Michigan State had another very rough season this year. It’s been a very painful two years as a Spartan football fan, as we haven’t made a bowl game in the past two years. The last time MSU was in a bowl game was on December 30, 2021, when Michigan State played Pittsburgh in the Peach Bowl.
This year, the Spartans finished their season 4-8. Their second to last game was against Indiana over in Bloomington. This was a very fun game to watch as, in the end, it came down to the last play.
For almost the whole game, MSU either had the lead or the game was tied. It stayed that way up until the fourth quarter when Indiana scored a touchdown off of an eight-yard pass from Brendan Sorsby to Trey Walker. The extra point by Chris Freeman was good, and that put Indiana into the lead 21-17 with 4:06 left in the game.
If Michigan State wanted to win, they would need a very big drive that would end in a touchdown, and that is exactly what they did. The Spartans’ game-winning drive started off very nerve-wracking as it came down to a 4th and 3 in their own territory to start off the drive. MSU converted on that 4th down on an 18-yard pass from Katin Houser to Maliq Carr. A few downs later, Michigan State had the ball on Indiana’s 36-yard line. Houser took the snap and launched a pass to Carr, who then fought his way into the end zone, putting MSU into the lead. The extra point by Jonathan Kim was good and that made the score MSU 24, Indiana 21.
The Spartan defense now needed to stop Indiana from scoring for a little over a minute to win the game. I was super nervous at this point as I wanted MSU to get at least one more win before the season ended.
The drive was going well for Indiana as they were doing what they needed to do. On the second to last play of the game, Indiana had the ball on the Michigan State 25-yard line. Sorsby threw a ball into the MSU endzone, but there wasn’t a receiver in the area, and Indiana got called for intentional grounding, which backed them up further. There were seven seconds on the clock at this point, so Indiana decided to try a 49-yard field goal. I was extremely nervous at this point and was hoping that he would miss it. And that’s exactly what he did. Freeman’s kick went very far right, and that ended up winning Michigan State the game.
The next week after the MSU win, they played Penn State in Detroit at Ford Field and got shut out 42-0. Nothing went well for the Spartans this game, as Penn State dominated Michigan State in just about every aspect of the game. MSU passed for only 88 yards, while Penn State passed for 303 yards. What is even worse is that the Spartans rushed for -35 yards. In total, MSU lost more yards than they gained while rushing. Penn State ran for 283 yards, and two of their running backs each rushed for over 100 yards.
Just after the season ended, MSU finally hired a new head football coach, Jonathan Smith. Smith was previously the head coach at Oregon State but decided to take the job over in East Lansing. Previous MSU head coach Mel Tucker got fired two weeks into the season, and the Spartans had been under interim head coach Harlon Barnett ever since.
Hopefully, Smith can turn the Spartan football program around and fast.
