Michigan State Football Searches for Consistency

After a 49-7 blowout loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes, Michigan State and Mel Tucker search for consistency.

Iowa City, IA – In year-one with a new coaching staff whose expectation is to rebuild and bring a program back to national relevance, a few things are expected.

Winning is nice, but it isn't the overall goal – Mel Tucker wants players to develop, and more importantly, witness performances carry over from week to week, finding that consistency.

He expects his team to come out ready to play every game, even if it means losing because it's not year four, five, or six.

Tucker especially realizes this, having coached Colorado previously and experienced a devastating week one loss to Rutgers.

"We're going to go back, and we're going to take a hard look at every single play, every single player," said Tucker. "It's going be an evaluation, and then [there are] going to be corrections, and then we're going to go back to work."

After the game, he was visibly dissatisfied, speaking louder and faster than usual. Tucker didn't sound like a coach who knew the Spartans didn't stand a chance; no, clearly he expected MSU to compete at a higher level and potentially leave with a victory.

It's understandable, especially once Michigan State traveled to the Big House to face the Wolverines, a three-touchdown favorite; nearly everyone thought it a foregone conclusion; Michigan would beat the brakes off of MSU; yet, the Spartans left with a 27-24 victory in convincing fashion.

It was a much-needed win, both mentally and emotionally, for Michigan State.

But they needed to cling onto the momentum and carry it with them to Iowa City, which is something MSU didn't do.

"Consistency and performance is how you become successful. Consistency and performance," Tucker said. "[We were] inconsistent, and this is the result that you get."

Michigan State wasn't the same team from a week ago; on either side of the ball – Iowa executed its gameplan and did what they wanted for sixty-minutes.

The Spartans were pushed around at the line of scrimmage, a surprising occurrence after MSU contained the likes of Aidan Hutchinson and Kwity Paye.

"You have to give them credit. They came out, and they won the battle in the trenches. On defense, we need to be able to set the edge and build a wall," said Tucker. "Stop the run and make them one dimensional and force the quarterback to beat us on a consistent basis from the pocket. And that did not happen."

Offensively, anything productive Michigan State accomplished vs. Michigan completely evaporated against the Hawkeyes.

Of the Spartans 16 possessions, four of them lasted more than five plays, and 113 of MSU's 286 total yards came on two passes to Jalen Nailor.

Every unit struggled, whether it was the passing attack, the offensive line, the running game, and even special teams who surrendered a 54-yard return for a touchdown.

Simultaneously, both punters (Bryce Baringer & Mitchell Crawford) failed to pin Iowa deep in their territory, allowing the Hawkeyes average starting field position to be its own 46-yard line. 

It just wasn't a good day for MSU.

And now it's back to the drawing board.

"We knew what it was going to be. We're gonna have to build on this. People respond to two things: They respond to pain and pressure. And there's a lot of pain right now in our locker room — our coaching locker room and our player locker room," Tucker said. "We're going to get better by applying pressure on ourselves as coaches and players and creating an environment that will allow us to improve."

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