On3 Roundtable: Michigan State's schedule provides tough outlook for 2023

There’s plenty of attention on East Lansing this year — the second since Mel Tucker received a huge contract extension at Michigan State. Last season didn’t go as planned as the Spartans went 5-7 to miss out on a bowl game, and despite some transfer portal departures, they’ll try to turn things around.

It won’t be easy, though, according to SpartanMag publisher Jim Comparoni.

Comparoni joined On3’s J.D. PicKell on On3 Rountable this week to talk about what could lie ahead for Michigan State this season. The Spartans have a tough road ahead, with potentially four top-10 teams in Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Washington. There’s also a sneaky tough game on the conference slate when MSU travels to Iowa to take on the new-look Hawkeyes. The Spartans will also have to take on the vaunted Iowa defense, and doing so at Kinnick Stadium isn’t easy.

Add that up, and there are five tough matchups off the bat. That doesn’t account for some tougher games Michigan State should win, which is why Comparoni said a massive turnaround might not be easy.

“I mean, I look at it just as an observer,” Comparoni said. “I can’t speak for the fans, necessarily — I know what they’re talking about in a lot of in a lot of cases. But you look at that schedule, and I don’t think anyone else in the country’s playing four top 10 teams. … So you’re gonna be underdog in those four. And you’re going at Iowa, which always is a tough place to play. They’ve got Cade McNamara coming in and a tight end transferring in from Michigan.

“They’ll be [an] underdog in at least five games. And if you’re good enough to win your winnable games, which is very hard to do — I’m looking at it like 7-5 would be a step in the right direction. 6-6 and a bowl game would be a solid step in a rebuilding year against a very difficult schedule. Now, the schedule can look different once the season starts. You don’t know if everybody’s going to be full strength in all areas. But this year, it’ll be a tough task to get more than six or seven wins.”

Things got even tougher in recent weeks when Michigan State lost two of its top playmakers on offense. Payton Thorne and Keon Coleman both entered the portal, meaning MSU has to replace its starting quarterback and top receiver.

It only adds to a big season for Tucker and MSU, which starts Sept. 1 against Central Michigan.