Michigan State football opens Pat Fitzgerald era with rally vs Toledo

EAST LANSING – The Pat Fitzgerald era of Michigan State football opened with a familiar look, at least to those who remember the coach’s tenure at Northwestern.

The Spartans combined a steady ground game, a passing game with few mistakes and a begrudging defense – much like his Wildcats teams from a decade ago – and, finally, a timely fourth-quarter touchdown in downing Toledo, 30-20, to open the 2026 season. MSU scored on its first five drives – with four field goals from new kicker Liam Boyd – before the streak ended on a blocked FG try midway through the third quarter.

Michigan State football vs. Toledo

Alessio Milivojević completed 26 of 34 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown and running back Cam Edwards, who transferred to MSU from Connecticut during the offseason, picked up 98 yards on 27 carries to spark the Spartans to a 1-0 start and their 12th straight victory in 12 Friday-night openers.

What looked like it was on its way to a comfortable MSU victory turned late in the third quarter when Fitzgerald opted to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Toledo 30. A handoff to Cam Edwards got nearly a yard, but the measurement came up a chain link short, giving the Rockets the ball to open the fourth. On the first play from scrimmage, a handoff to Connor Walendzak went 71 yards for a touchdown, giving Toledo its first lead, 20-19. The Rockets went for the 2-point conversion, for a three-point lead, but the pass fell incomplete.

The Spartans responded with a seven-play drive to reach the end zone, with the go-ahead TD coming on fourth-and-1 – a 5-yard pass from Milivojević to Rodney Bullard Jr., who also caught a 2-point conversion toss to make it a seven-point game.

The Spartans’ first quarter under Fitzgerald started out mostly as promised: A lot of north-south running and a punishing defense as MSU built a 10-0 lead on a 115-12 edge in yards over the first 15 minutes. It featured Edwards carrying it 11 times for 52 yards and a touchdown, with the majority of his yards picked up after sharp cuts to avoid tackles.

The offensive attack also included Milivojević completing his first five passes of the season – his first miss was a slightly high target of an open Bullard in the end zone on third down to force a field goal just before the end of the half.

The MSU defense was nearly as fierce early in the first half, allowing just one first down to the Rockets over their first three drives. The third drive was ended by an interception by Kenny Soares Jr, a captain who earned the No. 1 through a team vote in fall camp.

On the fourth drive, however, a Toledo launch found its target, with QB John Alan Richter finding a wide-open Adjatay Dabbs – who’d blown by transfer CB Charles Brantley (back with MSU from Miami) – for a 60-yard touchdown to make it 13-7 with a little under eight minutes left in the first half.

Even with the long bomb, the Spartans allowed just 68 yards in the second quarter. In all, they gave up 80 yards, including 9 on the ground, while not allowing the Rockets to run a play in MSU territory during the half.

The Spartans will look to improve to 2-0 under Fitzgerald and 2-0 against MAC opponents as Eastern Michigan visits Spartan Stadium on Sept. 12 (3:30 p.m., Big Ten Network). EMU opened its season last week by welcoming the MAC’s newest member, Sacramento State, to the conference with a 28-17 win. The Eagles played Friday as well, falling another Spartans squad – from San Jose State – in Ypsilanti by a 27-21 score. It’ll be a homecoming of another sort for EMU starting QB Noah Kim; the fifth-year senior appeared in 10 games as a freshman and sophomore for MSU before transferring to Coastal Carolina for the 2024 season, and then to EMU before last season.

This story will be updated.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football opens Pat Fitzgerald era with rally vs Toledo