EAST LANSING - Pat Fitzgerald didn’t need much time after Michigan State’s win over Michigan to turn the page.
The Spartans’ first-year coach celebrated the rivalry victory, took the calls and messages that came with it, and then settled into the message that matters now: what happens next. After beating the Wolverines and bringing the Paul Bunyan Trophy back to the Duffy Daugherty Football Building for the first time since 2021, MSU has a real path to a bowl berth again, and Fitzgerald made it clear Monday that the opportunity is right in front of his team.
“Listen, I think our guys are really bright and really smart. I mean, we all know that that win gave us an opportunity and the right to have this be a big game this weekend if that makes sense,” Fitzgerald said at his news conference Monday, Nov.
- “That’s the way I approach it with the guys.
This is a critical game for this team.”
Michigan State is 3-6 overall and 1-5 in the Big Ten, and it needs to win its final three games to qualify for the postseason. Washington comes to East Lansing on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. on Big Ten Network, and the Spartans will then face a quick turnaround with Oregon visiting for the home finale on Friday, Nov. 20, before the regular season ends at Rutgers on Nov. 28.
Fitzgerald said he addressed the team Monday morning with the bigger picture in mind.
“I said, ‘Listen, then that creates next week. And the week after, right, we’ll worry about them down the road,’” Fitzgerald said he told players. “But there’s no doubt there’s an opportunity, if we do what we’re capable of, to create an extra month with our seniors.”
The coach also said the reaction to the Michigan win stretched beyond his own locker room. He spoke with former MSU coach Mark Dantonio after Saturday’s game and had a long phone call with him on Sunday.
Fitzgerald called that conversation “really rewarding.” He also heard from several former Spartan players, and former strength coach Ken Mannie stopped by practice Monday.
Dantonio’s message over his 13 seasons was always that the week after Michigan mattered just as much as the rivalry itself. He finished 8-5 against the Wolverines, and MSU went 11-2 in the games that followed those meetings. Fitzgerald pointed to that lesson as the Spartans try to handle the emotional high of the rivalry win without letting it spill into the next game.
“Some games mean more, and I got it. I think that’s a T-shirt being made somewhere,” Fitzgerald said, after becoming only the third MSU coach to beat Michigan in his first meeting, joining Mel Tucker and Nick Saban, who did it in 1995.
“You gotta grow up, you gotta mature. This is a test.
And it’s a hard test.”
Washington arrives under coach Jedd Fisch, a former Michigan assistant, and the Huskies have dropped four of their last six. Three of those losses came by four points or fewer, including Saturday’s 28-25 defeat at Penn State after Washington fell behind 28-6 at halftime and nearly pulled off the comeback.
Quarterback Demond Williams Jr. brings a familiar name to East Lansing. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound junior is a Spartan legacy, since his father, Roland Sr., played cornerback at MSU as a junior college transfer from 2005-06.
Born shortly before his father’s senior season in East Lansing, Williams has completed 65% of his passes for 1,667 yards with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions in eight games. He’s also run for 254 yards on 73 carries and scored twice, even while being sacked 22 times and losing 125 yards on those plays.
Washington has allowed 27 sacks this season, tied for 11th-most among FBS teams, and Fitzgerald knows the Spartans will have to deal with Williams in every phase.
“He presents huge problems for our defense in his holistic game. It’s everything that he does,” Fitzgerald said.
“So, yeah, we got our hands full. There’s no doubt about that.”
Matchup: Michigan State (3-6, 1-5 Big Ten) vs. Washington (5-4, 2-4).
TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WJR-AM (760).
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