Pat Fitzgerald waited until after his first Michigan State victory to make one more point about Rodney Bullard Jr.’s eligibility fight.

Following the Spartans’ 30-20 win over Toledo on Friday night, Fitzgerald praised Bullard’s performance before turning his attention back toward the NCAA process that left the receiver uncertain about his status until late August.

“And that is unfair, unjust, and not right,” Fitzgerald said after the game, referring to Bullard not knowing until shortly before the opener whether he would be eligible to play.

Bullard made the wait worthwhile for Michigan State. He caught seven passes for 90 yards, including the 5-yard touchdown that put the Spartans back ahead in the fourth quarter. He then caught the two-point conversion that extended MSU’s lead to seven. Michigan State’s official game recap shows Bullard finishing as the Spartans’ leading receiver in Fitzgerald’s debut.

The NCAA did not clear Bullard until Aug. 24, after months of uncertainty surrounding whether he would receive a fourth season of competition. Fitzgerald was already openly frustrated with the situation when the decision finally arrived, even joking that perhaps the NCAA had discovered “common sense.” Michigan State officially announced Bullard’s eligibility later that day.

Bullard’s eligibility was in question because the NCAA treated his fall 2021 enrollment at Valdosta State as the start of his five-year eligibility clock. He was initially listed at 13 credit hours, which made him a full-time student, but one of those classes was reportedly a duplicate course he had already completed in high school. Once that course was removed, his load dropped to nine credits, which would have made him part-time and, in Bullard’s argument, meant his eligibility clock should not have started that year. He was not even on the football team in fall 2021 and had only played three college seasons entering 2026, so the dispute was really about whether that enrollment issue had cost him a year of eligibility.

Bullard’s status had been one of the biggest questions surrounding a Michigan State receiver room undergoing significant change entering the season. Fitzgerald, meanwhile, had spent the summer setting an aggressive standard for his new program.

Friday offered the first real payoff.

The player Michigan State spent months fighting to keep on the field ended up delivering one of the biggest plays in Fitzgerald’s first win.