Michigan State Football: 3 burning questions for the 2022 season

1. Did Mel Tucker set the bar too high too soon?

This is a fair question, in my opinion. I’ve thought about this quite a bit.

After going 2-5 in his first year which was affected heavily by COVID-19, Mel Tucker turned around to win 11 games, beat Michigan for a second time, and win the Peach Bowl. He had the best-case scenario second season given his lack of success in year one.

Almost everyone is expecting a step back, but if that does happen, will fans come out with pitchforks and torches? If he goes 7-5 or 8-4, will people be so angry with him that they’ll begin to question his contract extension? Sadly, there will always be fans doing just that, but if you told anyone when he took over that he would be going bowling in year 2.5, they’d be thrilled. Michigan State was in a really bad place when he took over.

Tucker did set the bar really high, but I don’t think that the fans who know ball will criticize him heavily if he takes a step back. As long as he doesn’t have a disastrous 4-8 or 3-9 season, I think he’ll be just fine in 2022.

The bar is high, but he’s well aware.