It is officially game week for the Michigan State football program. The Spartans host in-state foe Central Michigan on Friday to begin the 2023 campaign.
The game at Spartan Stadium (also known as "The Woodshed") is scheduled for a 7 p.m. Eastern Time kickoff and will be broadcast on FS1.
During his Monday media availability, Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker previewed the matchup and answered questions about his team. Tucker can feel the excitement from the fan base as the game inches closer.
"We're preparing to start the season at home, in The Woodshed, in front of our fans," Tucker said. "We had a student event last week and the student section was packed, so we can feel the excitement and the energy on campus. Last week, the band was practicing three times a day, outside my window, they're getting after it, and that's always a good sign."
Michigan State had a full-padded practice on Monday and did a "significant amount of hitting." Tucker mentioned that there were some "bumps and bruises," and that some guys who were "nicked up" are getting back to practice ahead of the game. Tucker feels like the team is generally healthy overall, but as usual, didn't get too specific on injuries.
The prep for CMU began last week. Tucker praised Central Michigan head coach Jim McElwain and the Chippewas. Tucker and McElwain are familiar with each other from their time coaching against each other in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). McElwain was the head coach at Florida from 2015 until October of 2017. During that span, Tucker coached at Alabama and Georgia.
"We've had a good camp and we shifted our attention to CMU some time last week," Tucker said. "We've already had two practices this week on those guys. We had our (normal) Tuesday practice today. They're very well-coached. They have a good team. I went up against Coach McElwain a couple times when I was in the SEC. And so we'll have to be at our best. We'll have to prepare, continue to prepare, and I know there'll be at their best."
Tucker also discussed what playing an in-state opponent means for MSU, and mentioned that he emphasized the importance of winning the game to his team.
Central Michigan defeated Michigan State in Spartan Stadium in 2009, and played the Spartans closely the last time the two teams met in East Lansing in 2018, which ended in a 31-20 victory for the Spartans. Tucker showed the team film from CMU's last trip to "The Woodshed."
"We showed the players (the tape from) the last time that Central came here," Tucker noted. "Really tight game, we showed them the highlights and we showed them the commentary that the Big Ten Network had after the game. (We just want to) make sure that everyone understands the challenge at hand.
"I think it's good to be able to play in-state schools. It's important to us, it's important to them, it's good for our state. It's gonna be a dog fight. It's gonna be a challenge, no doubt about it, always has been."
Tucker was also complimentary of the Central Michigan defense.
While Tucker's focus is on making sure his entire team is prepared to face CMU, the biggest question for media members and fans is who is going to start at quarterback for the Spartans.
In typical Tucker fashion, that question will not be publicly answered until the MSU offense takes the field on Friday night.
"We'll see who runs out there first on Friday night and we'll go from there," Tucker said about the starting quarterback situation.
When asked, Tucker also didn't reveal who the starting kicker or punter will be, but noted that the competition at those positions has been "very strong."
One thing Tucker was open to speaking about was his squad's focus and preparation heading into the season opener. The Spartans know what it will take to earn a victory against a team looking to pull an upset.
"I feel relentless focus with our coaches and with with the players," Tucker said. "We know what we have to do, we know what's at stake, and we worked and prepared extremely hard this entire out-of-season and during camp. We have a process, and it's one day at a time."
The most important thing that the Spartans need to do is focus on the little things, according to Tucker.
"It's all about the details," Tucker said. "It's the little things that are going to make the difference: technique and fundamentals, pad level, hand placement, footwork, communication, leverage, effort, hitting, adjustments, demeanor. All those things, they all add up. And so that's our focus each and every day: attention to detail."
Those small details are especially important in the run game, as it takes all 11 guys on the offense to have a successful running game, including the quarterback, running backs, offensive line, wide receivers and tight ends all executing properly.
Tucker recently publicly challenged MSU's rushing attack, but now feels better about where the run game stands.
"We're deeper than we were to start the season a year ago, and I feel better about our run game than I felt a couple weeks ago,” Tucker noted.
When asked to elaborate on those thoughts, Tucker mentioned that the reason he feels better about the running game is because everybody is doing their job: wide receivers have gotten better at blocking, the tight ends have gotten more "coordinated," running backs are running harder and falling forward on contact and the offensive line is "physical" and "in sync." He's also seeing good pad level from all involved.
Following a 5-7 season and missing a bowl game in 2022, which of course came on the heels of an 11-2 season in 2021, Tucker was asked about feeling pressure to get things turned around.
For Tucker, outside "pressure" is not something that concerns him because the toughest judge is himself.
"I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself all the time," Tucker said. "So the pressure I feel is the same pressure I feel every day for the last 27 years: to coach hard and get the people that are around me to coach hard and play hard. And that's it. No one could put more pressure on me than I put on myself, I mean no one, there's no situation possible.
"I've coached at the highest level ... I've never been anywhere where you weren't expected to win games. I expect to win. That's what we're doing here. So it's not even about the pressure for me, it just comes with the deal. Pressure's not even the word, quite frankly. I'm not sure what the word is, but it's not pressure that I feel."
While Tucker mentioned that he doesn't necessarily feel "comfortable" with anything just yet, he has been pleased with his coaches, the way the players prepared throughout fall camp and how the players grew closer throughout the offseason to now. He is looking forward to what is in store.
"I'm confident in our coaching staff and our preparation, and the approach that our players have taken is very, very focused," Tucker said. "We have better team chemistry. I think our focus is where it needs to be at this point in the week ... I'm encouraged by what I've seen this out-of-season and during camp and from our players and our coaching staff, support staff. It's really one day at a time for us right now. It's a new season and we're treating it that way."
There is one thing in particular Tucker is looking forward to seeing on Friday night. He is curious to see how his players perform under the lights, in a real game situation, with everybody watching.
"There's nothing like going in The Woodshed in front of 75,000 people and (playing) on TV," Tucker said. "You really can't simulate that, so we'll have to see how our guys react. I'm interested, and looking forward to see how they perform on Friday."
While Tucker won't reveal who will be starting or who we be playing in a rotational role, he noted that the players who have earned roles will be the ones on the field, plain and simple. While the goal is to keep players fresh, there is no specific plan to get as many players into the game as possible to get live reps, and while that could happen depending on how things shake out, the only plan right now is to win the game.
"We are going to do what we need to do to win the game, and that's our focus," Tucker said. "The starters are gonna start, and then we're gonna rotate as many guys in as we can, the guys that deserve to play, and we want to keep our guys fresh. We'll take it one series at a time, one play at a time, six seconds a play for 60 minutes in the game, four quarters. That's the focus. So we'll see who hits the field, but it's about winning the game. Whoever plays, plays."
Additionally, the Big Ten recently announced that it will debut "gameday student-athlete availability reports for all football competition during the 2023 season."
That means Big Ten institutions are responsible for submitting gameday availability reports prior to every contest this season, and that the information must be submitted to the league office by the schools no later than two hours before the scheduled kickoff time each week.
For Tucker, who is often guarded when discussing injuries publicly, he said the new policy doesn't "change much" for him at the moment, but it is a new thing to figure out and that MSU will "follow the rules as best we can."
While Michigan State will enter Friday's game as the heavy favorite, Tucker and his players certainly are not looking past Central Michigan.
"We're not good enough to take anybody lightly," Tucker said. "We never have been, we never will be ... It's gonna be a tough battle. We're expecting it to be a four-quarter game, and we need to play harder for longer."
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