East Lansing, Mich. — It’s safe to assume Michigan State’s football team will come out with more fire in its week-two matchup against the Akron Zips this Saturday at Spartan Stadium.
Head coach Mel Tucker was not pleased with his team’s energy and consistency against Western Michigan on Friday. Despite noticing many positive moments in the 35-13 win, Tucker said he felt the team did not play up to the standard that is expected of the program in his third year as coach.
“Even though there were some good things that I saw out there on the tape, our overall play was unacceptable,” Tucker said. “We’ve got to get more physical, we’ve got to get more nasty. We have to be more relentless in what we're doing in order to dominate in the trenches and play the type of football that we want to play. Especially at home in a game like that, in front of the world and a packed house like that. We need to be more consistent, more physical and more dominant.”
Michigan State did dominate at times against the Broncos. Standout senior defensive end Jacoby Windmon finished with four sacks in his Spartan debut, contributing to the team total of seven.
Junior quarterback Payton Thorne averaged 19.4 yards per completion and connected on big plays with a plethora of new receiving weapons. Transfer running back Jalen Berger rushed for 120 yards and looked more comfortable as the game progressed. His longest rush went for 50 yards to set up Michigan State’s fourth touchdown of the day.
On the downside, Western Michigan nearly doubled Michigan State in time of possession. The Spartan defense occasionally wore thin, giving up six third down plays to a team that averaged 7.6 yards to go on third downs.
Thorne completed just half of his pass attempts and made an uncharacteristic mistake on his one interception late in the first half.
“I was pretty disappointed with how I played,” Thorne said after the game. “There’s a lot that factors into that, but definitely a ton of room to improve on that end.”
Still, Tucker’s trust in Thorne remains true.
“I’m glad Payton’s our quarterback, I know that much,” Tucker said. “Because I know what he’s made of. I know how he’s going to compete. I know how he's going to approach this week. He motivates me with how bad he wants to get better.”
Michigan State looked like it was going to run away with the game going into halftime. Thorne converted two touchdown plays in the second quarter, one to transfer tight end Daniel Barker and the other to sophomore receiver Keon Coleman. But Michigan State only outscored Western Michigan by four points in the second half.
The Broncos made things uncomfortable for their in-state foes.
“When we went up 21-3 [going into halftime], that’s an opportunity for us to execute more, play harder, play faster, hit harder,” Tucker said. “We can’t be seduced by any measure of success that we have. When you go up 21-3 and you don’t continue with the momentum and do some things, that’s a problem. So we're addressing that with our players. And as coaches, it starts with me and the staff. We have to communicate to the players on how we got things fixed. That’s a big part of what we talked about this morning.”
Five of the six Western Michigan drives in the second half went for five or more plays, with three consecutive drives lasting more than seven plays. Compare that to the three 5+ play-drives the Broncos had in the first half - with three three-and-outs - and it’s easy to find reason for Tucker’s aggravation.
Tucker added that a few players were dealing with cramps during the game. That’s on him, he said.
“We had a couple guys that cramped up during the game, that’s unacceptable,” Tucker said. “In a couple situations, we had guys with hands on their hips in the game, which makes no sense.
“That’s my responsibility to make sure the guys are properly hydrated,” Tucker said. “So we have to put together a plan to make sure the guys follow the plan and we’re all talking about it. We shouldn’t have guys cramping in East Lansing in September.”
Despite the inconsistencies, Tucker has maintained high expectations for his group going forward.
“I love this football team,” Tucker said. “Don’t get me wrong about this team. I absolutely love this team. I mean like, I'm in love with this team. I adore this football team. Like, this team is a special group of guys. That's why we can't allow ourselves to not raise the level of our intensity this week in everything we do and every detail.
“We just can't allow ourselves to leave anything on the table. We have some unrealized potential that we’ve got to get out and get to productivity, consistently, like, immediately.”
As Michigan State continues its preparation for Akron this week, Tucker returned to a mantra he’s adopted since his arrival at Michigan State in 2020.
“It's all about what we do now, what we do next,” Tucker said. “To get the outcome that we want, it's all about the preparation. Right now we have one game. A one game focus.”
