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Published Aug 29, 2022
Spartans 'building our fight every day' in prep for Friday's opener
Jake Lyskawa
SpartanMag.com

East Lansing, Mich. - Michigan State head football coach Mel Tucker did not mince words when talking about his team’s preparation for the season opener against Western Michigan on Friday.

At his weekly press conference on Monday, Tucker made clear that the team is focused on its own goals and effort at practice this week. As Tucker has stated in the past, those goals are high and that effort is intentional.

“We’re building our fight every day,” Tucker said. “Every day there’s a different point of emphasis. Maybe going first or second down (at one practice earlier in the week), then you move into maybe a third down, red zone, short yardage by day and then you try to put it all together at the end. Guys are watching extra film on their own, they’re watching it with each other, being very intentional and focused on what they’re studying.”

Intentional effort has been preached by Tucker since he arrived at Michigan State in 2020. Heading into his third season, Tucker said he wants Michigan State to become more of a player-led team. That starts with veterans laying a foundation of perspective and focus at practice.

“We have older guys, more veteran guys who get it,” Tucker said, “and are saying, ‘Listen, we have one game. We’re playing at home, it’s the first game of the season, but listen, it’s Tuesday, so we have to focus on Tuesday. Be where your feet are.’”

Today was “Tuesday” from a football preparation week point of view. With Michigan State playing on Friday, the practice week schedule has been advanced by one day.

Sunday, Michigan State went through its traditional Monday practice.

On Monday, it was a physical Tuesday.

“Today was a Tuesday type of practice, which was full pads and it was a physical practice,” Tucker said. “We competed. We mostly did scout team work but we did have a couple of good-on-good periods.

“We have a one-game focus. We have one game on our schedule and we are working to stack days in preparation, to go out and win the football game.”

Tucker said focus is especially important as outside expectations rise for the Spartans.

Michigan State finished with a 2-5 record in Tucker’s first season as head coach, one shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Expectations going into his second year were not high, but the focus continually emphasized by Tucker helped propel Michigan State to its sixth 11-win season in program history, topped off by a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl victory.

“The expectations from the outside have really ramped up, so to speak,” Tucker said. “We’re ranked going into the season and there’s an expectation for us to be a good football team. A year ago we weren’t ranked. We were picked to be one of the worst five in the country. It’s really the external expectations that, I think, have shifted.”

Heading into the 2022 season, the Spartans are ranked No. 15 in the AP Top 25 and No. 14 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Still, Tucker’s mindset has stayed the same.

“The intensity of the preparation is really what the key to the deal is,” Tucker said. “Everything else is just noise. Obviously, guys are looking forward to playing because our guys have been practicing against each other this whole time, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves because we have to be ready to play a great football game - 60 minutes, one play at a time, six seconds a play.”

Western Michigan went 8-5 overall last year and 4-4 in the Mid-American Conference. The Broncos beat Nevada in the Quick Lane Bowl to end their season with a victory, but their biggest win came against Michigan State’s bowl opponent, Pittsburgh. Western Michigan beat the Panthers 44-41 on the road in the third week of the season.

Western Michigan lost starting quarterback Kaleb Eleby and two of his top targets in Skyy Moore and Jaylen Moore from an offense that finished No. 12 nationally in total yards per game. The Broncos return contributors like Sean Tyler and former Spartan La’Darius Jefferson in the backfield. Perhaps their most interesting addition, though, is Michigan State quarterback Payton Thorne’s dad, Jeff Thorne, as offensive coordinator.

Michigan State has high preseason expectations for the first time in Tucker’s tenure. Despite this, Tucker isn’t looking too far ahead.

“We’re not talking about anything else because there’s nothing else that we can control,” Tucker said. “The only thing we can control is our behavior, our actions on a day-to-day basis, which are a result of the choices, the decisions we make, and those things create the outcomes. That’s the chatter, that’s the talk. All the other stuff is just really noise for us right now.”

The noise from East Lansing for the rest of the college football world will begin in earnest at 7 p.m. on Friday when the Spartans and Broncos knock helmets.

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N. Carolina
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63
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Memphis
71
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72
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56
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