Michigan State football wearing Gruff Sparty helmets vs. Illinois

Folks, we have a first in the Jonathan Smith era of Michigan State football.

It only took 12 weeks, but the Spartans will finally be wearing their Gruff Sparty helmets this weekend as Michigan State takes on Illinois in Champaign. This is the first time that the Spartans will wear these helmets with the white uniform combo this year and fans are rather excited.

Icy whites x Gruff pic.twitter.com/TkejhHZD9K

— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) November 13, 2024

The Illinois game will be one of the most important of the season for Michigan State as a win puts the Spartans just one win away from making a bowl game and a loss means that they will have to win out in order to make the postseason. Smith will have his guys ready after a much-needed bye in Week 11 following a disheartening home loss to Indiana, 47-10.

Michigan State needs a bounce-back after losing these last two games which followed up a huge win over Iowa that put it in position to lock up a bowl berth earlier on.

Aidan Chiles was banged up in that loss to Indiana in which Michigan State football gave up 47 straight points after being up 10-0 and it sounds like he’ll be good to go on Saturday against a very beatable Illinois team. Michigan State is the underdog on the road but no one would be shocked if they pulled off the win.

Fans are still waiting to see what Smith can do here in East Lansing and securing a win over Illinois would be a great start especially since the momentum generated from that Iowa win has seemingly disappeared both on the field and in recruiting efforts.

At least the Spartans will look good on Saturday even if that means they fall to 4-6 (let’s hope that doesn’t happen because they can’t afford that). But seriously, it’s about time we got the Gruff Sparty look this season.