Michigan State has 61 new players on the roster this season. Throughout the week, there’s been a lot of educating and learning about the rivalry between Michigan and Michigan State for the coaches and players inside the Tom Izzo Football Building.

For some, the 2024 edition of the game will be their first dose of the rivalry. For others, they are veterans of this game. They know what it means.

One of those veterans is MSU linebacker Cal Haladay. This will be his fourth time playing in the game against the Wolverines, and the fifth time the Spartans have played U-M since Haladay joined the program in 2020.

“It’s a big game for sure,” Haladay said on Wednesday. “We circle it on our schedule every year. We’re excited. We’ve been preparing all week and we gotta finish the week out strong to be ready for the game. I think it’s that time of year that we know that we gotta go out there and play our best because they’re gonna put up a good game, too.”

While this is the biggest regular season game of the year for the Spartans, the coaches are reminding the team that they just have to play within their means. Each player doesn’t need to do anything special for them to win the game.

“Coach talked about (how) we don't need to be heroes,” Haladay said. “We just need to go out and do our job and stay disciplined. That’s kind of what the big focus of this week’s been.”