You never want to see your team give up and basically mail it in during a loss. On Saturday against UCLA, it felt like that’s exactly what Michigan State football did.
There were obviously some players who fought hard to the end like Nick Marsh and Alessio Milivojevic, among others, but overall, it felt like Michigan State shriveled up and waved the white flag after falling behind 24-7 at the half and then 38-7 at one point in the second half.
It was embarrassing. It felt like John L. Smith levels of incompetence all around.
While it’s hard for fans to say that a team “quit” on the field, it’s pretty eye-opening when an opposing player says it. It’s even more damning when the quote comes from a former player.
Tony Paul of The Detroit News reported over the weekend that former Spartan running back Jalen Berger told reporters after the UCLA win that “it felt like (Michigan State) didn’t want to play anymore”.
Whoa, what a damning quote from UCLA's Jalen Berger, a former Spartan, on what he saw from MSU during Saturday's bludgeoning: "It felt like they didn’t want to play anymore." https://t.co/AIsXlwXW11 via @detroitnews
— Tony Paul | Detroit News (@TonyPaul1984) October 13, 2025
That’s tough to hear from a former Spartan who spent a couple of years in East Lansing and played for some bad teams. Those teams didn’t look as lifeless as Michigan State did in the second half of Saturday’s 38-13 loss to UCLA, and that’s concerning.
A player who has only known defeat at Michigan State and who is playing for a UCLA team that started 0-4 and fired its head coach says that the Spartans didn’t want to be out there.
If that’s not a horrendous look for Jonathan Smith and the current state of his football program, I don’t know what is. He needs to figure it out immediately.