Michigan State Football: 3 takeaways from sloppy loss to Arizona State

Arizona State once again did just enough to snatch a narrow victory from Michigan State football for the second straight year. What did we learn?

Last season, Arizona State pulled off a shocking 16-13 victory over Michigan State under the lights at Sun Devil Stadium. This year, the Sun Devils made the return trip to East Lansing for the second half of the home-and-home series. Michigan State, ranked No. 18 in the AP Top 25, looked to get payback against Herm Edwards’ squad for last season’s upset.

It was a defensive struggle at Spartan Stadium, with Arizona State taking a tight 3-0 lead into the visitors’ locker room at halftime. That was all the scoring that transpired until Michigan State took the lead midway through the fourth quarter.

But Arizona State found the endzone in the final minute, forcing the hosts to engineer a frantic drive to try to get into field goal range to force overtime. The Spartans pulled off the feat, and Matt Coghlin drilled his 42-yard attempt through the uprights.

The thrill was short-lived, however, as a review showed that Michigan State had 12 men on the field. Lining up again from 47 yards, Coghlin hooked his second chance wide left for his third miss of the day. That left Arizona State the last-gasp 10-7 winner as the Sun Devils avoided overtime with the miss.

As a result, Michigan State is likely to fall out of the AP Top 25 this week while Arizona State might find their way up into the polls. What else did we learn about the Spartans in this contest? Let’s look at three takeaways from the disappointing finish at home for Michigan State.