East Lansing, Mich. – If attitude means something in shaping or deciding the course of a season, it seems Michigan State’s football team needs to adjust theirs fast or 2022 is going to become the season that never was.

With high expectations, after a standout 11-2 finish in 2021 that included a victory over rival Michigan and ended with an impressive Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl win over ACC champion Pittsburgh, the Spartans have been exposed as a team in need of a new approach before it’s too late.

Head coach Mel Tucker hinted at it after MSU’s second-straight loss in which the opponent got off to a strong start, while the Spartans struggled to find their bearings early, resulting in a lopsided loss.

“For us, we're not good enough on either side of the ball to not play complementary football,’’ Tucker said following Saturday’s loss to Minnesota. “We have to get stops on defense. Offensively, we need to get the ball and do something with it.’’

Redshirt junior wide receiver Tre Mosely, who finished with three receptions for 28 yards against Minnesota, thinks he knows why things went awry against the Golden Gophers and why for a second straight week the Spartans have looked out of sorts.

“We can’t be so casual,’’ Mosley said. “I think that’s what the case may have been (on Saturday). We were just too casual on the field, on offense, defense and special teams and we just didn’t get the job done.

“(It’s) guys, not necessarily not caring enough, but not going out there and taking what we want. Thinking the game’s going to come to us. You have to go out there and take what you want. We have to translate what we do on the practice field to the game field.’’

After opening the season with strong wins over Western Michigan and Akron, the former No. 11 ranked-Spartans have found themselves outclassed by their last two opponents by an average of 36.5-17.5 points per game.

In those losses, to Washington and Minnesota, in the team’s Big Ten opener, MSU has surrendered an average of 505.5 yards a game and produced an average of 302.5.

The disparity in those numbers means something’s got to give when MSU travels to Maryland for 3:30 p.m. kickoff with the Terrapins.

“For one, just taking care of the ball, moving the chains, not having any three and outs early in possessions in the game so we can build confidence with ourselves and the offense and the rest of the team to feed off of,’’ Mosley said. “(The) football season is a long roller coaster ride and there’s going to be some ups and there’s going to be some downs but keeping sight on what our end goal is, is the only way you can get through things, tough times like this. The good thing is, we have guys that are capable of making plays so once we get all of this cleaned up we’ll be fine.’’

After the way the last two losses have gone, it seems an attitude adjustment is long overdue for a team that seems to be fighting just to finish ahead of the curve.

Senior linebacker and UNLV transfer Jacoby Windmon feels like he knows some of the problems that are preventing the team from succeeding.

“I believe (it’s) probably because we are going into games more cocky than more confident,” said Windmon, who finished with five tackles, including 1.5 TFLs and a forced fumble. “We probably feel like we’re better than the next team but that's not the case because you know when teams play complementary football they always come out victorious.

“We’ve got to find a way to come closer. That’s the mindset right now. You’ve got to learn from the losses. You’ve got to bury it, put it away and learn from it.

“I believe guys have got to take practice more serious and we just have to go out there and play harder. With losses like this, you just got to take them to the chin and learn from it. This is probably some medicine that we needed to go out there and come out with a better mindset when we play Maryland. We’ve got to come out next week with our head on fire ready to play ball.’’

While there’s always a fine line between cocky and confident, simply put, the Spartans need to produce more on offense and give up less on defense or dreams of securing a second-straight bowl bid in year three under Tucker’s watchful eye are going to be a mirage, sooner than later.

“That's up to individuals,’’ Tucker said when asked about his team’s frame of mind after Saturday. “You're getting beat, what are you going to do about it? You can't ever be in a situation where you feel like you're beaten down. If you feel like you're being beat, how do you respond to that?”

Despite the doom surrounding the Spartans after Saturday’s second consecutive loss, Windmon feels like he and his teammates are approaching things the right way and still have a viable solution.

“The guys are still coming together, keeping our heads up. That's the only way you can do it, because if you don't, your season will go down the drain quickly,’’ Windmon said. “The leaders on the team have done a great job of making sure everyone has fallen in line, and still remembering what we need to do as a team.”