Central Michigan win was perfect representation of Mel Tucker era

The first win of the season over Central Michigan was a perfect representation of the Mel Tucker era at Michigan State.

Mel Tucker and Michigan State football are a few days removed from its season-opening win against Central 31-7. There are a lot of positives and negatives to take away from this game. The Spartans shined on both sides of the ball in the second half, but made it hard to watch at times during the first half.

Inconsistent is the perfect word for Friday night’s game.

Inconsistency is also the perfect way to describe the Mel Tucker era at Michigan State.

Inconsistent play vs. Central Michigan

Michigan State struggled at times against Central Michigan this past weekend. Specifically in the first half, our offense couldn’t seem to do anything right. From errant throws to wide receiver drops and poor blocking, we couldn’t get out of our own way in the first half. The offense wasn’t the only unit to struggle against Central early. The defense had their difficult moments as well.

Even though the defense played well and only gave up seven points all night, its play still wasn’t perfect. Specifically in the first half, our defense kept shooting themselves in the foot. Central’s one scoring drive was riddled with errors and dumb penalties that helped them score. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll never complain about only giving up seven points against any team. But some of the mistakes made by the defense would be more pressing against an elite team compared to Central.

Fast forward to the second half and MSU’s play improved dramatically. The offense was clicking and moving the ball with ease. We were moving the ball on the ground and through the air like it was mid-season. Our defense was getting stop after stop and finally forced a turnover. The difference between the two halves were night and day.

This inconsistent play from Friday night can be annoying as a fan. However, it seems like it is the perfect representation of the Mel Tucker era so far.

Inconsistencies throughout first three seasons

Season by season

It’s pretty easy to see how inconsistent Michigan State has been season over season in the Mel Tucker era. The era began in 2020 with a 2-5 record. However I don’t think you can judge Tucker too much on this season due to all the craziness and roster inadequacy he was dealt. But our record this season still stands and we were off to a slow start under Tucker. Fast forward one year and we got to witness a magical season — 2021 saw Michigan State have a great year, going 11-2 and winning the Peach Bowl.

Everything was going well, until it wasn’t.

Last season saw us take a huge step back; going 5-7 and missing a bowl game just isn’t good enough. Most fans probably could’ve come to terms with a seven-win season last year, but 5-7 is not that. Mel Tucker is yet to have an “average season” at Michigan State. Our record has either been really good or really bad, nothing in between. Just like how we were extremely inconsistent between the two halves against Central, we have also been inconsistent year over year under Tucker.

Inconsistencies within each season

Even looking at each season individually, we have been fairly inconsistent. Beginning with the 2020 season, our two wins that year were extremely good wins. Both were against ranked opponents, with the first being an upset win in Ann Arbor. The second, and more impressive, was at home against a top-10 Northwestern team. We were their only regular season loss of the season, and the Wildcats went on to win the West. Those two wins were massive, but unfortunately we’re the only highlights of the season.

The season began with an embarrassing loss to Rutgers right before the Michigan win. This year also saw us get pummeled by Iowa and Ohio State and held scoreless against Indiana. This season had a lot of lows to it. Even with all the lows, we played very well in our two wins, demonstrating the inconsistency in our team again.

The 2021 season was the exact opposite of 2020. Instead of a lot of lows, we experienced a lot of highs. Beginning with huge road wins against Northwestern and Miami, we got off to a fast start. That fast start continued with arguably the best win in the Tucker era against Michigan. This however is when the inconsistencies began. A loss to unranked Purdue than a blowout loss to Ohio State ended any chance at winning the Big Ten. We finished strong against Pittsburgh in the bowl game, but this season once again had a lot of ups and downs to it.

Finally the 2022 season was more of the same that we saw in 2020. We beat most of the teams we should beat and even had a nice road win against a ranked Illinois team. But we had countless blowout losses and even lost to Indiana at home who was one of the worst teams in the conference. The trend of inconsistent highs and lows continued again last season.

More to come in 2023?

It is impossible in college football to not have some sense of inconsistent play each season. There will be highs and there will be lows, that’s just how sports work. What turns a team from good to great is managing those lows. Can you still get the win even if you aren’t playing well that night? Can you make a couple big plays to turn a close win into a comfortable win? That’s what Michigan State needs to do to turn our inconsistent program around. I have full faith Mel Tucker can get it done.