Michigan State will field a football team in 2023, you know.
It will be in full gear Friday night, Sept. 1 in East Lansing vs. Central Michigan.
And the Spartans will kickoff on Oct. 21 when mighty Michigan comes to town. They will make a trip to Columbus to visit the Buckeyes, and host Penn State at Ford Field on Thanksgiving weekend. The team will show up, cheerleaders and band in tow, for all 12 scheduled games.
But will the bandwagon?
This football season will be a severe test of Spartan loyalty.
It felt a ton better to be the hammer than the nail.
Throttling Michigan 8-of-12 years, beating OSU in a Big Ten championship game, the Rose Bowl win over Stanford…
Spartan fans became extremely mouthy toward their then-floundering U-M counterparts. Why not? It was simply returning the favor after decades of epic maize and blue arrogance.
But the script has been flipped. The Spartans were bad last season, every bit 5-7 terrible and miss-a-bowl game dreadful. And it's difficult to envision how they will be better in '23. Head coach Mel Tucker has added some good players from the transfer portal, but it's highly unlikely one will ride down Shaw Lane on a white charger to save the year, like stunningly brilliant running back Kenneth Walker III in 2021.
Payton Thorne was the starting quarterback on that 11-win team. He transferred to Auburn out of the blue following spring practice. Receiver Keon Coleman was easily MSU's most gifted offensive player and is being projected as a potential first-round NFL Draft pick. He is now at Florida State, insulting MSU on the way out by describing his time in East Lansing as "a two-year sentence."
Noah Kim is the Spartans' likely QB. He is a former 3-star recruit who had just 38 snaps his first three years on campus.
Tucker was a defensive coordinator of note, but isn't exactly proving to be a genius in that area as a head coach. It appears MSU's defense will be a sieve again. Defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton remains in place.
Washington, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State can fairly be seen as certain losses. Each is ranked in the Top 10 in preseason polls. Maryland, Iowa and Minnesota are, frankly, better than the Spartans. Right there are seven probable defeats. And It remains to be seen if Nebraska is improved under Matt Rhule, and the Spartans lost to Indiana last season. Too bad Northwestern isn't on MSU's schedule. Good thing Rutgers is. Well, maybe.
There is a running joke Tucker owes Walker III most of his $9.5 million annual salary. His contract, which runs through 2032, is to college football what Javy Baez's is to baseball.
If this sounds cynical, it isn't meant to be. It's meant to present the truth, a factor that has flown under the radar in the midst of overwhelming optimism surrounding the Wolverines and Lions.
The Spartans shocked the world in 2017, producing a 10-win gem after a 3-9 capitulation late in Mark Dantonio's tenure. They were 2-5 the Covid season and Tucker's first, before it was Walker to the rescue.
It's one of those "you never know" things.
But it's not looking good, and odds are it won't be any better after this season.
Just wait until basketball season, though. Tom Izzo's squad is loaded.
Sound familiar? It's as if the Spartans have come full circle.
