It was a scene East Lansing had been missing. MSU football led a ranked opponent into the fourth quarter for the first time since 2022.

A victory seemed all but guaranteed after Northwestern ran a fake punt from its 28-yard line. The direct snap to the upback, who tried to throw a pass, was tipped and fell incomplete. The botched play handed MSU perfect field position for a game-winning field goal with 3:29 left.

Then three minutes flipped the script. A blocked field goal turned into a game-winning field goal for Northwestern, as Aidan Chiles, the former Spartan quarterback, stood on the Wildcats’ bench and screamed at the home crowd after leading a winning drive that took less than a minute.

It was an ill-fated ending that turned what seemed to be a signature win for head coach Pat Fitzgerald into a 24-21 loss to No. 25 Northwestern, the program he coached for 17 years.

“I get paid to win, and we’re not winning, so it starts and ends with me,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ve got to look at all the reasons why things happened the way that they did, and just get back to work and roll those sleeves up.”

“There was a lot of right in this group,” Fitzgerald said.

Until the chaos, MSU had played its most complete game, with all three phases doing their job.

The Spartan defense set the tone, holding Northwestern to minus-14 rushing yards over its first two drives. The Wildcats entered averaging 203 rushing yards per game, fourth in the Big Ten, and finished with 134 at 3.2 yards per carry. Senior defensive lineman Ben Roberts led the way with season highs of eight tackles, three for loss and two sacks. He was part of a five-sack day for MSU.

It was an impressive performance from a defense missing all of its starting linebackers and cornerbacks.

“Everybody made it possible for me. My coaches do a great job preparing me,” Roberts said. “But like I said, don’t matter. We lost. I’m all about winning.”