Michigan State beat Eastern Michigan 35-7 on Saturday, but the Spartans went into halftime leading only 14-7 after giving up a 13-play, 78-yard touchdown drive to the Eagles in the second quarter. Pat Fitzgerald did not hide his frustration with it afterward, as he mentioned in a Michigan State Spartans press conference video.
“We’ve got to be better fundamentally in the second quarter. We weren’t doing a great job of block destruction, we weren’t fitting gaps right,” Fitzgerald said. “The play they scored on we practiced. You know, there was a lot of not very happy people on our defensive headphones and defensive staff when we went in at halftime. Should have never happened.”
Pat Fitzgerald Faults the Run Defense
The run defense is mostly to blame for the touchdown drive. Of the Eagles’ 78 yards, 67 came on the ground. The touchdown came when Noah Kim faked the handoff to his running back and took it in himself from four yards out without being touched by a defender.
“I thought, you know, Nick (Sheridan) and Joe (Rossi) and LeVar (Woods) were right on at halftime,” Fitzgerald said. “By the time I even got up in the locker room after doing a couple interviews on the field, they had already had the things that I expected I was going to say.”
Once the Spartans got to halftime, the coaching staff quickly addressed the effort and made sure the players didn’t make the easy mistakes that had left the field open for the Eagles. The defense locked in after the break, allowing under 70 yards across Eastern Michigan’s four second-half possessions.
“When it doesn’t go well, we look inward first as coaches, to evaluate the scheme, the fundamentals, the technique, the communication, then we create solutions for the guys,” Fitzgerald said.
MSU Legends Visit The Game
Two events were happening for MSU athletics over the weekend, and the football game was part of the festivities. MSU hosted its 2026 Athletics Hall of Fame inductees and honored them on the field during the game. The weekend was also the annual grind week for the MSU basketball team, where former players come back and practice with each other and the current team. Fitzgerald caught up with some of the special guests during the week and the game.
“Jeremy Fears (Jr.) was out at practice this week on Thursday. I was trying to get him to play receiver. I don’t think Tom (Izzo) will let me do that,” Fitzgerald said. “I saw a bunch of the guys down on the field before the game. That was really cool.”
Decisions To Be Made Ahead Of Notre Dame
The Spartans got more players into the action during the game than they did against Toledo. Two more players grabbed receptions, three more running backs got rush attempts, and four more players showed up in the defensive box score.
“A little bit of that might be, at the end of the game, trying to get as many players in as we can,” Fitzgerald said. “I also think it speaks to what I was saying earlier in the week, that I want to play a lot of players.”
Last week Fitzgerald challenged his players who want playing time to practice better. Now he has to decide who’s traveling to the first road game of the season against Notre Dame on Saturday, Sept. 19. With more game film and another week of practice ahead, Fitzgerald wants the players to make that choice hard on him.
“This is our first road test coming up, and they need to make it really hard on me to pick the 80 guys that are going to go on the road with us,” Fitzgerald said. “And they do that by the way they prepare.”
