What Spartans Did to Check Themselves Following Michigan Loss
Michigan State is entering the final stretch of its 2024 season.
A season of highs and lows has resulted in a 4-4 record after eight games. It's almost rather fitting that this new-look team sits at .500 through the first two-thirds of its season -- its identity is still to be discovered.
We should have a clear understanding of what it ends up being in this last leg of this campaign.
Michigan State comes off a tough loss to its rival, Michigan, one that it could have won and one that severely halted its momentum after coming out hot after the bye week to upset a solid Iowa team.
Issues needed to be addressed.
First-year Spartans coach Jonathan Smith said in his press conference on Monday that his team had a players-only meeting on Sunday.
Quarterback Aidan Chiles described what that entailed.
"We just talked about things that aren't going so well with the team right now," Chiles told reporters on Tuesday. "We got to figure things out. We ended that game with a little less class than we would like. But things happen, it's an emotional game. So, we came through and talked about everything that went down that night and everything that went down before that night, too, and just focused on the little things ... come back stronger next week."
According to Chiles, veteran defensive lineman Maverick Hansen was the one who proposed the meeting. The rest of the team captains agreed on the idea.
"[T]he leaders thought it was necessary to bring us all together and just kind of talk about where we're at this season and what we need to do to keep pushing forward and end the season right," said Michigan State tight end Jack Velling.
While it's tough to move on from a lost against your greatest rivals, it will be as important as ever to do so this week when the Spartans host an undefeated Indiana team that ranks 13th in the nation.
"I think we don't want the loss last week to affect the rest of the season, for sure," Velling said. "But it's more just about just rallying behind each other."
The Spartans' matchup with Indiana is set for 3:30 p.m. at Spartan Stadium on Saturday.
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