MSU football stumbled again Saturday, and the picture around the program only looks more battered with each passing week.
There was at least one small positive: I had MSU losing by 30, so there’s the bright spot. It wasn’t that bad.
But the bigger takeaway is harder to ignore. The Spartans are at the point where this has become really difficult to watch, and the whole thing is sinking into some very dangerous territory.
The fog around the program keeps getting thicker, and it has taken more and more of the fun out of fall college football.
The one real chance for a silver lining came with Kayd Coffman, the future QB1 possibility. In a season that feels pointless right now, the best use of the remaining games is figuring out who can actually be part of the next step.
Coffman clearly showed more passing ability than Alessio, but after the first four throws, nothing really clicked. With Alessio and Fancher both scratched, this was supposed to be a chance for Coffman to give Spartan Nation something to build on.
Instead, the depleted lineup kept the look at him from being a good one.
And the injuries keep piling up in a way that feels absurd. MSU is down to its third and fourth-string quarterbacks and running backs, linemen are going down in games, and the team is also missing three linebackers and four cornerbacks.
That kind of attrition has been building for a few years now, and it’s hard to see anything resembling relief. The bye week at least gives the staff extra time to scout and recruit people from Home Depot and Meijer to make their MSU debut.
At this point, there doesn’t seem to be any next man up left.
For a stretch, MSU actually stayed in the game. The Spartans hung around for a quarter and some change, even if UCLA looked sloppy and not nearly as sharp as an undefeated team should.
The turning point came on the turnover with a chance to go up 14-7. Instead, MSU came away down 7, and that was that.
Maybe that moment was the one that could have sparked some fourth-string miracle run, but it never happened. The defense held up as well as it could considering the roster is basically made of cheese cloth.
The offense just didn’t do enough to keep any momentum alive.
The bigger concern may be what comes after this season. Even seeing how thin the roster is now, it’s unsettling to think how many of these players will be gone next year.
Coffman and Alessio are probably going to be tough to keep, too. That means Fitzgerald is heading into an offseason where he’s going to have to work the portal hard and do serious work just to field a competitive team.
Players are going to leave when things go well for them, and even smaller schools can offer a winning environment and a shot to show out for the NFL. This rebuild feels like it’s heading into its most important offseason, and there are more doubts than answers.
The one undeniable sun in all of this is the bye week. Halloween can happen without MSU football looming over the TV. If you still want to carry the Spartans into the holiday, the costume options are easy: a deflated MSU football, an MSU player on crutches, an MSU football zombie to explain the lack of brains often seen in game, or just a paper bag over your head.
As for the rest of the schedule, it is getting harder and harder to point to a win. Even Rutgers feels less attainable.
In a year where Michigan football is garbage, MSU football is somehow even more garbage, and the two weeks ahead don’t look any kinder. Two plays could have changed the conversation completely, but they didn’t happen.
Instead, the Spartans are heading into the stretch with the feeling that they’ll still get their butts handed to them in two weeks, and with the injuries mounting, it’s difficult to see a win left on the schedule.
The weekend wasn’t much kinder elsewhere, either. MSU hockey opened with a 1-0 loss to New Hampshire on Friday night, a deja vu result from last year except this time the Spartans were badly outshot and outplayed.
They bounced back enough to earn a split with a 2-1 win on Saturday, but scoring just two goals in two games against New Hampshire after averaging 5 pregame this season is a warning sign. The schedule is about to get a lot tougher.
Michigan also pulled out a win Friday night with .1 seconds left, which only added to the misery around the week. Even the UConn exhibition was grim.
There wasn’t much joy for Spartan fans anywhere. Hockey should improve, and the basketball team should as well.
Unless Baba Yaga has a wider reach than expected.
In Other News...
UCLA Coach Just Spelled Out What Went Wrong For Michigan State
UCLAs 28-10 win over Michigan State at the Rose Bowl pushed the Bruins to 7-0, but the conversation afterward centered just as much on how the game unfolded as on the final score. Bruins coach Bob Chesney pointed to a sluggish start, a few turnovers and some shaky game management before his team settled in, a fair snapshot of a night when the Spartans had chances to make things uncomfortable early.
Chesney also acknowledged the messier details along the way, including fumbles, drops and penalties, even as he praised the overall effort and said he expects the group to clean it up. For Michigan State, the takeaway is less about one bad stretch and more about how a ranked-level opponent can survive its mistakes, regroup and still control the game. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Loss Leaves Two Big Questions Fans Wont Ignore
Michigan States six-game slide grew harder to ignore in a 28-10 loss to No. 9 UCLA, a result that once again left the Spartans searching for answers on both sides of the ball. The offense was operating short-handed, and freshman quarterback Kayd Coffman showed flashes early before the drive-to-drive struggles piled up, leaving the Spartans stuck trying to manufacture consistency they never really found.
There were still a few bright spots, most notably safety Devin Vaught turning in a strong defensive effort, but the bigger concern may be what comes next for a unit already stretched thin. The injury to defensive leader Ben Roberts could become the more consequential development coming out of the game, especially for a team that is already fighting to stabilize itself during a difficult stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan States UCLA Loss Exposed A Bigger Problem Than The Score
Michigan States loss to No. 9 UCLA fit the scoreboard, but the bigger issue for the Spartans was everything that piled up around it. The defeat dropped them to 2-6 overall and 0-5 in Big Ten play, and for stretches they did enough to create some hope, with safety Devin Vaught forcing two turnovers before leaving with a leg injury, Nikai Martinez jumping on a fumble, and quarterback Leo Hannan flashing a few encouraging moments in relief.
The problem is that the positives kept getting swallowed by the injury list, which only grew as the night wore on. Marvis Parrish, Nick Sharpe, Ben Roberts and Vaught all ended up part of the shuffle, leaving Michigan State to piece together roles in real time while trying to compete with a top-10 opponent. At this point, the Spartans are dealing with more than the pain of another loss, because the way theyre holding up physically has become part of the story too. [Read more 🡒]