The 2026 Michigan State football team has yet to find an identity through two weeks under its new head coach, but its inability to contain the big play at times has quickly surfaced as a major concern for this new regime.

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi spoke all week about the need to stop letting up explosive, game-changing plays. But still, the Spartans showcased on Saturday there’s plenty to clean up before their first road test against a top-three team next week.

“They were more physical than we were at the point of attack,” Fitzgerald said. “We did not fit gaps right, we did not run our feet and tackle the way that we’re coached to do it and that’s something we’re just going to obviously emphasize and get a heck of a lot better at as we work at it.”

While these deficiencies haven’t altered the outcomes of any games up to this point, it’s bound to catch up to the Spartans against increased competition. The margin for error will shrink and so will the self-inflicted shortcomings if MSU wants to compete in the Big Ten.

The Spartans defense looked promising on the opening drive, holding Eastern Michigan to a three-and-out, the same way they did against Toledo. However, in the remainder of the first half, EMU brutalized MSU on the ground, picking up several chunk plays that allowed the Eagles to control the tempo.

EMU was able to consistently move the chains, keeping the Spartans defense on the field and preventing any rhythm offensively. Runs that should’ve been blown up in the backfield, or halted at the line of scrimmage, turned into frustrating positive gains.

The problems became especially apparent in the second quarter when the little gains turned into gains of 10, 13, 16 and 20 yards apiece. It wasn’t even a particular player on the Eagles doing the damage; it was three different players. 

The running back duo of Braydon Bennett and Amareon Blue, along with the occasional quarterback scramble from ex-Spartan Noah Kim, all combined together to attack MSU’s lack of physicality. 

This stretch was part of what Fitzgerald described as the team’s second-quarter lull; something that cannot happen going forward.

“We got a ton of work to do,” Fitzgerald said. “We can’t allow a lull to happen. We cannot be out-physicaled and we’ve got to get a lot better and I look forward to working on that this week.”