Pat Fitzgerald agrees that Michigan State fans should be upset with the state of the football team through five games but since he agrees that he needs to do better, he needs to show it.
A lot of the struggles, however, have been out of his hands as the execution has been poor and the cupboard he was left with was relatively bare. He signed a solid transfer class, but the depth was already lacking and now injuries are starting to pile up. No one should be making excuses, and Fitzgerald hasn’t, but he hasn’t exactly been dealt a winning hand.
Michigan State has looked like a team in the middle of a huge rebuilt even though Fitzgerald said that he didn’t want to call it that, instead a “rebirth”. He’s also said that anyone who doesn’t expect to win every game should just walk away from the program.
In other words: he expected much more out of his team through five games.
Now that the Spartans are 2-3 after a somewhat promising 2-1 start with a no-quit effort at No. 3 Notre Dame, the real question is: can Michigan State make a bowl game?
Mathematically, that is an obvious “yes” but with the remaining schedule, it’s leaning more toward “no” by the second. Is there a realistic path to a bowl berth still?
Is a Michigan State bowl berth still realistic?
“Realistic” is a tricky word to use when talking about Michigan State’s bowl hopes, especially since the Spartans haven’t made one since 2021, but a large contingent of the fanbase believed Fitzgerald could accomplish that feat and end the postseason drought in year one.
Looking at the remaining schedule, it would take a heck of a finish to the season to reach six wins.
Illinois is winnable, especially after losing to Purdue, but Northwestern looks like one of the better teams in the conference and so does UCLA. Michigan finally looks beatable for the Spartans again but that game is going to hurt a lot of eyeballs. Washington is winnable but it would require a near-perfect effort at home and Oregon is a very likely loss.
Rutgers on the road isn’t looking as easy anymore after the Scarlet Knights gave USC fits, so there’s really no sure win left on the schedule.
Of the remaining games, Michigan State could realistically beat Illinois, Northwestern, Washington, and Rutgers. But that would mean that things would have to drastically improve.
If the team continues the downward trend, the only wins I could see are Illinois and Rutgers — if that.
A bowl berth isn’t looking very realistic as things stand right now, but if the team plays like it did through the first three weeks instead of the past two, it could sneak up on some unsuspecting Big Ten teams.
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