Despite showing some fight, the Spartans fell 23-20 to the Golden Gophers in front of 45,339 fans at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The loss was MSU's sixth in a row, as the program has not won since taking down Youngstown State on Sept. 13.

Which makes the yin and yang dichotomy of Rossi moving from the coaching box to the field level in the Spartans’ 31-20 loss to U-M an interesting dynamic moving forward as he and Smith try to salvage a season gone awry and, quite likely, their own jobs in green and white.

Michigan State football visits Minnesota for a Big Ten Week 10 matchup in Minneapolis, as coach Jonathan Smith looks to snap a five-game skid

Elsewhere, starting linebacker Jimmy Rolder, fresh off his career game against Michigan State, is also out due to injury. Rolder is second on the team in tackles (52) through eight games. Reserve Cole Sullivan (arm) has also been ruled out, leaving Michigan limited at linebacker and facing question marks with the starting lineup.

"This is, you know, our hometown, Michigan, so it's like a state champ," Michigan football offensive lineman Gio El-Hadi. "This is for the title."

Michigan State will get left tackle Stanton Ramil and safety Nikai Martinez back from injury for key Week 9 college football rivalry game

Top-ranked Ferris State kept its unbeaten season alive with an offensive eruption. The Bulldogs scored 28 unanswered points in both the first and second halves to turn Saturday's GLIAC game into a blowout as they doubled up Northern Michigan,