In Moving PSU Game, MSU Admits It's Not Serious About Football

Blowing a 16-point fourth-quarter lead to Notre Dame in 2006.

Getting whooped by "Juice" Williams the following week on homecoming, while Kermit the Frog was doing skits on the Spartan Stadium jumbotron between quarters.

Drew Stanton going down against Michigan, leading to a huge blown lead and soul-crushing loss in triple overtime in 2004.

Isaiah Lewis running into the punter, bailing Wisconsin out from an epic Keshawn Martin punt return and another MSU comeback in the inaugural Big Ten championship game.

Any of the times we've lost to Central.

Any of the times Alabama has humiliated us.

And, now, May 2023, when Michigan State voluntarily gave away a home game, just to help the Big Ten appease an angry TV partner.

These are the unquestionable worst Michigan State football moments I've experienced as a fan, student, and alum.

The latter, of course, is the focus of my rage right now. But it also legitimately anguishes me. Not because MSU won't be playing Penn State at Spartan Stadium at the end of the 2023 regular season, but because of what the decision Michigan State made here signifies.

No, it doesn't mean that MSU is a good neighbor, taking one for the team to help the Big Ten and its other 13 members avoid losing money by way of a contractually dissatisfied NBC. And no, don't fall for the propaganda that Michigan State made the move in an effort to better market its football program, getting it featured on a national telecast during primetime on a pseudo-holiday.

What Michigan State really did by volunteering to move its contest with Penn State from its own campus to Ford Field in Detroit is admit, in no uncertain terms, that it's not serious about college football, that it's not a big-time program, and that it's OK with that.

Watching this unfold makes me wroth as the Old Testament God when the Israelites worshipped the golden calf. But worse than that, it hurts. So much worse. Because while we as MSU alums, fans, and supporters are so serious about and eager for winning, the actual program is anything but.

So what's the point? If MSU doesn't care, why should any of us?