Katin Houser Injured as Illinois Survives Michigan State in Overtime

The Fighting Illini left East Lansing with an overtime victory on Saturday afternoon, but the big story of the day was an injury to Katin Houser.

Illinois' quarterback left Saturday's 38-37 win over Michigan State with an apparent injury in the third quarter and did not return.

Houser finished the game completing 20 of his 29 passes for 194 yards and two total touchdowns. The graduate transfer quarterback also threw an interception and was injured while making the tackle. At the end of the fourth quarter, Houser was spotted on the Illini sideline with a brace on his right arm.

In relief of Houser, true freshman Michael Clayton II went 6-for-8 with 88 yards and two touchdowns. One of those was a 25-yard pass to Hudson Clement that took the lead in overtime.

Clement hauled in six passes for 105 yards, while reliable pass-catcher Collin Dixon had seven grabs for 62 yards and a score.

The win is Illinois' first Big Ten victory of the season, improving the Fighting Illini's record to 3-3 (1-2 B1G) on the season. Meanwhile, Michigan State fell to 2-4 (0-3 B1G).

Illinois opened the game by scoring on all four of its first-half drives. Houser had two touchdowns — a five-yard toss to Aidan Laughery and a two-yard outside run — to help the Fighting Illini jump out to an early 17-0 lead.

Michigan State finally found some momentum in the second quarter, as running back Jaziun Patterson secured a six-yard touchdown catch. By halftime, Illinois led 20-7, and both teams traded field goals following the intermission.

Late in the third quarter, disaster struck for the Fighting Illini. Illinois had scored on its first five possessions of the game before Houser sailed a pass over the middle, intended for Dixon. The throw was picked off by Michigan State defender Devin Vaught and returned back to Illinois' 11-yard-line. Houser made the touchdown-saving tackle, but it came at a cost.

Houser went back to the locker room after taking the hit from Vaught. He appeared to be getting his right hand checked out by trainers before leaving the field. Patterson ran in the 11-yard touchdown on the ensuing play.

The injury inserted Clayton into the game, and the former three-star recruit showed no fear in his first college football action. Clayton led a six-play, 74-yard scoring drive that ended with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Dixon. Laughery punched in the two-point conversion to make it a 14-point game.

Michigan State quickly struck back, marching down the field to cut it to one score. The Spartans converted on fourth-and-7, and on the next play, quarterback Alesso Milivojevic found Fredrick Moore for a 24-yard touchdown.

Even worse for the Illini, Michigan State appeared to successfully convert a surprise onside kick after the touchdown. However, the play was nullified due to a questionable offside penalty and Illinois received the ball.

Clayton attempted to run a QB sneak on fourth-and-inches from Illinois' own 33-yard line, but was stuffed. That gave Michigan State the ball in enemy territory with 3:27 remaining.

Illinois nearly caught a break when Joe Barna punched the ball out of MSU's Rodney Bullard Jr.'s arms at the three-yard line. Michigan State recovered, though, and Patterson then scored his third touchdown of the game to tie the score at 31.

Clayton threw just behind a wide-open Brayden Trimble on third down, forcing Illinois to punt the ball away in the final minute.

Illinois found the end zone on the first play of overtime. Clayton threw a pass to Clement, who had loads of space and took the ball in for six.

Patterson scored for the fourth time of the game on a direct snap from a yard out. The Spartans went for two and the win, but Xavier Scott came up huge with a pass breakup to secure the victory.

The Fighting Illini have a bye next week before returning home to face No. 13 Oregon on Oct. 24.