Michigan State QB Alessio Milivojevic questionable at UCLA

The Spartans already had a thin roster heading west. Then Wednesday's first availability report came out, and the most important name on the team was on it.

Pete Nakos

@PeteNakos

Michigan State QB Alessio Milivojevic is questionable for Saturday at UCLA. Backup QB Cam Fancher is out. t.co/yRFwMVZvi7

The Fancher part is what makes this scary. He's now listed out for a 3rd straight game, so if Milivojevic can't go, the job falls to true freshman Kayd Coffman. Coffman is a 4-star recruit from East Kentwood who has played 11 snaps all year, against Wisconsin, and hasn't thrown a college pass yet. Making your first career throw at the Rose Bowl against an unbeaten top-10 team is a lot to ask. Second-year QB Leo Hannan is the other option. He hasn't played this season, but he was the main backup late in 2025.

Nobody has said what's actually wrong with Milivojevic. After last week's loss to Northwestern, the staff called the team injury-free, and Milivojevic did his postgame interviews, so whatever this is seems to have come up afterward. He's been the one steady thing in a 2-5, 0-4 Big Ten season: 121-for-185 for 1,263 yards, 7 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.

Chris Solari

@chrissolari

The injury report for MSU went from bad to worse. QB Alessio Milivojevic and RB Jaziun Patterson now questionable for UCLA.

It's not just the QB. Patterson took over at running back after starter Cam Edwards got hurt, and he's run for 327 yards and 5 touchdowns on 76 carries. Now he's questionable too. The defense is worse off: all 4 of MSU's top cornerbacks, Tyran Chappell, Tre Bell, Charles Brantley and Keshawn Williams, are ruled out. So are WR Charles Taplin, LB Jordan Hall, FB Jay Coyne, OL Tristan Comer and TE Joe Caudill. That's who's left to deal with a UCLA team that's 6-0.

The beat writers also aren't reading much into the word questionable, because on this report it has usually meant the player ends up sitting.

Jacob Cotsonika

@jacobcotsonika

It’s worth nothing that Chappell was “questionable” his first week on the report and we haven’t seen him since. Taplin was questionable last week, too, and now he’s already being ruled out.

That's the track record Milivojevic's tag comes with. UCLA is already a 14.5-point favorite for the 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on CBS, and that number will move if Coffman is the one taking snaps. Keep an eye on the updated availability reports later this week. If Milivojevic gets downgraded, MSU's offense is starting over with a freshman who's never thrown a pass, on the road, against the No. 9 team in the country.