2, but Illinois has won three of the last four, including a 38-16 win in Champaign in 2024. It was also MSU’s 110th homecoming game, a tradition dating to 1915. The homecoming parade was set for 6 p.m. Friday in downtown East Lansing and on campus.

Updated Oct. 12, 2026: Illinois won 38-37 in overtime. Michael Clayton II threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Hudson Clement on the first play of overtime, and after Michigan State answered with a touchdown, Alessio Milivojevic’s two-point pass fell incomplete, the Associated Press reported. The Spartans had come back from a 16-point deficit and tied the game 31-31 on Jaziun Patterson’s 2-yard run with 1:17 left. Michigan State is 2-4 and 0-3 in the Big Ten; Illinois is 3-3 and 1-2.

Updated Oct. 13, 2026: The headline and summary were changed to report the result of the game this story previewed.

Sources:
Michigan State University Athletics, “Michigan State’s Comeback Falls Short in Overtime Against Illinois, 38-37,” Oct. 10, 2026, https://msuspartans.com/news/2026/10/10/football-spartans-comeback-comes-up-short-in-overtime-against-illinois-38-37
The Associated Press, “Illinois makes a stop on Michigan State’s 2-point conversion attempt in OT, holds on for 38-37 win,” Oct. 10, 2026, https://apnews.com/article/illinois-michigan-state-score-e8afaf78b3442cd28a605cfb38e98ba8
Michigan State University Athletics, “Spartans Welcome Illinois for 110th Homecoming Game,” Oct. 6, 2026, https://msuspartans.com/news/2026/10/6/football-spartans-welcome-illinois-for-110th-homecoming-game
University of Illinois Athletics, “Illinois Heads to Michigan State,” Oct. 5, 2026, https://fightingillini.com/news/2026/10/5/football-illinois-heads-to-michigan-state
Photo: Ken Lund, “Spartan Stadium, Home of the Michigan State University Spartans, East Lansing, Michigan,” Sept. 25, 2015, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/), cropped and color-corrected; derivative under the same ShareAlike license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spartan_Stadium,_Home_of_the_Michigan_State_University_Spartans,_East_Lansing,_Michigan_(21729738591).jpg

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