Michigan State football's improving pass rush delivers at right time

EAST LANSING – Somewhere, George Perles got a big smile and a hearty laugh from the stunt Anelu Lafaele pulled. Especially given the former Michigan State football coach’s disdain for the Michigan Wolverines.

Shortly after the Spartans seized a lead late in the second quarter on Liam Boyd’s first field goal, U-M quarterback Tommy Carr took the shotgun snap deep in MSU territory. Lafaele lined up at his edge rush spot on the right side of the defensive line, then looped back around teammate Mikeshun Beeler on the interior and took off like a flash around a helpless offensive lineman.

Zoom. Boom. Down went Carr for a third time in the first half of the Spartans’ eventual 15-6 win.

“I just needed that. This whole team needed that,” Lafaele said about the victory Wednesday, Nov. 11.

Generating a pass rush has been a work in progress for three seasons for defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, who was retained by first-year coach Pat Fitzgerald. The Spartans are finally starting to figuratively and literally turn the corner in getting to the quarterback more frequently.

“We talk about effort and physicality, that’s really the DNA of the defense. And then technique,” said Rossi, whose defense went from 19 sacks in 2024 to 22 last season. “I thought they brought it in all three of those areas.”

Creating pressure on quarterback Demond Williams Jr. will be a significant priority for MSU (3-6, 1-5 Big Ten) as it hosts Washington (5-4, 2-4) on Saturday (4:15 p.m., BTN).

Washington’s offensive line has allowed 27 sacks this season, 11th-most in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and Williams – who was upgraded to probable with a rib injury – has absorbed 22 of those. The Huskies also have struggled to find traction with their ground game and rank 131st out of 138 programs at 99.3 rushing yards a game.

“He can run, he can throw,“ Rossi said. “If you get out of your lanes, he’s gonna gain a first down and can take it the distance. He can create the second play, sometimes it’s the third play, fourth play within one play. … So he certainly has our attention.”

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MSU has gone four games without a sack this fall and had one against Notre Dame after getting six combined in nonconference wins over Toledo (two) and Eastern Michigan (four). However, the Spartans dropped Northwestern’s Aidan Chiles and Carr five times apiece in the two of the past three games, with a goose egg at UCLA between them.

The recent stretch has helped MSU improve into a tie for 82nd in the FBS with 17 sacks.

“I think our staff has done a good job of continuing to teach and teach and teach,” Rossi said. “We feel it. Hopefully everyone feels it, that some of those younger guys are gaining experience and improving.”

Lafaele, who arrived via transfer from Wisconsin last year, suffered a season-ending injury five games in 2025. The redshirt sophomore is now tied with senior defensive tackle Eli Coenen with a team-high 3½ sacks. Injured defensive tackle Ben Roberts has two and is the only other Spartan with multiple sacks. He was listed as questionable on the availability report Thursday night after getting hurt on the first play at UCLA and missing the U-M win.

With Roberts out, second-year defensive tackle Derrick Simmons from Frankenmuth picked up his first college sack in the fourth quarter.

“Obviously, we got it done last week,” Simmons said Wednesday. “[Roberts] kept pushing me, kept pushing me to be better. I’m going to be able to continue to perform the way I know I can and to compete again this weekend.”

One play after Simmons’ sack, the Spartans forced Carr to throw his second interception of the game, picked off deep by cornerback NiJhay Burt. MSU created four turnovers, with Lafaele forcing a pivotal fumble near the end of the third quarter that safety Nikai Martinez pounced on, and Burt both forced and recovered a fumble in the final quarter.

Turnover creation also had been an issue entering the U-M game, and the Spartans’ five takeaways entering that rivalry victory were 133rd in FBS. They nearly doubled that total, and hope to get more bounces against a Washington team that has been picked off seven times but given away only three fumbles on the season.

“Going into that game, I’m thinking, ‘Get the ball.’ That’s what we’re all worried about – get the ball, get the ball,” said Burt, who added six tackles and was named Big Ten defensive player of the week. “If they don’t score, it helps our offense out, it helps us [on defense] out.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

Next up: Huskies

Matchup: Michigan State (3-6, 1-5 Big Ten) vs. Washington (5-4, 2-4).

Kickoff: 4:15 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 14; Spartan Stadium, East Lansing.

TV/radio: Big Ten Network, WJR-AM (760).