The Spartans are 3-0 for the first time since 2021, when they went 11-2 and won the Peach Bowl. Over the next two seasons, MSU went 9-15.

This past winter, MSU brought in head coach Jonathan Smith along with the majority of his coaching staff at Oregon State and his former four-star recruit at quarterback, Aidan Chiles.

For the first time in years, MSU is trending in the right direction and has a laid a foundation to build on.

“(I'm) so, very excited. It's been a long time coming,” communications senior Jordyn Dillion said. “It's a lot different from last year and I think that's a lot of where the excitement comes from.”

After Mel Tucker's firing last fall, the Spartans' disconnect on the field was evident. Bringing the program back to national relevance would not be an easy or short process. 

Accounting junior Ian Goodman has held football season tickets for three years. In the past three weeks, he said the team has surprised him for the better. 

“I came into this season and I was hopeful that we would be better than last for sure, I wasn't expecting anything crazy,” Goodman said. “Actually, they are kind of outliving my expectations right now, because I didn't think we would win the Maryland game, but here we are."

MSU enters a scheduling gauntlet beginning this Saturday at No. 24 Boston College, followed by games against Ohio State, Oregon, Iowa and Michigan. MSU didn't beat any of these teams last season, losing to Michigan 49-0 at home and on the road at Ohio State and Iowa. 

Football season is an opportune time of year for a Big Ten school like MSU. This time around, Smith and company have given students and fans a reason to believe in the team. Goodman said the next five weeks will indicate just how far along MSU is.  

"I'm happy with where we're going," Goodman said. "I think these next five games are going to be really tough, but that's where we'll see what our team really is made of and how far in the rebuilding process we are.”

Smith and his staff have made an early mark on the team culture, which students can see. They've enjoyed watching the program's revamp unfold on the field, 

MSU redshirt sophomore defensive back Caleb Coley has witnessed firsthand the culture change brought upon the Spartans. 

“Just the community around the team, getting to know my teammates better and it's a family now,” Coley said. “So, you can see a difference from last year to this year, for sure.”

Coley said the team’s 3-0 start was expected inside the building, despite outside predictions for MSU to lose to Maryland.

"I know it isn’t shock because we all are working and our work is just paying off right now,” Coley said. “I mean, a win just shows people that we work, but you can lose and still be working hard. So, I'll just say the work we are doing is paying off and we are just playing for each other, having fun.”

Students who may have left games early in recent years because their team was being blown out are beginning to see MSU in a different light. From Sept. 2022 to Nov. 2023, Dillon said the actual football game became secondary to the gameday experience. 

“I feel like gameday culture has been, when we weren't doing well, it got away from the actual sports of it and we were drinking our sorrows,” Dillion said. “I think we're kind of getting away from that and getting back to actually being proud of our team.”