Michigan State Football: Why a bad Year 1 will not cut it for Mel Tucker

MSU fans should want instant success

As Spartan fans, we have to hold our program to a certain level of excellence. We don’t want to be arrogant like Notre Dame or Michigan, but college football is a form of entertainment, and if we keep watching and supporting an unsuccessful team, we’ll just end up as a middle-tier program.

Obviously, there are extraneous circumstances. Mel Tucker joined the team late and had to implement a new recruiting plan and coaching structure during a global pandemic. But to me, that would not excuse the drop-off from six wins to one or two wins, even in a shortened season. We have Rutgers, Maryland, Indiana, Northwestern, and Iowa. Heck, even Michigan looks beatable with the recent flood of opt-outs.

If you look at that list of teams and don’t see three wins minimum, I don’t know what football program you’ve been watching for the past 15 years. I know, it’s not Mark Dantonio’s team anymore, but this is a program that simply does not lose to lower-tier Big Ten teams.

And that’s exactly where I’m confused. If you’re an MSU fan who believes we can’t win at least three games, I ask you this — when did we become a school that wins one or two games? It’s a question I’ve asked before and it’s entirely rhetorical. The answer is simple; we’re not that team. Michigan State should not be losing six or seven games this coming season.

It’s this reason that I think we should not excuse Mel Tucker if he can’t beat at least three teams on an easy schedule. He has a standard to uphold in East Lansing, even if that means having a losing record with three wins.