Michigan State football should take its chance for a clean break after Penn State beating
Free Press sports writer Rainer Sabin answers three questions after Michigan State football was crushed by Penn State, 42-0, on Friday at Ford Field.
Did this game sum up the Mel Tucker era?
If the final game of MSU’s 2023 is indeed taken as the last chapter of the Mel Tucker era, it provided a nice summary of his doomed regime. There were fleeting moments when the Spartans tickled the imagination by showing potential. But they were too few and far between, which ultimately led to disappointment.
THE GOALS: Michigan State football can make good, lasting impression on most tumultuous season ever
As the Spartans fell to Penn State, careful observers of MSU football were confronted with the same themes that have annoyed this program over the past four years. There was the maddening inconsistency in performance from one play to the next. Case in point: A 29-yard completion to tight end Maliq Carr ... followed by an intentional grounding penalty on a botched wide receiver pass. There was a running game that struggled to gain traction, mustering just 15 yards on 11 first-half attempts. There was an offensive line that couldn’t control the line of scrimmage. Need evidence? Nine of the Spartans’ 12 possessions ended in three plays (or fewer). There was a pass defense that leaked like a sieve, as MSU earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first Big Ten team to surrender more than 240 yards through the air to Penn State quarterback Drew Allar. And in the end, there was the cold bitterness of defeat, despite the Ford Field roof.
How should MSU fans feel after this game?
The soundtrack of MSU’s calamitous season featured a chorus of boos echoed inside the home of the NFL's Detroit Lions on Friday.
The jeers captured the misery of Spartans fans, who endured a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad fall. The public revelation of a sexual harassment claim against Tucker on Sept. 10 caused a disastrous domino effect that left the program with a shaky present and an uncertain future. Tucker’s suspension was followed by a bitter divorce with the same program that made a 10-year commitment to him back in 2021. The shattered Spartan players were left to pick up the pieces as they tackled one of the nation's toughest schedules. It did not go well. A 34-point loss to Washington in mid-September kicked off a dreadful stretch of six straight defeats, with losses in every way imaginable. The Spartas frittered away leads against Rutgers and Iowa. They were blown off the field in a 49-point rout by Michigan, MSU’s worst-ever setback in the 100 seasons at Spartan Stadium.
Then came Friday, when the Spartans — and their fans — were finally put out of their misery by Penn State's bludgeoning.
In some ways, it should be a relief that this season is over for all involved. They will now be able to start anew. This is chance for a clean break. It’s what Spartan Nation needs.
Can Houser be Michigan State’s QB in the future?
In what may have been his final audition to become MSU’s starter next season, quarterback Katin Houser underwhelmed.
The redshirt freshman completed only 11 of 19 pass attempts for 87 yards. But perhaps the biggest indictment on his performance was the Spartans' failure to score a single point Friday.
It was the second time a Houser-led offense suffered a shutout, following that 49-0 beating by U-M on Oct. 21. There was hope that Houser had turned the corner last week, when he threw for 279 yards and completed 64.1% of his pass attempts in a victory over Indiana.
But on Friday, he regressed, admittedly against a formidable defense. The Nittany Lions dented Houser’s pocket and sacked him five times. Houser wilted in the face of the pressure and never sparked MSU’s flickering offense.
On the season, he averaged 5.7 yards per attempt and completed only 58.6% of his pass attempts. That mediocre stat line suggests he will again have to compete for the job next season.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football's brutal final loss a chance for clean break
