​Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch grades Michigan State football’s performance after a 24-21 loss to Northwestern on a scale of 1-10.OFFENSE: 5There was a lot of good accomplished by MSU offensively Saturday, at least relative to the performances against Nebraska and Wisconsin not so long ago. Two long touchdown drives, another long touchdown pass, 19-for-30 passing from Alessio Milivojevic and no interceptions, 4.8 yards per rush from Jaziun Patterson, who was effective on 15 carries. But also, Milivojevic was stripped and fumbled deep in MSU territory and he twice missed receiver Rodney Bullard downfield for what would have been touchdowns, had Milivojevic been on target. MSU was also just 3-for-12 on third downs. So there’s a long way to go — for the quarterback and the offense. But this was considerably better than a few weeks ago.DEFENSE: 6This was MSU’s best defensive game, given the injuries and opponent. MSU’s defense not only made plays, but for most of the game, met the moment. When the offense fumbled and left the Spartan defense defending its goal line, they pushed the Wildcats back and forced a field goal. When the Spartans were hanging on to a 14-10 lead and Northwestern had marched into the red zone, they came up with a stop on third-and-6, forcing another field goal.MSU’s defense, which not long ago couldn’t get to the quarterback at all, did so five times, swarming Aidan Chiles often by just rushing four linemen. The defense allowed a long touchdown drive after the Spartans took a 21-13 lead and, after coming up with a big stop on the drive in-between that and Northwestern’s final drive, MSU’s defense was gutted in six plays by the Wildcats, setting up the winning field goal. Tough finish. But a pretty strong effort until then.SPECIAL TEAMS: 6MSU’s special teams units were the star of the day, in many regards, until they weren’t. They four game-altering plays — a 44-yard kick return by Kenneth Williams (that set up a touchdown), a 41-yard punt return by Chrishon McCray (that set up a touchdown), a blocked field goal by Eli Coenen that kept the Spartans within three points in the first half, and a well-played fake punt that didn’t catch MSU off guard at all. Rhys Dakin had another good day punting, too. But when you don’t get what you thought was a winning 33-yard field goal because it’s blocked with 1:05 remaining, that mars the whole day.COACHING: 5Like the offense, defense and special teams, there was a lot of good that came from MSU’s coaching staff Saturday. Of course, they had a hand in the performances of all of those units. I thought the defensive approach to both stopping the Wing-T and bothering Aidan Chiles was superb. Joe Rossi deserves a game ball for everything but the finish, when the Spartans’ limitations also came back to bite them. Offensively, MSU ran the ball effectively and took shots downfield. Nick Sheridan used tempo to get the offense going and had a few good calls