Michigan State’s first eight games have been a grind defined by two things: injuries and late-game frustration. The Spartans have had moments that suggested they could hang around, but the breaks never seemed to come when they needed them most.
That reality was on full display after the Oct. 24 loss to UCLA, when Fitzgerald summed up the health situation bluntly: “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Fitzgerald said regarding injuries after losing to UCLA on Oct. 24.
“But that is what it is. It’s football.
It’s a contact sport, and the next guy’s got to step up.”
Now MSU heads into a four-game stretch with no margin left if it wants to reach a bowl game in Fitzgerald’s first season. The run begins Saturday in Ann Arbor against Michigan.
The Spartans opened with two Mid-American Conference wins, handling Toledo and Eastern Michigan by a combined 65-27. The Eastern Michigan game was tighter than the final score suggested, with a sluggish second quarter keeping things close before MSU ripped off 21 unanswered points in the second half to get to 2-0.
Then came the first “Battle for the Megaphone” since 2017, and the Spartans gave No. 3 Notre Dame more resistance than expected.
The Irish were favored by 29.5 points, but MSU stayed within 17-10 at halftime before falling 27-10. Plenty of fans treated it like a moral victory, but Fitzgerald didn’t buy into that line of thinking.
“A little bit of that is rat poison,” Fitzgerald said regarding moral victories. “Like, ‘hey, good job you played hard,’ that drives me crazy, like nuts.”
Big Ten play quickly snapped the Spartans back to reality. Nebraska came into Spartan Stadium and won 31-13, building a 24-10 halftime lead and never letting the margin get closer than 11. A week later, Wisconsin exposed the gap even more clearly in a 31-3 win, jumping ahead 17-0 before MSU finally got on the board late.
The next two games brought a different kind of pain. Against Illinois on Homecoming weekend, MSU looked headed for another rough night after trailing 20-7 at halftime.
Instead, the Spartans surged in the second half, outscoring the Fighting Illini 24-11 to force overtime. But the comeback ended one point short, 38-37, after a failed two-point conversion.
A week later, the Spartans were again in a tight one, this time against No. 25 Northwestern and former Spartan quarterback Aidan Chiles. The teams were tied at 21 in the closing minute before Northwestern blocked MSU’s 33-yard go-ahead field goal and raced the other way for the winning 34-yard kick.
After that loss on Oct. 17, Fitzgerald didn’t soften the message.
"I get paid to win, and we’re not winning, so it starts and ends with me,” Fitzgerald said after losing to Northwestern on Oct. 17.
The injury list only grew from there. MSU went into the UCLA game without sophomore quarterback Alessio Milivojevic and graduate running back Jaziun Patterson, then lost fifth-year defensive lineman Ben Roberts and junior safety Devin Vaught during the game.
Even so, the Spartans were down just 7 at halftime. The problem was what came after that: only 156 yards of offense in a 28-10 loss.
“We need the bye week. We're going to get some guys back, hopefully,” Fitzgerald said after the UCLA loss. “Those guys are working their tails off in rehab and doing everything they can to get themselves back.”
MSU now has four games left to try to turn the season around: Michigan on the road, then home dates with Washington and Oregon, before finishing against Rutgers.
In Other News...
Michigan State's Opener Revealed A New Look That Could Matter Fast
Tom Izzo wasted little time tinkering with Michigan States opening-night look, and the changes were hard to miss against Quinnipiac. Coen Carr slid into the power forward spot, Jasiah Jervis got the start at shooting guard, and transfer Anton Bonke was in the first five as well, giving the Spartans a different blend than they showed in the exhibition games. It was the kind of early-season adjustment Izzo often makes when he thinks a lineup can be sharpened quickly, and this one had immediate consequences on both ends of the floor.
Carr responded with a lively all-around effort, finishing with 12 points, eight rebounds, a block and a steal in 25 minutes, while Bonke made his presence felt inside with 13 rebounds and 11 points in 19 minutes. For Michigan State, the bigger question now is whether this was simply an opener experiment or the start of a more permanent reshuffling, because the Spartans already have evidence that the new alignment can change the teams balance in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan States Opener Raised An Early Rotation Debate Fans Will Notice
Michigan State opened its season with a look that immediately gave fans something to track beyond the final score. Jesse McCulloch was unavailable because of a head injury, but he was still on the bench, and Tom Izzo answered by rolling out a small-ball starting group of Jeremy Fears, Jasiah Jervis, Jordan Scott, Coen Carr and Anton Bonke. It was a lineup built for speed and versatility, and it signaled that the Spartans are willing to mix things up early as they sort through the frontcourt.
The first half offered a glimpse of why the approach was worth watching, with Fears and Medlock providing key scoring support while Bonke made his presence felt on the glass. Even without McCulloch on the floor, Michigan State found enough balance to take a halftime lead, which only sharpens the conversation about how Izzo wants to use his pieces once the roster is whole again. For a team with real depth questions to answer, the opener already hinted at a rotation debate that could linger. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Just Showed Why Izzo Has A New Early Decision
Michigan State opened the regular season in the kind of lopsided fashion that usually tells you a lot about a team before the schedule gets any harder, rolling past Quinnipiac 96-59 at the Breslin Center. The Spartans looked deep from the start, with Jeremy Fears Jr., Coen Carr and freshman Carlos Medlock all turning in strong showings as Tom Izzos group controlled the game in transition, on the glass and around the basket.
The broader takeaway was less about the final margin than the way Michigan State piled up advantages in the areas that tend to travel once Big Ten play arrives. Fastbreak points, rebounding and post scoring all tilted heavily in the Spartans favor, giving Izzo an early look at a roster that already appears to have multiple ways to beat teams. For a program trying to establish its identity right away, this was the kind of opener that can shape the conversation quickly. [Read more 🡒]