Spartan Nation

Spartan Nation Reacts To MSU's Eighth Big Ten Loss Of The Year

The Spartans had a glimmer of hope, but watched it slipped away, all the while Spartan Nation watched and reacted.
Nathan Berry|
A Michigan State fan in a Scooby-Doo costume looks on before the game against Penn State on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing.
A Michigan State fan in a Scooby-Doo costume looks on before the game against Penn State on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Heading into their match against the Iowa Hawkeyes, still on a seven game losing streak, Spartan Nation had almost no hope left for the team to get a Big Ten win this year.

In the first quarter almost nothing of note happened, no scores until the very end of the 15 minutes. Before then though, the Spartans had gotten their first interception since early October.

Unfortunately the offense was not able to capitalize on the pick, it at least showed clear improvement from the defense.

Not many cared though, because in every excited fan there was three disinterested ones that would eventually take their place.

This was evident in the severe lack of interaction online, where focus shifted quickly from the pick to special teams and more, each play generally having only one or two posts.

In fact, the first score of the game, which came from the Iowa Hawkeyes after a huge return off of a Ryan Eckley punt, was one of the only things to be talked about rampantly by observers.

The only consistent part of Spartan Nation online during the game was in their callings for Head Coach Jonathan Smith to be fired, which happened often while MSU clashed with Iowa.

The second quarter saw more slow paced, defensively driven football where the only team to score was the Spartans, who were able to kick a field goal. Even then Spartan faithful were still unsatisfied.

The third quarter began the same way as the first two, offenses didn't click and defenses locked down star players.

At some point though something had to break, and that moment came when Iowa fumbled the ball and the Spartans immediately punished the Hawkeyes for their mistake with a Crishon McCray touchdown.

Momentum continued to build after the score, but it could not decide which team to go to, because both the Spartans and the Hawkeyes put points on the board in quick succession.

Luckily though, MSU dropped seven while Iowa only got three, so the score became 17-10 during the early parts of the fourth quarter, and Spartan Nation was given a glimmer of hope, one they were afraid would be lost.

The Spartans were given a scare by the Hawkeyes just two minutes before the end of the game, in which Iowa scored and threatened to bring the team to Overtime.

MSU still had the ball though, and they could have been able to go down the field and attempt a field goal no matter the cost.

But then, to the chagrin off all who watched, MSU lost the possession to some less than desirable play calling,

Then the Hawkeyes were able to progress quickly enough down the field before Overtime to kick a walk off field goal, giving the Spartans their eighth Big Ten loss of the season.

This was met with apathy by Spartan Nation, who were given hope just to watch it fade away from the same mistakes happening over and over again to the Spartans which made them lose to the Hawkeyes.

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Nathan Berry
NATHAN BERRY

Nathan Berry is a senior at NCCS and was raised a Michigan State Spartan fan. With a great interest in sports and writing, journalism is a great avenue to pursue both.

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