Pat Fitzgerald is back, and Michigan State handed him the keys.
After three years away from college football, Fitzgerald has landed in East Lansing with a fresh start and a big assignment: turn a program that has lost its edge into one that plays with force again. Michigan State is a much larger stage than the one he left, and the expectations come with it.
Still, the job description fits him. He has built a career on squeezing winning out of less, and now he gets to try it at a school where football carries real weight.
The first order of business is identity, because Michigan State has been missing one. The Spartans have spent the last several seasons defined by a lack of toughness, losses to inferior Big Ten opponents, and an inability to stay competitive in the marquee rivalry games against Michigan. Fitzgerald is stepping into that mess with a simple goal: make the Spartans hard to play again.
That starts with the quarterback.
Alessio Milivojevic is now the center of everything Fitzgerald wants to do offensively. The Naperville, Illinois, native is finally getting his chance after Aidan Chiles left for Northwestern to replace Preston Stone at quarterback. This fall, Milivojevic is the one driving the offense, and Fitzgerald has made it clear how much that position matters to him.
"I think guys are just ready to go; the desire to get out there, you can feel it," Milivojevic said. "Guys are practicing 100 percent every day, ready to play someone other than our own team."
At Big Ten Media Days in July, Fitzgerald put it even more plainly.
"You're like my kids," Fitzgerald recalled telling his team at Big Ten Media Days in July. "I love all of you equally, but I just love the quarterback more, so don't take offense to that."
Nick Sheridan’s move from Alabama to Michigan State gives Fitzgerald something the offense badly needed: stability under center. The Spartans have had a hard time scoring, and while the quarterback play has been part of that problem, it has not been the whole story. The offense as a whole has been stuck.
The formula this season is not complicated. Keep the ball.
Get it out fast. That’s the kind of clean, efficient football Michigan State has to play if it wants to change the tone around the program.
If it doesn’t, the offense risks falling back into the same pattern of stalled drives and wasted possessions behind an inefficient line.
Fitzgerald’s first year is not about pretending Michigan State is ready to jump straight into the Big Ten race. It’s about stabilizing things, restoring pride, and giving the program a backbone again. If the Spartans become the kind of team opponents hate visiting at Spartan Stadium and work their way back to a bowl game, that’s a real step forward.
The reboot begins Friday night in Week 1 against Toledo at Spartan Stadium. Fitzgerald has waited three years for a night like this, even if he couldn’t have known exactly where it would come or what colors he’d be wearing. Now he’s back, and the only thing on his mind is football.
Football, and nothing else.
In Other News...
Michigan State Opener Will Reveal If This Rebuild Is Ready
The season opener offers an early read on two first-year staffs coming at roster building from very different angles. Toledo coach Jacobs is making the jump from FCS to FBS with a group shaped heavily by transfers from his previous program, while Michigan State coach Fitzgerald arrives with plenty of major-college experience but no shortcuts in reconstructing a roster. It is the kind of matchup that says as much about spring and summer work as it does about opening-night football.
For Michigan State, the game is less about reputation and more about how quickly a new team has learned to function as one. The Spartans have spent months trying to blend newcomers with an entirely new staff, and Toledo will provide a useful measure of whether that process has taken hold. The result will not settle everything about either program, but it should tell the Spartans a lot about how ready this rebuild really is. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Is Making A Sideline Change Fans Will Notice Fast
Michigan State is making a sideline adjustment this fall that should be obvious the moment the Spartans take the field. Offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi will be down on the field during games, a change from last season when both coordinators were working from the press box before Rossi eventually moved to the sideline in the middle of the year.
The shift comes as the NCAA has removed the rule that had limited the number of coaches, opening the door for Michigan State to carry 31 coaches and use additional staff in the press box to help communicate information. For a program trying to sharpen operation and get everyone in the right place before the snap, the setup gives the Spartans a different kind of game-day structure, even if the bigger question is still how much smoother it will make everything once the season starts. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Escaped Notre Dame In A Finish Fans Wont Forget
Michigan State and Notre Dame played a tense, end-to-end match that had the feel of a statement night for both teams, with the Spartans walking away with a 2-2 draw after trading punches all game long. Kayla Briggs and Reese Canada both found the net for Michigan State, and the defense had to absorb plenty of pressure as the Irish kept creating chances in a matchup that never really settled into one rhythm.
The late drama only added to the sense that this one could have swung either way. Notre Dame had a chance to put it away before Michigan State answered in the closing moments, capping a finish that should stick with everyone who saw it and leaving both sides with plenty to process after a game defined by resiliency, missed opportunities and one final burst of urgency. [Read more 🡒]