Pat Fitzgerald Discusses Scheduling Philosophy, Proposes New Plan

In a world where a College Football Playoff expansion is imminent, the value of a win means more than ever. That is reflected in scheduling philosophy, as teams shift towards playing “buy games” and “cupcake” scheduling to provide an easy sweep of the non-conference slate. Michigan State football has their own contests along those lines, fresh off two wins over the Mid-American Conference. Next season, the Spartans open with FCS Duquesne, who allowed Air Force to rush for nearly 500 yards in week one.

The shift in scheduling makes sense. Reigning National Champion Indiana is less likely to get punished in the end of year rankings and seedings for the CFP for a 51-0 win over FCS team Howard than Ohio State will get punished for a 24-23 loss to Texas in Austin last weekend.

For head coach Pat Fitzgerald, however, that philosophy is not his mentality. The head coach wants a game that the fans can enjoy. After Dan Bartholomae was introduced as the Spartan Athletic Director, Fitzgerald mentioned he had yet to sit down with his new AD to discuss scheduling philosophy. That philosophy became apparent as the coach previewed Notre Dame.

Fitzgerald was extremely complimentary of the Irish and their tradition, their stadium, defense, offense, and the expectations and pageantry of the storied program. That said, the Spartan coach mentioned on multiple occasions his disappointment that this game is no longer a yearly series.

“Obviously, this is a storied rivalry,” Fitzgerald noted. “(It is) one in the future, I wish we could do yearly. Scheduling is a pain in the neck for everybody, but it’s always great to have your rivalry games on the schedule.”

Michigan State Football and the Recent Scheduling

Fitzgerald mentioned the toughness of the league, but also pointed out that this game is here for the fans. Those tough games are meant to boost fan interest alongside raise the competition level for the players on field.

“It’s why you come to play in the Big Ten,” the head coach pointed out. “You want to play in big games. Again, coaches are going to be mad at me when I say this, but, you know, I would rather have some more concentrated scheduling conversations nationally to make games better for the fans.”

The head coach then touched on his time away from football following his controversial ousting from Northwestern. That time off gave Fitzgerald time to approach the game as a fan for the first time in a long while, as the coach nearly went straight from the practice field to the coaching offices.

“You know, I was a fan for three years. I tailgated, I told you guys (the media) these stories,” Pat Fitzgerald said. “I want to go see really good games. As a coach, I want to go compete in those games.”

Fitzgerald added in the aforementioned schedule for this season with matchups against two MAC teams.

“I do appreciate the effort level in our games against Toledo and Eastern Michigan,” he said of the first two matchups. “I thought there were really hard tests for us in week one. But we’re not playing Indiana this year. It would be a huge challenge, right? We’re not playing Ohio State. That would be a huge challenge. Or Iowa, or other teams.”

Fitzgerald tied it in to his upcoming matchup.

“I don’t know, the competitor in me is a player that’s still somewhere inside me,” the former linebacker said. “I want to play Big Ten-level games and Notre Dame is obviously a Big Ten-level and beyond game. I mean, it’s a national power, so I like that. As a fan, I would love that.”

A New Proposal

Fitzgerald had his own take, and a proposal similar to what basketball does by having conference matchups.

“We’re in different situations, different scenarios, but my hope is we can see a day where it’s maybe, you know, Big Ten games and then we play a challenge against the MAC, where everyone plays each other, and we play a challenge against the SEC,” he theorized. “I think that would be really cool, you know, where you play two non-conference games or conference against conference.”

The head coach further dived into his plan for the future.

“That would be awesome for fans,” Fitzgerald said. “Alternate the yearm you’re on two-year rotations. Maybe you don’t schedule a game until the offseason. Whoever finishes at the level the year before, they play each other. Why wouldn’t that be awesome?”

Fitzgerald ended with a callback to his signature moment of Big Ten Media Days, his ‘bag of chips’ comment.

“I like playing football,” Fitzgerald said to state the obvious. “I like competing against the best, and I like the challenge of it when nobody else thinks we can win. And so, bag of chips, it’s all I’ll say.”