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    • MSU football still has a lot of work to do to be taken seriously, let alone Colston Loveland
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    MSU football still has a lot of work to do to be taken seriously, let alone Colston Loveland

    Kathleen William Posted on

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    ANN ARBOR – Tight end Colston Loveland etched himself into the history of the Michigan State-Michigan football rivalry Saturday night along with a number of other infamous Wolverines who have taunted the Spartans over the years.

    “Little brother, stick to the little brother thing,” Loveland said during an on-field interview with Big Ten Network after Michigan’s 24-17 win — and after an on-field scuffle that followed the final whistle. “So, MSU is the little brother. They can do whatever they want. We knew it would be tough. But in the context of the game we do everything right. And if they want to be busy after that, we’ll be busy.”

    It doesn't matter that Loveland's headbutt on MSU defensive back Anthony Jones after the final snap of the game started the fight, or at least aggravated the situation.

    If you win, you can talk. And unlike some of his peers who have really excelled, Loveland is 3-0 against MSU.

    He said things that will get under the skin of the Spartans and live there. The key for the MSU football team is to put aside Loveland's offense and the frustration from Saturday night until the offseason. Then use it (even though he's going to the NFL). Use it as fuel for your February training.

    For now, though, the Spartans are better off just playing on Saturday based on their mistakes and otherwise calling it a day with the Wolverines. Because if this loss continues, if the regret of losing a game that was supposed to be there simmers, the 8-0 Indiana Hoosiers will turn one painful loss into two.

    Fans can suffer and sulk. If MSU's players want to get anything out of this season, they'd better move on quickly.

    This version of the Spartans needs to grow up. MSU was not experienced enough as a team or program to win on Saturday. I don't know if it has anything to do with the fact that there are so many new players and a mostly new staff. But now everyone has gone through it. Everyone felt it.

    “Neither side likes each other, and so … it's pretty, pretty frustrating,” MSU head coach Jonathan Smith said, sounding more testy than I've ever heard him in his 11 months on the job. That's probably good. The MSU coach who mastered this rivalry best, Mark Dantonio, understood the traumatized minds of MSU fans and quickly met them where they were.

    Dantonio did something else very well – he didn't let the Michigan game consume his team. The Spartans were 11-2 under Dantonio in games played the week after the game against the Wolverines. In doing so, MSU shed the label of “the same old Spartans” of its day and became a factor in the Big Ten.

    Part of growing up is not letting this game be the jack-of-all-trades it feels like when it happens. MSU didn't stop being Michigan's little brother when it started beating the Wolverines. This also happened because MSU began playing college football every week at a level that demanded respect.

    This MSU football season, there is nothing that would command more respect than defeating an undefeated Indiana team that has become one of the darlings of college football. People would notice that. Honestly, more than if MSU had beaten a 4-3 Michigan team.

    “We put a lot into this game, and we put a lot into every game,” Smith said. “We need to regroup and digest this matter deeply and then move on.”

    This week will test where MSU is in terms of maturity. It will show us how seriously we should take this team.

    “I think we're going to be more focused and focused than ever,” said junior running back Nate Carter, the only MSU player to speak to reporters after Saturday's loss. “We believe we should have won that game. I think everyone in the locker room knows we probably should have won that game. … And there's no doubt in our minds that every single game after that is a winnable game. So we have to keep working. We kept grinding.

    “It's good to be able to say these things, but what really matters is how do we get into Sunday and then go into our training on Tuesday? How are we going to put that into action so we can come out with a W on Saturday?”

    Carter can tell you why MSU lost Saturday night — “simple things,” he said, “jumping off the side, not lining up correctly,” executing at critical moments in an “emotional game.”

    “We are trained to do that. So as players we have to figure out what it takes when we get into these close games so we can really compete.”

    Carter played the best game of his MSU career on Saturday, running 19 times for 118 yards and catching two passes for another 58. If it's still his best game by far after next week, MSU has a good chance of beating Indiana , lower than if he manages to do that consistently. Player he was on Saturday evening. He must heed his own advice.

    MORE: Couch's grades for the Michigan State football team after the loss at Michigan

    There is a lot of frustration among MSU fans on social media right now. Some of this is directed at Loveland. Some towards Smith or quarterback Aidan Chiles. Some of this stemmed from the imposition of zero penalties against Michigan or a BTN broadcast that people thought relied on Michigan bias. Some of it is just steam that needs to be let off. Losing this game is annoying. This is not a rivalry that brings out the maturity of people.

    But serious college football teams get over it — or at least know how to compartmentalize it.

    At 4-4 with four games remaining, MSU can still be a force to be reckoned with, whose path this season will be respected and whose finish will be appreciated.

    There’s nothing you can do about the Wolverines – or Loveland. He earned the right to be insufferable.

    Grin and bear it. And try to beat a team that no one else has.

    MORE: Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State's 24-17 loss at Michigan

    Contact Graham Couch at [email protected]. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch.

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    Kathleen William
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