Nate Carter didn’t want to lose Saturday’s rivalry game against Michigan. It showed in the sheer effort he put in every time he got the ball. The twists. The jukes. The shots he took as he strained for extra yards through contact.

Those efforts made for the best single-game performance of Carter’s career with the Spartans, with 118 rushing yards on 19 carries and another 56 off two catches, the most all-purpose yards of his Michigan State career. But it wasn’t enough to give his team a win in a 24-17 loss that came down to its last drive.

“He was a spark,” Spartans coach Jonathan Smith said after the game. “Ran it well, made some plays catching the ball. … He played really well tonight.”

This game was Carter’s third career outing against the Wolverines, and his second at Michigan Stadium. The first time around, he and an overmatched Connecticut team lost a 59-0 blowout in a 2022 season that ended 6-7. He had 30 all-purpose yards on seven touches in that game. Last season, after transferring to Michigan State, he found 61 yards on 19 touches. Saturday’s strong performance was a long time coming in his personal career against Michigan.

There’s also a certain sting that comes from such a strong individual performance that is ultimately for naught. But Carter’s play with the ball in his hands is also a sign that there might be something big on the horizon if he can maintain that level of excellence. If he can continue to play with both the elusivity and the consistency that he showed in Ann Arbor, his rushing attack could be vital for the Spartans to turn the high hopes of a rebuilding year into more tangible success in the way of wins.

The joystick jukes, the broken tackles, they all show how much potential Carter has to be a big difference-maker through the end of the season. Some of this comes from his vision. On the Spartans’ second drive and facing third-and-9, Carter found a hole to the right and booked it for 34 yards, a big play that set up his eventual 2-yard touchdown run later in the drive.

But Carter’s success also comes from flat-out effort. He brushed off contact, hit spin moves in space to make defenders miss tackles, and he strained for that extra yard each possession. These heroics nearly led Michigan State to a game-tying drive at the end of the game, when Carter found 30 yards on one reception by spinning out of a tackle attempt and taking the ball within a yard of the red zone.

“I’m just blessed to have the opportunity to come out here and play,” Carter said, the only Spartans player who spoke after the game. “Our offensive line did a great job opening holes for me.”

A year ago, Carter also spoke after a tough loss to Michigan, though in an entirely different manner. The Spartans were looking for a win to salvage a frustrating, scandal-clad season. Instead, they found a 49-0 defeat. And Carter, fielding questions after a strong individual performance, had to answer questions of how exactly they could find meaning in the rest of the year.

This time around, a frustrating loss to the Wolverines doesn’t have to be season defining, and it can’t be if Michigan State wants to earn an extra game in December. The Spartans already matched last season’s win total, with four games left to play. A bowl bid is still within reach.