MSU Should Not Take UCLA, or Any Team, Lightly

The Michigan State Spartans are at a crucial point in the 2025 season.

They take on the UCLA Bruins this afternoon, a team coming off the upset of the college football season. But last week is last week, and the Spartans cannot let that affect how they play.

UCLA has been bad outside of that major performance, so much so that the Bruins fired DeShaun Foster after three weeks. The program has been in limbo for a while, looking for the right person to lead the football team to success.

MSU should win today, but there is no guarantee. Jonathan Smith and the Spartans cannot afford to take the Bruins lightly.

In fact, MSU cannot take any team lightly for the rest of the season.

Urgency at Michigan State

Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles (2) runs against Western Michigan safety Aaron Wofford (5) during the first half at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing on Friday, August 29, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If the Spartans can pick up a convincing victory against UCLA today, they’ll go to 4-2 on the season. They would only need two more victories to reach bowl eligibility, and all their goals are still in front of them.

While only two more wins seem incredibly doable, MSU was in a similar position around this time last year. The team failed to reach six wins and missed a bowl for the third consecutive season.

Things will become uncomfortable for everyone in East Lansing if MSU fails to reach the postseason again. Smith and his team must prepare relentlessly for every opponent from here on out.

Tough schedule

Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith looks downward during the Spartans' game against USC on Sept. 20, 2025. | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

The Spartans’ schedule does not get any easier after today’s game against the Bruins. They go on the road to face a top-10 Indiana team, welcome in top-15 rival Michigan the week after, and then play another road game against Minnesota afterward.

Can MSU pull off an upset in any of those games? Stranger things have happened, like we saw from the Spartans’ current opponent last week.

MSU is at a pivotal time in the program’s history. The university needs a winner, but that does not look like this team.

Sep 7, 2024; College Park, Maryland, USA; A detailed view of Michigan State Spartans helmet on the field before the game against the Maryland Terrapins at SECU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Smith and his team must prove critics wrong and find a way to win games in the toughest part of the schedule. It must be all gas and no brakes in the football program right now.

Whispers will grow louder, and seats will feel a slight temperature increase if the team does not start winning.

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