Mel Tucker won't let the Spartans overlook Western Michigan in season-opener
When Michigan State’s schedule was released, it’s fair to assume that most fans immediately chalked Week 1’s matchup against Western Michigan as a win for the Spartans.
While the outside perception might think that way, MSU head coach Mel Tucker won’t let overconfidence and complacency enter the minds of his players in the days leading up to the season-opener against the Broncos.
“We have to play our fannies off,” Tucker said at his Monday press conference. “That’s our preparation, that’s our mindset.”
Western Michigan will break in a new starting quarterback, and lost its most explosive offensive weapon – wide receiver Skyy Moore – to the NFL this offseason. However, the Broncos have a program that has not suffered a losing season in eight years, and has experience knocking off a Power 5 opponent in a hostile environment. Western Michigan beat ACC foe Pittsburgh on the road just last season.
“Whatever we’ve seen on film from these guys, from their personnel, their film – they’re going to be better than that,” Tucker said of the Broncos. “They’re going to be way better than that. They’re going to be more intense than that, they’re going to be stronger than that, they’re going to be faster than that, they’re going to be more physical than that. That’s our focus.
“My experience tells me, in games like this, this game has been circled on their schedule for quite some time. Whatever we’ve seen from them on tape, they’re going to be better than that – and, absolutely, their belief factor is through the roof right now.”
Tucker and the Spartans know what it’s like to be counted out before the season ever begins. Michigan State was picked to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten in 2021, but went on to win 11 games. Tucker won’t allow his team to make the same wrong assumptions about the Broncos.
“Their coaching staff has those guys ready, prepared and believing they can come in here and beat us,” Tucker said. “So, that’s what we’re preparing for.”
Preparing for a Week 1 opponent always provides a unique challenge. Programs can look to film from a season ago, but there is no film yet on the 2022 Western Michigan football team. Adding to that challenge is the fact that the Broncos are breaking in a new offensive coordinator – Jeff Thorne, the father of Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne.
The elder Thorne was the offensive coordinator at North Central College from 2002 through 2024, before being promoted to head coach in 2015 and holding that position until being hired by Western Michigan this offseason.
Tucker and his defensive staff have had to scout the offense that North Central College ran a season ago to prepare of Week 1’s matchup.
“You have to go back years to try to get the best picture, then you have to decide, ‘Here are the plays we’re going to present to the players’ to run in practice with our scout team and things like that,” Tucker said.
“We have to practice some plays we think they may run or that they have shown. We’ve got a couple different programs that we’ve been studying, so we have to pick and choose which plays we’re going to run and things like that, which may resemble what we see in the game. But, we’re not sure what we’re going to see.”
Because the Spartans aren’t sure what specific plays they could see on Friday night, Tucker said his staff is coaching the players in concepts instead of plays, and applying rules to what the players might see in-game from their opponent.
“You have to coach in concepts, because we don’t know what we’re going to see from them,” Tucker said. “We’re going to have to be able to adjust and adapt during the game, and do a really good job identifying what we’re seeing, have really good communication on the staff from the box and then communicate to the players and be able to make adjustments to what we see out there.
“When you teach in concepts, the players should be able to unwind anything they see out there and apply the rule. For example, if it’s a coverage, maybe there’s a look, a play that we haven’t seen before – it might be something they got from another school or an NFL team – so within that coverage, the coverage says, ‘If this, then you do this’ … Those plays fit into some kind of category and then you apply the rule that you have for that coverage, or that front, or that blitz, that pressure.”
There’s a lot of excitement as the season-opener approaches. The offseason is long, and everyone is anxious to see Michigan State take the field again for the first time since the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
But Tucker and his staff are keeping their players focused on the task at hand – preparing for their opponent, not looking ahead to Friday night in Spartan Stadium.
“We have coaches, and we have players, and we have work to do,” Tucker said. “That’s what we’re anticipating. That’s just what it’s going to be. So, we know that. That’s why we’ve got to stay focused on what we’ve got to get done today. We can’t be thinking about Friday night right now on [Monday].
“We have to continue to build our fight so that we can start fast and so we can play relentless, Michigan State football for 60 minutes in the game, play in and play out, six seconds per play.”
