Michigan State football’s last chance at ending miserable season on high note

EAST LANSING – Quindarius Dunnigan is lunging for the tape in a marathon college career.

To mark the finale of the Michigan State defensive lineman’s seven years in college, 15 family members were hitting the pavement for Thanksgiving and his last game – one van for the passengers and another for the luggage.

Following practice on Tuesday, Dunnigan was about 24 hours out from their arrival and preparing to host a group through the weekend. Despite all his growth split between Middle Tennessee State and the last two years at Michigan State, making holiday plans isn’t a strength.

“I have no idea,” Dunnigan, a Chattanooga native, said with a laugh before anticipating some competitive board games. “With it being cold, they ain’t going to want to go outside anyway so it will probably just be a whole lot of fireplace action, movies and stuff.”

The Spartans (3-8, 0-8 Big Ten) are heading into the end of a miserable season by facing Maryland (4-7, 1-7) at Ford Field in Detroit on Saturday (7 p.m., FS1). They’ve lost eight straight – the program’s longest losing streak in more than four decades – and are one defeat away from finishing winless in the Big Ten for the first time.

“All these games we’re playing, it’s bigger than the program, it’s bigger than us,” defensive lineman and Detroit native Jalen Thompson said, “so we’re just playing for the guys next to us, playing for our seniors.”

Michigan State’s last appearance at Ford Field ended in a 42-0 loss against Penn State to close the chaotic 2023 season a day before coach Jonathan Smith was hired. The Spartans return to Detroit amid more uncertainty about the direction of the program with athletic director J Batt still silent about Smith’s job status.

“I have no other way to look at it besides the way they’ve gone, call it the last month,” Smith said Monday of his team approaching the finale. “I totally anticipate that they’re going to bow up again, back to work tomorrow morning and come out flying around excited to play and finishing things right this Saturday.”

Although the brutal losing streak continues, the effort remains. Michigan State’s defense has upped its fight and a 20-17 loss at Iowa last week marked the second straight road defeat when leading with less than two minutes to play. Another game the Spartans were only a play or two from winning but couldn’t get it done.

Maryland is riding a seven-game losing streak but, unlike Smith, coach Mike Locksley received public support from Maryland athletic director Jim Smith for a ninth year with additional financial resources to build a roster. Smith and has staff remain in limbo.

“I think both programs are really hungry for a win,” offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said, “to take some momentum into the offseason.”

Defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, whose midseason move from the booth to the sideline helped spark that side of the ball, quickly dismissed a mention of Saturday’s game as a matchup between two teams with 15 combined losses.

“I get to coach Wayne Matthews one last time – that’s a big deal to me,” Rossi said. of one of the seniors. “Grady Kelly, Malik (Spencer), Sam Edwards, Quindarius Dunnigan, Malcolm Bell, Joshua Eaton – I get to coach those guys one more time. That’s what I’m excited about.”