Michigan State knew the Pat Fitzgerald hire came with a certain amount of patience baked in.
This was never going to look like a plug-and-play turnaround, mostly because Fitzgerald arrived without the kind of built-in personnel package that has powered so many quick fixes around the country. Only one player, rush end Kenny Soares Jr., came with him from Northwestern, and none of MSU’s coordinators or position coaches worked with him there.
That matters. A lot of the coaches who have hit the ground running in Year 1 have done it with a ready-made core already in tow.
Indiana’s Curt Cignetti brought 13 players from James Madison. UCLA, which is 6-0 and next on MSU’s schedule, has 11 players head coach Bob Chesney brought from JMU.
Oklahoma State has 20 players Eric Morris brought over from North Texas. Auburn’s upset of then-No.
1 Georgia came with 13 players Alex Golesh carried from South Florida.
Of course, that approach is not a guarantee. Penn State is 3-4 with 24 transfers Matt Campbell took from Iowa State.
Michigan, even at 4-2, has had a shaky season despite Kyle Whittingham bringing some help from Utah. Still, Michigan State has largely gone the other way, even under Jonathan Smith, when the Spartans brought only three players from Oregon State: QB Aidan Chiles, TE Jack Velling and C Tanner Miller.
So while the rest of the sport keeps zigging, MSU has zagged. And the last two close losses are exactly the reason Fitzgerald should be granted time to shape this thing into what he wants.
If a two-point conversion against Illinois had gone through, and if Northwestern’s field goal had been the one blocked instead of Michigan State’s, the conversation would feel very different. Instead of a 2-5 record and the early mess of 2026 hanging over the program, Fitzgerald would be getting credit for keeping a thin roster competitive enough to sniff a bowl game.
After the Northwestern loss, Fitzgerald didn’t try to dress anything up.
"I get paid to win, and we're not winning," Fitzgerald said after the Northwestern loss. "So it starts and ends with me.
We've got to look at all the reasons why things happened the way that they did and just get back to work and roll our sleeves up. There's a lot of fight in this group."
That kind of talk usually doesn’t land well with fans who want wins, not process. But for Michigan State, the process is part of the point right now.
The roster had obvious holes before the season began, and that was always part of the gamble with this hire. The bigger story this fall was supposed to be the foundation, not the final record.
And there are signs that foundation is at least getting sturdier.
MSU’s offense, which had started to look downright lifeless after Cam Edwards’ season-ending injury, has shown some bounce over the last two weeks. The Spartans put up 21 points Saturday, but that number could have been better if quarterback Alessio Milivojevic had connected on some downfield chances.
The defense, too, managed to hang on for nearly 50 minutes despite injuries piling up at cornerback and linebacker. Northwestern’s three points on the Milivojevic fumble were barely earned at all; the drive started with first-and-goal and actually went backward 10 yards.
The bigger picture still points to 2026 as Fitzgerald’s real Year 0. Michigan State needs this to work, and it knows it.
A third straight failed coaching hire would leave future candidates wondering whether the Spartans themselves are the issue. There’s also the financial reality: MSU will keep paying Jonathan Smith’s buyout until after the 2030 season, at about $6 million per year.
That means Fitzgerald’s leash should be longer than Smith’s, both because of the money and because of the optics.
Still, the real clock starts next year. Athletic director Dan Bartholomae wrote in a recent letter that the team will be "resourced to be competitive immediately." That makes the upcoming transfer portal window especially important, because it should show exactly what kind of backing Fitzgerald is going to get.
Michigan State will need to move quickly, too. Plenty of starters are running out of eligibility, and the 2027 recruiting class is relatively small.
In Other News...
Michigan State Has 3 Big Roster Questions Against UConn
Michigan State gets a useful early measuring stick when it hosts UConn at Breslin Center in a preseason exhibition, and the Spartans have a few roster questions worth watching long before the games count. Freshman center Ethan Taylor, sophomore Cam Ward and freshman two-guard Jasiah Jervis all stand out as players who could shape how this team looks once the 2026-27 season arrives, with each bringing a different kind of intrigue after what they have already shown.
For Tom Izzo, this is less about the final score than about what the rotation starts to reveal. Taylors presence inside, Wards sophomore leap and Jervis fit on the perimeter all give Michigan State something to evaluate against a high-level opponent, and UConn should provide a real stress test for where those pieces stand. The Spartans will leave the exhibition with answers, but probably not all of them. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State May Finally Have The Defensive Front Fans Wanted
Michigan States defensive front looked more like the unit fans had been waiting for in the win over Northwestern, with several players drawing strong Pro Football Focus grades and the group showing the kind of disruption that had been missing at times earlier in the season. Under recently hired coach Winston DeLattiboudere, the line has taken noticeable steps forward, and the Spartans are seeing a blend of veteran presence and younger pieces start to come together.
What makes the performance matter is that it did not feel like a one-game outlier so much as another sign of a room that is being developed the right way. The staff has been encouraged by the progress up front, and with that mix of experience and growth, Michigan State may be closer to having the defensive line it has been trying to build for a while. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Has One Costly Problem It Can't Keep Wasting
Alessio Milivojevic gave Michigan State a little bit of everything in the loss to Northwestern, and that has become part of the problem for a team trying to stop the slide. Pat Fitzgerald pointed to the quarterbacks touchdown passes as proof the offense can still find answers, but he also noted the missed opportunities that left the Spartans with too much wasted potential in a game they needed to squeeze for everything it was worth.
Now comes UCLA, a matchup that adds another layer of uncertainty with backup Ty Dieffenbach having recently started because of an injury to the Bruins starter. Fitzgerald offered his read on both quarterbacks as Michigan State turns the page, but the larger issue remains the same: the Spartans cannot keep letting usable chances slip away and expect a losing streak to sort itself out. [Read more 🡒]