EAST LANSING — A last-minute implosion turned what could’ve been a streak-snapping win against Northwestern into the fifth loss of Michigan State’s skid. Its coach will tell you that a lot more went wrong.

Sure, there’s the blocked field goal that kept Michigan State off the scoreboard with a minute to play. But before that, there was the drive that stalled before a crucial first down to burn the clock. There was a false start — officially, an illegal snap — that backed the Spartans up five yards from third-and-7. And before the 34-yard field goal that gave Northwestern its 24-21 win Oct. 17, missed assignments made nightmare fuel that will keep these Spartans up at night.

If the devil is in the details, Michigan State’s latest result put it through hell.

“Coach D said all the time, it’s a game of inches, right?” said MSU coach Fitzgerald, invoking the wisdom of Michigan State’s winningest coach and his friend, Mark Dantonio. “And we’re not making those plays in the inches to get us over the hump and get a win.”

By lacking execution in those winning moments, Michigan State (2-5, 0-4 Big Ten) is showing it is yards behind. It lost its 18th Big Ten game in the past 21 tries Saturday, this one as painful as any before it. In the span of a minute, the Spartans’ would-be breakthrough win dissolved right before their eyes.

“(We) can’t get it back,” edge rusher Kenny Soares Jr. said. “Regardless if the outcome would’ve been different or not, we still got a loss here.”

This was the first loss in Michigan State's losing skid that felt like it played well enough to win. Notre Dame stayed in control for 60 minutes in South Bend. Nebraska throttled the Spartans as injuries thinned their ranks. Wisconsin blew the doors off early and never looked back. Illinois gave up a 17-point lead, then found one last stop to crush homecoming dreams.

This one, though, was Michigan State's game for the taking.

Northwestern didn't lead in the second half until its field goal with two seconds left. Coaching malpractice could have, should have handed this one to Michigan State. The Wildcats tried a fake punt from their own 28 in a tie ballgame with 3:29 to play. MSU had the ball inside of two minutes, momentum on its side. Then the Spartans lacked the decisiveness to seize the moment.

There were other moments this one slipped away:

The two balls quarterback Alessio Milivojevic overthrew to Rodney Bullard Jr. for would-be touchdowns — those didn’t help. Neither did soft coverage and poor tackling that let Northwestern march 64 yards down the field for the winning score. Those struck major chords. Then there were the minor keys: a third-and-12 conversion given up that led to a first-half touchdown, or a breakdown on a two-point conversion to tie the game. That false start on MSU's last drive, or poor run blocking before it when the Spartans needed one first down to win the game.

Michigan State hasn't really experienced how to close out a win against a team its equal this season, and it showed.

Fitzgerald continuously pointed the finger at himself and the coaching staff for improperly preparing this Michigan State roster — down 15 players to injury — to go out and win. A week after overtime heartbreak against Illinois, Michigan State looked like it had turned a corner when Chrishon McCray hauled in a 53-yard touchdown for a 21-13 lead, 11:48 on the clock.

The turning point followed a series of big plays including his 41-yard punt return set up by back-to-back tackles for loss and a stop on third-and-long. It was a big moment, the echo of which a football team can hear Saturdays long after.

The little moments, though, are where Michigan State let this one slip away.

“I get paid to win, and we’re not winning, so it starts and ends with me,” Fitzgerald said. “And we’ve got to look at all the reasons why things happened the way that they did, and just get back to work and roll their sleeves up.”

That’s the one thing Michigan State can reliably hang its hat on this season: It hasn’t folded. And five games into a losing streak, there is evident frustration that the Spartans hope they can parlay into a notch in the win column. That didn’t happen Saturday, but there were elements of this game, particularly the pass rush and some proper protection for its own quarterback, that felt like meaningful advancements.

“I know the guys we have in the locker room,” Milivojevic said. “I know the coaches we have coaching us. I know no one’s gonna put their head down and stop working.”

Michigan State's attention to detail needs improvement beyond what it can find on a practice field. It has to learn how to find its best form when the game is on the line. Its inability to do so Saturday is why players left the field ruing another loss, this one the type that should end another way.

“Just gotta find a way to get one more (score),” Fitzgerald said. “That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”