It’s been a tough season for Mel Tucker at Michigan State, but the first-year head coach is asking for patience.

“If we want to change the trajectory of our program, then we have to change our behavior,” Tucker old reporters on Tuesday.

Tucker inherited a successful program from Mark Dantonio, but the the Spartans had plateaued in recent years. They went 7-6 in both 2018 and 2019.

It appears Michigan State will go backwards before it can go forwards again under Tucker. The Spartans are 1-3 this season, including blowout losses to Iowa and Indiana. MSU also lost by double digits to Northwestern after turning the ball over seven times.

The lone bright spot has been its win over Michigan in Week 2. But the Wolverines are also having a nightmare season and needed triple overtime to beat Rutgers over the weekend.

It’s not going to get any easier for Tucker’s squad the rest of the way. Next week, Michigan State will face undefeated Northwestern and then the Spartans end the regular season with Ohio State.

Kick off against the Wildcats is at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.