In a lost season, a win Saturday still means a lot to Michigan State

East Lansing — After Michigan State lost to Iowa in heartbreaking fashion, 20-17, last weekend, Joe Rossi had a message for his defense: He was proud of them.

“Listen, we're in the game to win,” Rossi said. “That's what the nature of the business is, right? Winning football games. But I told them how proud I was of them, at the end. Because the reality is, four, five games into the year, we weren't playing very well and they care. They don't want to not play well. And so we kind of had a heart to heart and have done some things and I feel like honestly, they've gotten better every week, which I'm very proud of them for. Because it's easy to be proud when things go the way that you wanted them to. 

“But are you proud when things don't go the way you want to? Well that comes down to how you're conducting yourself.”

It might’ve been a surprising sentiment to some, but it’s a reflection of Rossi’s final point, that the Spartans (3-8, 0-8 Big Ten) have conducted themselves well amidst an eight-game losing streak since Big Ten play began. Outside of a sad showing against UCLA, Michigan State has played hard, fought, and been on the cusp of a couple close wins only to fall short in recent weeks. And after two months of seeing weeks of hard work lead to disappointing outcomes, everyone in the Michigan State program would savor a win against Maryland (4-7, 1-7 Big Ten) on Saturday night at Ford Field. 

“Winning, that's what we signed up to do, is to win, ultimately,” Head coach Jonathan Smith said. And so yeah, it would be very gratifying for all the work that this group has put in. I think about those players in the locker room, yeah you want them to come out on the right side because they deserve, in a lot of ways, the effort they've put in. Now we've gotta get it executed for 60 minutes to earn that. But yes, going out on a win would be huge for the guys.”

As Smith alluded, no amount of deserving feeling for the Spartans will result in the win actually happening. They have to go out and earn it. 

But after a handful of close calls recently, it’s not hard to imagine the Spartans finally breaking through against the lowly Terrapins, who are losers of seven in a row. 

Michigan State is coming off the loss to Iowa that saw MSU leading, 17-10, with fewer than three minutes to play. Iowa won on a walkoff field goal, 20-17. A few weeks prior, at Minnesota in the first start of Alessio Milivojevic’s career, Michigan State took a late lead only to give up a game-tying touchdown in the final minute and then lose in overtime, 23-20. 

Even in between those games, Michigan State hung around with Penn State, trailing 14-10 late in the game before Penn State pulled away. 

It’s been a series of close calls that have tested the Spartans will and mettle, and will make a win Saturday that much more Satisfying. 

“I think the satisfaction would be great,” Milivojevic said. “Like you said, we come in week in and week out for I don't even know how many weeks now, but we've been working every single week. And it would just be amazing to end the season the right way and get that satisfaction.”

Much of the satisfaction would stem from, as Milivojevic said, seeing the week of prep and grinding work actually pan out in the form of a win on Saturday. 

Because for as low as things have sunk for this Michigan State team, the fight hasn’t faded. 

Rossi thought his defense played one of its most physical and aggressive games of the season against Iowa and the offense has shown signs of life in the passing game since Milivojevic took the reins under center. 

And this attitude, an unwillingness to relent despite loss after loss, is something Smith himself took some pride in. And he’s also very ready to stop being prideful in defeat. 

“Eight straight is a tough road,” Smith said. “There's no other way to say it. It is tough. That doesn't mean, what's the alternative? You just quit, you run? You start blaming others? It's like, no, keeping the main thing this week. We've been going at it and deeply believing in these guys. And we want it for them, to come out on the right side of the scoreboard and that's the approach this week.”

The Spartans have been close, and the series of close call losses in recent weeks have piqued frustration. This team feels like it's close to breaking through. 

So if they finally do Saturday, it will surely be sweet. 

“Coaches, players, everyone around the program, I think that would be big because you really appreciate — I was telling the offense, man, I appreciate the way, coming in on Sunday, appreciate the way that they're preparing and they're working through the week and to just not get paid at the end is pretty, like you said, that many weeks in a row, is really frustrating,” offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said. “It's something I haven't gone through in a long time and it's difficult to keep coming in there week after week. So yeah, it would be big, taking that momentum into the offseason, for sure.”