Michigan State Football: 3 reasons Spartans can exceed expectations in 2020

Mel Tucker hasn’t had the ideal offseason heading into his first year, but Michigan State football can still exceed expectations right away.

The Big Ten’s decision to postpone the 2020 season until the spring came with mixed reactions from fans, coaches and players. Some thought it was a premature decision that was made abruptly and with very little consideration and others believed it was the only move because of the continual flare of COVID-19 on college campuses.

Now that colleges are moving mostly online this fall to account for the spread of the novel coronavirus, many are now thinking the Big Ten jumped the gun.

If the campus is clear of thousands of students, it’d be much easier to manage a football team and ensure the players aren’t around a ton of different people where they could contract the virus and shut down the season. This is why the ACC, SEC and Big 12 are planning to move ahead with their 2020 seasons this fall and the Big Ten and Pac-12 are on the outside, looking in.

This is like that Spongebob meme where he and Patrick are outside playing and having a great time while Squidward is inside watching from his window inside. The Big Ten and Pac-12 are Squidward in this scenario and Spoongebob and Patrick are the SEC, ACC and Big 12.

Picture for reference:

It’s been a rough offseason and excruciating preseason, but there’s still a chance the Big Ten could play this fall. Talks are heating up about a potential revisitation of the plan to postpone and if the conference’s presidents vote to overturn the original ruling, there’s a chance we will see Big Ten football return this October or November.

If that’s the case, Michigan State fans are expecting a lackluster first year under Mel Tucker given the circumstances and the shape in which Mark Dantonio left the program.

But here’s why Spartan fans may be pleasantly surprised.