Michigan holds off Michigan State for third straight year

Colston Loveland caught six passes for 67 yards and two touchdowns to help lead host Michigan to a 24-17 win over Michigan State in a Big Ten contest on Saturday.

Michigan (5-3, 3-2) won the Paul Bunyan Trophy for a third straight year.

Aidan Chiles went 17-of-23 passing for 189 yards against Michigan State (4-4, 2-3), which had 37:05 of possession time and outgained Michigan, 352-265.

Trailing 24-10 in the fourth quarter, Michigan State cut Michigan’s lead to 24-17 with 6:12 remaining on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Chiles to Nick Marsh.

The Spartans got the ball back and drove the ball to the Michigan 16-yard line, but a fourth down pass with under two minutes left from Chiles fell incomplete.

Michigan then got two first downs to run out the clock.

Michigan took a 24-10 lead with 13:20 remaining in the game on a 23-yard touchdown pass on a halfback option from Donovan Edwards to Loveland. A 2-point conversion pass to Loveland was successful.

Leading 9-7 at halftime, Michigan drove 75 yards in 11 plays and took a 16-7 lead with 9:49 left in the third quarter on a. 2-yard touchdown run by Alex Orji.

Michigan State answered on its next possession, cutting the Michigan lead to 16-10 on a 46-yard field goal by Jonathan Kim with 3:45 to go in the third.

Michigan State opened the scoring with 10 seconds remaining in the first quarter on a 2-yard touchdown run by Nate Carter, who finished a nine-play, 62-yard drive.

Michigan didn’t get anything going offensively until its final drive of the first half, when the Wolverines drove the field and cut its deficit to 7-6 with 29 seconds remaining until halftime on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Davis Warren to Loveland. The extra point failed after a fumbled snap.

After a sack and forced fumble by Josaiah Stewart and a recovery by Kenneth Grant at the Michigan State 34-yard line with 14 seconds remaining in the first half, Michigan took advantage of the chance and went up 9-7 heading into halftime after a 37-yard field goal by Dominic Zvada.

–Field Level Media