Spartan Reacts: A glimmer of hope for Michigan State fans

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year, we ask questions of the most plugged-in Michigan State fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate.

Despite everything that has happened this season, the Michigan State football teams sit just one game away from reaching the postseason. All that is seemingly standing in the way is 3-7 Indiana in a game played inside Spartan Stadium.

That is enough, it seems, to give Michigan State fans enough to feel safe about reaching bowl eligibility. According to the most recent SB Nation Reacts survey, nearly all of MSU fans expect the team to win this game and get its sixth win.

While 94 percent of fans appear confident in the team this weekend, it doesn’t take much digging to find a noticeable level of hesitation among the fan base, and for good reason given MSU’s inconsistent play during the 2022 season.

Michigan State is headed into Saturday’s game as a double-digit favorite, currently giving 10 points, according to DraftKings. At the time of this week’s survey, the spread was actually at 10.5, which was the same spread the team had entering the Rutgers game. Just like last week, a majority of fans thing MSU will win but fail to cover the spread.

Last week’s game was decided by a gambling perspective on a late touchdown by Rutgers, bringing the spread inside the number.

Building off of “Failure”

In the first test of the season, the Michigan State men’s basketball team took the No. 2 ranked team in the country absolutely to the brink, just before coming up short. On a national stage during the Armed Forces Classic, the Spartans held a lead for the majority of the game against Gonzaga. Unfortunately for MSU, the Spartans fell apart late in the game when Drew Timme took over.

Michigan State came one-point short to Gonzaga on the USS Lincoln, losing 64-63 after missing a potential game-winner just before the buzzer.

However, the surprise came not in the winner and loser, but how well an unranked Michigan State team played against the stiff competition. According to the Reacts survey, more than four-fifths of MSU fans felt more optimistic about the team after the loss.

That optimism was quickly validated. Shortly after the survey closed, Michigan State again took on a top-five team, this time getting the 86-77 double-overtime win over No. 4 Kentucky in the Champions Classic in Indianapolis.

Of course, also after the survey closed, No. 2 Gonzaga suffered a blowout loss to No. 11 Texas. So, as per usual this early into the season, there is still a lot to learn about who the true contenders are for the 2022-2023 campaign.

Regardless, it appears this year’s Michigan State men’s basketball squad could be much better than many pundits and fans anticipated entering the season.

If you’d like to participate in next week’s survey, be on the lookout for a new set of questions on Monday!

Check out DraftKings Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.