The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon, grounding thousands of flights due to a national emergency. That included Michigan State’s Week 11 opponent, Washington, which was set to leave Seattle on Friday afternoon.
The nationwide ground stop put those plans to bed as the team was forced to head back to campus and wait for further instructions from the FAA.
About six hours later, the ground stop was lifted and Washington boarded a plane, making its way to East Lansing a lot later than it would’ve liked. The Huskies experienced a stressful day of travel and didn’t get to Michigan on time so accommodations have been made to ensure fairness and the kickoff time has reportedly been moved back.
According to Connor Earegood of The Detroit News, Michigan State and Washington will now kick off at 5:30 p.m. ET, delaying the game about 45 minutes from the previously-scheduled kick.
The kickoff time was already a little odd, but now it’s getting even weirder with a 5:30 p.m. ET kickoff in East Lansing. This is about to be a true night game between the Spartans and Huskies and weird things always seem to happen under the lights at Spartan Stadium.
Pat Fitzgerald already went around to East Lansing bars this week to recruit students to come out and support the team against Washington. After beating Michigan, every game is massive because winning out would send the Spartans to their first bowl game since 2021. That was an unlikely scenario just a few short weeks ago, but things have changed in a hurry.
Heck, this Michigan State team should probably be 5-4 right now, but we’ll save that debate for a different day.
Everyone gets an extra 45 minutes to mentally prepare for another important Michigan State football game — or for those attending the game, 45 more minutes of tailgating.
A bowl game is very much alive with a win
The time change won’t affect much and it’s not like 45 minutes completely makes up for the six-hour delay that Washington experienced, but Washington will be ready regardless.
Jedd Fisch and the Huskies are just 5-4 this season which is far short of expectations, but they are still a team with Top 25 talent. They’re also looking to secure a bowl berth and a win over the Spartans would do just that.
As for Michigan State, a win would put it at 4-6 with games against Oregon (home) and Rutgers (away) remaining. Winning out isn’t out of the realm of possibility, especially if the defense continues to play like it did against Michigan. That defense against Washington would be enough to pick up a huge win and pull within two wins of a postseason berth.
There is also a chance that some five-win teams make bowls, so Michigan State definitely needs to win this one in that case.
Fitzgerald going from 2-6 to a bowl berth would be some elite level coaching that we haven’t seen in East Lansing since prime Mark Dantonio.
Add us as a preferred source on Google