Mel Tucker, Michigan State can salvage disappointing 2022 season by beating rival Wolverines
This offseason, Mel Tucker and several of his Spartans defiantly stated that the standard for Michigan State football was competing for and winning championships, both at a regional and national level.
At Big Ten Media Days in July, Tucker said the goals for the 2022 squad were to win each game on their schedule, win the Big Ten, make the College Football Playoff and be the last team standing at the end.
"We're chopping wood every day, and the goal for us is to win every game on our schedule," Tucker said that day. "That's our stated goal. Our goal is to finish first. That's our goal. And we need to bring a championship to East Lansing. So that's what this is all about."
Quarterback Payton Thorne noted that Michigan State had not won a Big Ten title since 2015, stating "that's too long."
Even earlier this offseason, during spring practice, cornerback Ameer Speed, who transferred to Michigan State from defending national champion Georgia, said the Spartans were "close" to competing for a national championship.
While it's been proven in the last decade that Michigan State can win conference titles and reach the College Football Playoff, it's also become abundantly clear the Tucker's program is not nearly as far along as we were led to believe in the months leading up to the 2022 season.
The Spartans did not beat a Power 5 opponent this year until Oct. 15, when MSU ended a four-game losing streak with a 34-28 double-overtime victory over Wisconsin. During that losing streak, Michigan State was defeated by double digits in every game, the longest such streak since 2002.
Yet, beating the Badgers breathed some life into what has widely been considered a lost and disappointing season for MSU. More importantly, it gave the Spartans some needed momentum heading into the biggest game of the year.
Michigan State will enjoy a bye this Saturday, but the Spartans' focus is already squarely on the Oct. 29 matchup with in-state rival Michigan. The Wolverines are off to a 7-0 start, and are currently ranked No. 4 in the nation.
While championship hopes have been dead in East Lansing for several weeks already, there's one way for Michigan State to salvage this 2022 season — Beat Michigan.
Let me be clear — a win over the Wolverines would not erase all of the disappointment this season has wrought. In that scenario, the Spartans would still only be 4-4 on the year. This offseason, Tucker said "we didn't even do anything last year" after MSU beat Michigan, won the Chick-fil-A Peach bowl and finished 11-2 in 2021.
As a program, Michigan State has bigger goals than just beating their in-state rival every season. Although former coach Mark Dantonio built his program on beating the Wolverines, it didn't stop there for his Spartans. They won three Big Ten championships and reached the College Football Playoff during their former coach's regime.
Those are the goals that Tucker's program is chasing. After working as an assistant under Nick Saban and Kirby Smart, Tucker know what it takes to compete at the highest level of college football. That's what he's trying to bring to East Lansing.
Like the Dantonio era however, the fire of Tucker's rebuild was sparked by beating the Wolverines. Tucker is the first MSU football coach to win each of his first two matchups against Michigan.
In 2020, Tucker's first year, the Spartans won as a 21.5-point underdog in Ann Arbor. Then, last season, Michigan and Michigan State clashed as Top 10, undefeated foes for the first time since 1964, and the Spartans overcame a 16-point, third quarter deficit to stun the Wolverines, 37-33.
The momentum of those two wins over Michigan has been stymied a bit by Michigan State's 3-4 start to this season, but the Spartans can get most, if not all, of that momentum back by beating the Wolverines again next Saturday.
The Spartans will enter the week likely as a double-digit underdog, but I doubt the number will be as large as the 21.5 points Michigan was favored by in 2020. Still, it would still be an upset of large proportions and one that would be remembered for years to come across this state.
All the pressure here is on the Wolverines.
Michigan is the team that is still competing for the goals that Michigan State laid out for itself before the season began. They've won every game on their schedule. They're tied for first in the Big Ten East, and control their own destiny on the path to Indianapolis, the College Football Playoff and a potential national championship.
U-M coach Jim Harbaugh is 0-2 against Tucker, and after going 0-4 in his career against former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, the last thing Harbaugh wants is another extended losing streak to a rival coach.
As we hurtle towards the renewal of this annual series, the Wolverines clearly have the better team, but nobody has been better at upsetting a favored Michigan club than the Spartans.
Beating the Wolverines again wouldn't erase the four blemishes already on Michigan State's record, but it would be the first, and biggest, step towards salvaging what's left of the 2022 campaign.
