Michigan State Football: 3 ways Mel Tucker can win fans over in year one

1. Being competitive against Michigan, OSU, PSU

If there was a signal of the end for Mark Dantonio in 2019, it was the performance of the Spartans against the likes of Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State.

Against Ohio State, the Spartans played it close for a quarter, struggled in the second quarter and maintained in the second half to lose 34-10, but it was much more competitive than the score leads on. Versus Penn State, Michigan State had a tough time keeping pace and couldn’t do much of anything offensively. The Spartans fell 28-7 at home.

Lastly, against Michigan, the Spartans were a non-factor after scoring first. The Wolverines went on to trounce Michigan State 44-10 in embarrassing fashion.

In those three games, the Spartans were out-scored 106-27 which is flat-out unacceptable for a team that was competing for Big Ten titles just a few years earlier.

If Mel Tucker wants to win fans over right away, he needs to be competitive against Ohio State and Penn State and make sure that Michigan game feels different for the players. If those games are competitive, he’ll win over a lot of doubters.