Michigan State’s football season has been a grind, and the pain hasn’t stopped at the record. A handful of former Spartans are turning heads elsewhere, which only makes the struggles in East Lansing sting a little more.
One of the clearest examples is Justin Denson Jr. The former four-star defensive back arrived at Michigan State under Mel Tucker, but he never really got the chance many expected.
After transferring to Purdue, he’s found his footing fast. Through the first month of the season, he’s been one of the Boilermakers’ most reliable defenders.
Purdue Safety Justin Denson Jr. has been one of the Boilermaker's best tacklers last two games 🚂
• 84.4 PFF tackling grade vs. Notre Dame
• 80.2 PFF tackling grade vs. Illinois
• 0 missed tackles across both games
He has 28 tackles and 1.5 TFL this season
He also has… pic.twitter.com/mugxVPkwzv
- JTBoiler (@jt_boiler) October 6, 2026
For Michigan State fans already frustrated by how thin the secondary has been because of injuries, that’s a tough pill to swallow. Denson Jr. might not have changed the whole picture in East Lansing, but plenty of people believed in his upside, and now he’s showing it at Purdue.
On the basketball side, there’s a lot more to feel good about. Michigan State released tipoff times for the full 2026-27 season, giving fans a first real look at what the schedule will look like night by night.
Time + TV Updates 🗓️ pic.twitter.com/4qNMDBFSiy
- Michigan State Men's Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) October 6, 2026
A few times are still listed as “TBD,” including the Tennessee and Gonzaga games, but the rest of the slate is set, Big Ten games included. Nothing jumps off the page as shocking, though a few road dates look especially demanding because of the late start times.
The trip to Illinois on Feb. 5 is set for 8 p.m. ET, the game at Iowa comes 11 days later at 9 p.m.
ET, and the March 2 matchup at Northwestern in Evanston will tip at 8:30 p.m. ET.
The West Coast stretch against UCLA and USC will also mean late nights. Outside of that, the schedule looks fairly manageable. It’s enough for fans to start circling dates now.
Tom Izzo’s group should be ready.
And then there was a little bit of familiar program energy at football practice. With the team still searching for a spark, Pat Fitzgerald brought in two former standouts to talk to the players on Tuesday.
Darqueze Dennard addressed the defensive backs, while Taybor Pepper spent time with the special teams unit. If Michigan State is looking for a jolt heading into Saturday’s homecoming game against Illinois, that was the kind of move that fits the culture-first approach.
In Other News...
Michigan State Offense Has A Problem It Must Fix This Week
Michigan State left its recent game with a familiar kind of frustration for an offense that came in expecting to move the ball more effectively. The plan was cautious by design, built around short passes and protecting the football, but it never produced the kind of rhythm or chunk gains that can turn steady drives into points. Instead, the Spartans spent too much time settling for controlled possessions that went nowhere, a problem that quickly showed up on the scoreboard.
Now the focus shifts to fixing the parts of the attack that stalled when the game got tight. Pat Fitzgerald and Nick Sheridan have pointed to the need for more aggressive execution without losing balance, and that is where the next challenge lies for Michigan State. It is one thing to call for improvement in the abstract, but quite another to turn that into a more complete offensive performance this week. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State's Biggest Rivalry Game Suddenly Feels Far More Winnable
Michigan States season has been defined by the grind of a rebuilding year under first-year coach Pat Fitzgerald, and the injuries have made that rebuild even steeper, especially on defense. The Spartans have been piecing things together for weeks with multiple players sidelined, some for a few games and others for the rest of the season, which has left little margin for error as the schedule has tightened.
Still, the outlook around the biggest rivalry game has shifted enough to make things interesting. Michigan entered the matchup with the skill-edge that was expected, but recent offensive struggles have opened a door for the Spartans to believe they can hang around and make it a real game. Plenty can change before kickoff, but for Michigan State, the path to competing suddenly looks a lot less distant than it did not long ago. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Gets A Painful Look At What Katin Houser Became
Katin Housers path back to the Big Ten has been a winding one, and it has brought him to Illinois as the teams starting quarterback just in time for a matchup with Michigan State, the program where he first got his start. After leaving East Lansing, Houser spent time at East Carolina before landing at Illinois, where he has settled in as a productive and steady presence under center.
This season, Houser has put together the kind of performance that forces an old team to take notice, ranking near the top of the Big Ten in passing yards and touchdowns. For Michigan State, the upcoming game is more than just another conference date. It is a reminder of what Houser has become, and of how much sharper he looks now than the quarterback they once had. [Read more 🡒]