It’s been a rough four years for Michigan State football fans.
After watching Kenneth Walker III dominate college football for a season, Michigan State went on a four-year bowl drought. The Spartans haven’t played past November since 2021 and that’s just unacceptable for a top 25 all-time program.
The Spartans haven’t made a bowl since winning the Peach Bowl over a Kenny Pickett-less Pitt team. Granted, Michigan State was also without its best player and Heisman snub.
Even through the lack of excitement surrounding the program and some coaching hire duds, fans have come out in droves to support the team. The players didn’t deserve the hate like the coaching staffs did, and fans understood that. They showed support even through all the 4-8 and 5-7 seasons along the way to Pat Fitzgerald.
Actually, one stat proves that Michigan State has one of the best fanbases in the country, nearly selling out Spartan Stadium in 2025 despite having a 4-8 football team to cheer for.
Teams with the largest average home attendance in 2025! pic.twitter.com/VXyPa5C6UF
— College Football Zone (@CollegeFBonX) February 18, 2026
Michigan State had the 18th-highest average attendance last season in college football which is impressive given what fans had to endure for 12 games. The home schedule was decent with Michigan and Penn State coming to town, but the most electric game on the schedule had to be that Boston College win when everyone thought the Spartans may be legit.
These fans deserve better than what they’ve been seeing, especially because they show up every week, good or bad, to show their support for a program that has ignored their requests for years.
Pat Fitzgerald was right about the “sleeping giant”
Fitzgerald called Michigan State a “sleeping giant” shortly after the early signing period, and that looks to be true given the resources and the support that the program currently has.
How many programs in college football can run out a mediocre product for four straight years and still sell out a stadium while having one of the wealthiest donor bases in the country? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not very many.
Michigan State is setting him up with all he needs, and if fans were showing up in droves to watch Jonathan Smith’s teams, I can only imagine what the stadium will look like under Fitzgerald.
This fanbase deserves better.