“I’d say there’s more of a sense of urgency,” sixth-year tight end Tyler Hunt said. “Obviously we know we gotta get stuff fixed and we gotta get it fixed quick if we want to accomplish goals we set out to do at the beginning of the season.”

While preparing for this pivotal matchup with the Terrapins, the team has had to deal with online criticism and even hate from fans through various social media platforms. Many have taken to sites such as Twitter to express their displeasure with the team’s performance and to call for the firing of some of the coaches — a flip from the mood in East Lansing one year ago.

Because the “background noise” can add an extra level of difficulty for the players, Tucker has made it a priority to help his team through this tough stretch.

“For me it's not difficult to block out the noise,” Tucker said. “I think it's more difficult for the players just because of experience. We talked about it immediately after the game in the locker room and we talked about it again today. We'll continue to talk about that, but it's important now, what exactly we say and how to do that.”

As the leader of the offense, many of the online comments are often directed towards the team’s quarterback and redshirt junior Payton Thorne has been no exception.

“As a quarterback, that's just how it is,” redshirt junior wide receiver Tre Mosley said. “They get the most praise when things are going well and when things aren't going well they get the most hatred, but Payton is always going to be the biggest critic of himself.”

Coming off his breakout season in 2021 in which he broke the school’s record for touchdown passes in a single season, it’s true Thorne hasn’t been at the top of his game so far this year. He’s thrown seven touchdown passes and six interceptions after four games, while after four games last season he had thrown 10 touchdown passes and just one interception. Thorne had an encouraging performance two weeks ago against Washington, but he, along with the entire MSU starting offense, was putrid against Minnesota. His early third quarter fumble deep in Minnesota territory was a massive gut punch, but then he followed it up on the next possession with a horrible interception on a screen pass to stab the dagger even further.

However, Thorne has done a good job so far of blocking out the negativity by focusing on the people who matter to him, as well as removing the Twitter app from his phone.

“I don’t pay attention to the noise,” Thorne said. “It’s not hard to block out, but sometimes it’s hard not to see ... I care about what my teammates think about me, I care about what my coaches think about me and I care about what my family thinks about me, but other than that, all the other people on the outside, they don’t know what’s going on.”

In fact, he sees the negative fan reactions as holding them to the high standards they expect.

“When your fans boo you and stuff like that, that shows that you’re at a program that has expectations," Thorne said. "I’d rather be at a place like that than (one) that’s okay with us not playing our best.”