Michigan State kicks off its 126th football season, its third under head coach Mel Tucker, on Friday, Sept. 2, against Western Michigan. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2. The football game was originally slated for ESPN but was moved to ESPN2 to make way for Serena Williams’ third round tennis match at the U.S. Open.
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Friday’s game marks the 17th meeting between Michigan State and Western Michigan. The Spartans lead the series, 14-2. In their last matchup in 2019, MSU defeated WMU, 51-17.
Michigan State is looking to build off the momentum from last season’s school-record turnaround, as the Spartans posted a nine-game improvement from 2020 (two wins) to 2021 (11 wins). They also beat No. 12 Pitt in the 2021 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and finished No. 8 in the AFCA/USA TODAY Coaches Poll and No. 9 in The Associated Press Poll.
Who: Western Michigan at No. 15 Michigan State.
When: Friday, Sept. 2
Time: 7 p.m. Eastern
Where: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, Mich. (74,866)
TV: ESPN2
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Latest line: Michigan State – 23.5
Announcers: Roy Philpott (play-by-play), Andre Ware (analyst), Paul Carcaterra (sidelines).
Read some of what Larry Lage of the Associated Press wrote about MSU coach Mel Tucker (a former Clevelander):
Mel Tucker smokes cigars and poses with expensive cars on social media, hoping to grab the attention of recruits from coast to coast and perhaps pique interest of fans near and far.
The third-year football coach for No. 15 Michigan State, hoping more people would get to know him better, invited five reporters to spend a day with him on a golf course, at a restaurant, in the team’s football facility and into his home.
While a Group of Five football coach may provide similar access, it’s rare that the leader of a Power Five program would give media members about 12 hours of his time in pursuit of publicity.
“I tell the recruits and their parents that we’re an open book — what you see is what you get,” Tucker said in an interview with The Associated Press in his on-campus office. “Allowing access, to kind of go behind the curtain, behind the scenes, I think is a good thing. We don’t have anything to hide here. I don’t have anything to hide.”
Tucker always seems to be on brand, going outside the ordinary box most college football coaches stay confined to, in a calculated quest to promote himself and the program as he chases a championship.
“We recruit nationally so anything we can do on social media to sell our program, we’re going to do it,” he said simply.
The Spartans were one of college football’s biggest surprises last year, winning 11 games, including a New Year’s Six bowl game. It was quite a turnaround after going 2-5 in the pandemic-shortened year that stunted Tucker’s debut season as Mark Dantonio’s successor.
Making a proactive move to keep a coach who potentially could have left for LSU or the NFL, donors decided to give him a raise as part of a $95 million, 10-year contract to stay.
What Michigan State did on the field last year, though, was not good enough for Tucker. He is relentlessly working toward winning a national championship, which only the school’s 1952 team achieved as recognized by the AP.
To win it all at Michigan State, Tucker knows he has to do more.
Much more.
For team hats, shirts or other gear: Visit Fanatics, Lids, Champs Sports, Dick’s Sporting Goods and New Era.