In a 12-game regular season, it is extremely difficult to bounce back from a three-game losing streak. Michigan State is going to look to do just that after falling to 3-3 following a 31-10 loss to Oregon on Friday.
“I believe in this team,” said cornerback Charles Brantley postgame. “I feel like we’re going to continue to work to improve every week. We’re going to keep getting better.”
The bye week for the Spartans is well-timed. MSU has played in six straight weeks and just played the two toughest teams on its schedule: Ohio State and Oregon. According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, Michigan State has played the toughest schedule in the country to this point.
“They were decent opponents, but we could have done better than what we did, honestly,” Brantley said. “We can compete with anybody.”
“It’s been a long half a season so far, but it’s a good time to correct and improve (during) the whole bye week,” said tight end Jack Velling. “We’re going to win the bye week.”
The mission for ‘winning the bye week’ is simple, and is consistent with what has been said by those in the program all season.
“We’re going to improve every week,” Brantley said. “Every week we improve.”
It makes sense. A program that’s trying to rebuild should have some long-term thinking, but players are not thinking about 2025 or 2026. They want to win now.
“I think normally you would [weigh the new staff and all the changes], but with the team – with the guys that we’ve got in that locker room right there – I think that we can do it with what we got right there,” Velling said.
That starts with MSU taking advantage of opportunities. On the Spartans’ opening drive, quarterback Aidan Chiles fumbled on a first-and-goal from the 2-yard line. It was the 14th turnover on the season by the Spartans, which is tied for second-most in the Power Four.l conferences.
“It was a bummer, it happened; I don’t think it really set the tone for anything,” Velling said. “We just shook it off and we’ve kind of just got to get back to work. We were running some things [that] weren’t going our way but defense kept having our back and we’ve just got to finish better. That’s it.”
“We kind of all rallied around him and we all lifted him up," Velling continued." He just told us that he’s got us and we believe it. We believe in him and I’ve got (Chiles’) back no matter what.”
Michigan State’s defense also forced two turnovers in the red zone - both Dillon Gabriel interception - to allow the Spartans to hang around in the first half. MSU’s two drives from those interceptions went for a combined 19 yards on seven plays.
“I think we’ve just got to play more together and obviously it’s on the road, a tough environment to play at, but it’s just us hurting ourselves,” Velling said about the offense’s lack of rhythm.
“If we get a turnover, we’ve got to go score. It’s just team ball,” Brantley said.
He had the second pick on Saturday, getting in front of a pass on a second-and-goal. It was Brantley’s third interception of the season, making him just one of four players in the Big Ten at that mark.
“I think that we learned that we can compete with the best,” Velling said. “We’ll fight for four quarters. We just have to start faster from an offensive point of view and like [Brantley] said, play complementary football. I like us and I think we can compete with whoever’s out there on the field with us.”
The good part is that Michigan State’s remaining schedule is a lot more manageable. The same metric that says the first half of MSU’s schedule is the toughest in the country ranks the back half at 61st.
The remaining games for Michigan State against ranked opponents are: at No. 24 Michigan, home vs No. 18 Indiana and at No. 23 Illinois. That’s not necessarily an easy slate, but it’s certainly more manageable than now-No. 2 Ohio State followed by now-No. 3 Oregon, on short rest no less.
Before MSU tries to get Paul Bunyan back, its next game is against 3-2 Iowa. The Hawkeyes just fell to OSU as well, by a score of 35-7. Iowa will play Washington next week. Kickoff time between the Spartans and the Hawkeyes is expected to be announced Monday.
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