Michigan State’s bye week arrives with the Spartans in obvious need of a reset, and the assignment could not be simpler: get healthy.
That was the blunt summary from fifth-year senior safety Martinez after Saturday night’s 28-10 loss to UCLA at the Rose Bowl, a game that added more bodies to an already battered roster. With the open date finally here, Martinez said the break should be used to recover both physically and mentally.
"Get healthy," Martinez said Saturday night from the depths of the Rose Bowl after the Spartans fell to UCLA 28-10.
"Take full advantage of the bye week, mentally and physically. It just gives us some time to reset and just go over the previous games, clean up little details, corrections and be able to get healthy and move forward."
Michigan State enters the break at 2-6 overall and 0-5 in Big Ten play, having dropped six straight. Its only two wins have come against MAC opponents, and the next game on Nov. 7 sends the Spartans straight into the Big House to face archrival Michigan.
The health picture is as bleak as the record. In the final pregame availability report before UCLA, MSU had 13 players ruled out, including its top two running backs, its top two quarterbacks, standout linebacker Jordan Hall and its top four cornerbacks.
The injuries have piled up all year. Hall was hurt in the opener, Cam Edwards went down with a season-ending injury early in Game 4 against Nebraska, and the UCLA game brought another wave of problems.
Third-string running back Marvis Parrish, forced into the starting role, exited after the third snap and never returned. Starting defensive tackle Ben Roberts, who has put together his best college season this fall, left after UCLA’s first snap from scrimmage and later reappeared on the sideline in street clothes using crutches.
In the second half, starting safety Devin Vaught, who finished with two forced fumbles, also went down.
"It's the type of game where, obviously, you seen, a lot of guys go down at any given moment," rush end Kenny Soares Jr. said. "It's next guy up, and that's the reality. It sucks, but that's the reality."
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald would not offer specifics on injuries or any return timeline for the players who are sidelined. The Big Ten’s next required availability report is due Nov. 4 at 8 p.m.
Fitzgerald did, however, lay out the shape of the week ahead. On Sunday, he planned to have staff report at noon to "grind through the tape" while players handled injury checks and treatment before being sent home by 3 p.m. after the long overnight flight from Los Angeles. Monday morning will bring a team meeting to "put this game to bed," followed by work for MSU’s "D-squad," the developmental group that handles scout-team duties, who will lift weights before the full roster goes through corrections from the UCLA film.
The regulars who are healthy enough to practice are expected to do very little on Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving most of the on-field work to the D-squad. Then Thursday and Friday, the full group - whatever it looks like by then - will return for practices that Fitzgerald said will resemble the Tuesday and Wednesday sessions of a normal game-prep week. That will give the staff a head start on installing the game plan for Michigan.
Fitzgerald also said he and most of his staff will spend much of the week recruiting, with assistant position coaches and coordinators handling practice duties. He said he may also make it to a high school game for his youngest son, Brendan, later in the week.
"My plan is to be out recruiting on Friday, at least," Fitzgerald said. "I've already been out a number of days throughout the state of Michigan, which was very important to us to really establish the right tone and the right tenor of where we want to start and end our recruiting."
For a team trying to survive the final stretch of its 2026 campaign, the wish from inside the locker room is straightforward: use the downtime, heal up, and get as many players back as possible.
"We just gotta take our time, be able to get back, get back mentally ready to work," Soares said. "It's definitely a great time, midpoint of the season, there's a couple guys hurt. We just gotta get as many guys as we can back."
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