Mel Tucker shares biggest takeaways from Week 1 win

Mel Tucker shared his biggest takeaways from Michigan State’s Week 1 win over Central Michigan and it wasn’t anything you could see with the naked eye.

The Spartans head coach focused on his team’s attitude and demeanor. When that improved, the game improved.

Michigan State started off 1-0 on the season, which is good enough reason to be positive and build off things later in the season.

“I mean, it wasn’t anything in particular,” Tucker said. “I really liked in terms of like, things, maybe you don’t see, like our attitude and our demeanor throughout the game. And our poise and our confidence and our pace was great. I told our guys I said, listen, this is going to be tough sledding, be ready to stick with the process, continue to play the next play. 

“I said, we might get booed, which we did. I said, don’t worry about it. Just continue to play the next play. Just keep chopping and keep chopping. And that was the attitude of our players and our coaches the entire game.”

In the 31-7 win, the Spartans led just 10-7 at halftime. But then they turned it up and outscored the Chippewas 21-0 in the final 30 minutes.

“I felt really good at halftime,” Tucker said. “I told Jay Johnson, I liked the way Noah’s playing. And we kept telling the guys, just stay with the process. Keep chopping, it’s coming. We’re gonna wear these guys down. And then once the guys kind of got the jitters out, and they were, you know, everyone stayed the course, we started to play better in all three phases. 

“So that’s what that was, that showed a level of maturity and togetherness. That was impressive to me as a coach.”

Tucker mentioned quarterback Noah Kim. Once he settled into his groove, the new Michigan State quarterback was solid.

He went 18-of-31 passing for 279 yards and two touchdowns. Kim was aided by Tucker’s running game, led by Nathan Carter who ran 18 times for 113 yards and a touchdown.

Jalen Berger, despite running just eight times for 24 yards, scored a touchdown.

Tucker and company need to bring a similar attitude in Week 2 to keep the positives going against Richmond Saturday. A 2-0 start could build something nice for Michigan State and Tucker and his crew have to host No. 8 Washington September 16.

But, so far so good in a pivotal year for Tucker and Michigan State.