EAST LANSING – Michigan State football doesn’t just have a new coach this season. It has 62 new players.
That’s the way of college football these days, where rebuilds are expected quickly, and roster turnover is more radical than in the NFL. Pat Fitzgerald understood that when he took over the Spartans in December.
And he understood his Spartans needed to show a little something against Toledo during their season opener Friday, Sept. 4, at Spartan Stadium.
Not dominance, or even College Football Playoff worthiness. But rather, a plan. Some spirit. A bit of oomph. Cohesiveness. None of which is easy with so many new faces in so many new places.
Fitzgerald also
needed to show he wasn’t just going to try and recreate Northwestern in East Lansing. Sure, parts of what worked on the other side of Lake Michigan, in Evanston, Illinois, can work here. When his Spartans were flying around with purpose Friday night, it looked like it will work here.
MSU beat Toledo 30-20 Friday night. That’s a start.
Fitzgerald wasn’t shy in the highest-leverage moments, either.
Nor was he conservative. Give him that. His Spartans didn’t look like his Wildcats at Northwestern did for so many years, where he mostly oversaw a power-rushing game.
MSU threw the ball down the field. Went for it on fourth down three times, including on fourth-and-inches when they trailed by a point in the fourth quarter.
That gutsy decision resulted in a 5-yard touchdown pass to Rodney Bullard Jr., who was hanging out in the back of the end zone. Fitzgerald didn’t blink. Or think about it all, really.
He went for it, again and again.
Partly because he needed to – and likely will have to for most of this season if the Spartans are to make a bowl for the first time since 2021. That's partly because the offense is the strength of this team.
That’s relative, of course, and until MSU gets to South Bend, Indiana, to face Notre Dame in a couple of weeks, it will remain relative – Eastern Michigan, which fell to San Jose State at home on Friday night, comes to Spartan Stadium next Saturday.
Still, there are a few things we can say after the latest opener for MSU’s latest regime:
The team looked more organized and cohesive, and when everyone was available on offense, the Spartans looked better in the trenches.
The defense, while thin on playmakers, managed to make plays because it was mostly where it needed to be – sans a few big plays – and swarmed to the ball.
And the special teams?
Fitzgerald may have found a kicker. Liam Boyd, who played last season for Charlotte, kicked five field goals, including a clinching 51-yarder with a little more than two minutes to go.
The Spartans look improved in the margins, and that’s a solid sign. Yeah, Toledo’s a MAC team. But also, yeah, Toledo's a perennial winner in the MAC and had the best-rated class in that conference this past offseason.
It may be too early for transitive properties and all – no sport invites more comparison between common opponents – and it is obviously too soon to say anything definitively about relative competition.
But this was a start.
When MSU lost its best offensive lineman – left tackle Ben Murawski – early in the third quarter, Fitzgerald opened up the offense.
In fact, he asked his quarterback, Alessio Milivojevic, one of the few holdovers from last year’s team, to throw it more in the second quarter, too. Well, perhaps we should give credit to new offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan.
It was his plan and his calls.
Still, Fitzgerald was the one who brought him in.
So, when MSU couldn’t run in the third quarter – they lost promising transfer running back Cam Edwards around when they lost Murawski – they threw.
Reasonably well enough for a while, at least until they got onto the Rockets’ side of the field and stalled. A sack ruined one drive. A blocked field goal took out another.
Boyd kept them safe on the scoreboard with his leg. The defense helped, giving up just 2 yards on the ground into the third quarter.
Well, until Connor Walendzak rumbled through a crease and kept going – no, chugging – and chugging and somehow outran the entire back end of MSU’s defense for a 71-yard touchdown to give Toledo a 20-19 lead.
That was just the second big play MSU gave up; John Alan Richter threw a 60-yard touchdown pass on second-and-17 early in the second quarter: A relatively short out to Adjatay Dabbs, who beat cornerback Charles Brantley on the sideline with a simple go route.
After MSU dominated the first quarter and most of the second quarter, Toledo was suddenly in the game. MSU responded. Fitzgerald took a breath – probably several.
And the latest new Spartan era is on its way.
Contact Shawn Windsor: swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football thrives as Pat Fitzgerald refuses to live in past
