What Mel Tucker said following Michigan State's loss to Rutgers
There’s no easy way to put it: The Mel Tucker era at Michigan State is off to a rough start.
In a game where the Spartans turned the ball over seven times, Michigan State lost to a Rutgers squad on Saturday that had not won a Big Ten game since 2017. It’s the first loss for Tucker since coming to East Lansing after serving as Colorado’s head coach.
This turnover-filled performance for the Spartans included five fumbles and a pair of interceptions. To make matters worse, Michigan State also turned the ball over on downs twice.
Defensively, the Spartans allowed 38 points to a Scarlet Knight program that had 51 points in nine Big Ten games a season ago.
With those discouraging numbers, one sign of positivity is that this is just the beginning. It will be hard to bring a performance much worse.
Here’s what Tucker had to say after his debut with Michigan State.
Tucker: “Our guys continued to play for 60 mins, to fight and to score. That’s a good sign. There was energy and want-to.” Felt a “football character about this team that I appreciate.”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) October 24, 2020
Tucker said he thought Lombardi “did some good things out there.” Felt some miscommunication on his first INT and trying to make a play on second. “He’s gonna continue to improve.”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) October 24, 2020
Tucker on decision to go for it on fourth down rather than kicking the field goal:
"We were just looking to be aggressive. We thought that was something we could convert."
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) October 24, 2020
Tucker: "We wanna be able to run the ball on our terms. We weren’t able to do that today."
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) October 24, 2020
Tucker: "You turn the ball over seven times, it’s gonna be tough to beat anyone."
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) October 24, 2020
Tucker: "This is the beginning. This is not the end. This is a process."
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) October 24, 2020
Mel Tucker: "I know our fans expect more from this football team than what we showed today, and we expect more from ourselves."
— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) October 24, 2020
Tucker on RBs, says wanted to play multiple backs. “There’s nothing set in stone” with depth/rep chart. Liked Simmons and “we got competition at that position.”
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) October 24, 2020
Tucker: “The guys that you saw out there earned the right to play.” https://t.co/tgkpJFQ3ui
— Chris Solari (@chrissolari) October 24, 2020
