T U ES DAY, N OV E M B E R 3, 2026 STAT E N EWS.CO M
Michigan State’s Independent Voice
How George Blaha’s 50 years Season review: Injuries, late calling football shaped MSU collapses plague MSU football history in first eight games At 81, Blaha, MSU football play-by-play commentator, said he still loves what he does, even though he knows his time behind the microphone will eventually come to an end.
Michigan State is 2-6 and winless against Power Four opponents, and the Pat Fitzgerald era has been defined by injuries and two painful one-play losses.
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Michigan State senior linebacker Dion Crawford (18) before his game against Northwestern at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich., on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. Photo by Sebastien Desiderio.
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Vol. 117 | No. 8
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SPORTS
HOW GEORGE BLAHA’S 50 YEARS CALLING FOOTBALL SHAPED MSU HISTORY By Owen Kinzey okinzey@statenews.com “The Spartans are coming after him.” George Blaha could see what was coming. Michigan State had no players deep to return the punt, positioning the Spartans to send all 11 defenders at the Michigan punter. The snap was clean, but the catch was not. U-M punter Blake O’Neill bobbled the ball, and MSU freshman safety Jalen Watts-Jackson pounced on it, returning the muffed punt for an unfathomable game-winning touchdown as time expired. A rivalry game that would be etched into MSU history and college football history. Blaha was there to call it. At 81, Blaha knows his career will eventually come to an end, but he isn’t ready to put a date on it. He said he expects to recognize when the time is right to step away, though he doesn’t believe that moment is here just yet. After more than 50 years calling games, Blaha said time has passed so much faster than he could’ve ever imagined. What feels like 15 or 20 years to him has turned into a career spanning generations of Spartan players, coaches and fans. “It’s not going to be next week. Probably not gonna be next year, but it’s not gonna be 10 years from now either,” Blaha told The State News. For Blaha, who has spent five decades broadcasting Spartan football to listeners across the state, the 2015 “Trouble with the snap” game remains his favorite moment behind the microphone. “You got to rank the block punt as number one,” Blaha said. “But I have a co-number one that you didn’t bring up.” Fourteen years earlier, Blaha had a similar feeling during MSU’s 2001 victory over Michigan, a game that’s remembered as “Clockgate.” After the Spartans spiked the ball with one 6
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second remaining, quarterback Jeff Smoker had nowhere to go in the pocket and heaved the ball up into the end zone. Wide receiver T.J. Duckett came down with the football, securing the 26-24 win over the Wolverines. “At that point in time, I couldn’t have been any more nervous,” Blaha said. “I feel sorry for T.J. Man, he’s got to catch this. And he did.” The two calls represent entirely different eras of football in East Lansing, yet Blaha has approached his career the same: explaining to radio listeners what is happening on the field while sharing an experience with them every college football Saturday. His career began in 1971, when he was 26, and WJIM handed him the play-by-play duties. Blaha’s first broadcast was a 10-0 Spartan win over Illinois, and he remembers studying defensive lineman Tab Bennett, one of the Illini’s top players. The Detroit native recognizes the TU ESDAY, NOVEMB E R 3, 2026
led the Spartans from 1954 to 1972 and significantly helped integrate college football. Daugherty drew a crowd wherever he went. Whether his jokes were funny or not, you laughed anyway. His personality was contagious, one of a kind — at least that’s how Blaha described him. “Duffy was a magnanimous guy,” Blaha said. “He was nice to everybody, and people absolutely loved him.” Blaha also developed lasting professional relationships with coaches who followed Daugherty, including Nick Saban, George Perles and Mark Dantonio. Saban, whom Blaha considers one of the best college football coaches of the modern era, welcomed Blaha and his wife, Mary, into his circle. Blaha has appeared on Michigan State football radio play-by-play voice George Blaha at the game against Northwestern at Saban’s radio show and Sunday Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich., on Saturday, morning television program, and Oct. 17, 2026. Photo by Sebastien Desiderio. the two visit occasionally over coffee at Saban’s house. luck that put him in the booth 55 behind the microphone for so long. Blaha said Perles supported him years ago. Blaha credits pure chance He learned it best from Van Patrick, a by giving him an opportunity to for giving him the opportunity to call former Detroit Lions and Notre Dame work on the network broadcast in MSU football early in his career, a job football announcer, who taught him the early 1990s. He remembers he fell in love with instantly. how to keep track of players and build Dantonio for his ability to make “I think anybody who gets a job a spotting board, a reference chart the right decisions in close games, that’s prestigious has to be lucky, and used by broadcasters to help identify particularly in the final minutes. I think I was fortunate,” Blaha said. players and stats. It’s the relationships that keep him And his appreciation for calling the Patrick had other employees build going at 81 years old. He’s not chasing sport hasn’t wavered. He said he still his board, but Blaha wasn’t in a any milestones, and the MSU football feels the nerves before every single position to let others do that work, team hasn’t shown any success for five broadcast, whether it’s a football game so he did it himself. Since then, he’s seasons, but Blaha loves what he does. at Spartan Stadium or a Detroit Pistons continued to create them himself, He said the people around him make game at Little Caesars Arena. Blaha while handwriting everything. it so easy to keep going. is devoted to his craft and always “I don’t want anybody doing those “Time flies when you’re having fun,” reminds himself to never take calling things for me; I want to do it myself,” Blaha said. “It’s been a great ride.” a game for granted. Blaha said. “You learn more when For now, he remains behind the “I think you should get nervous you’re looking to try to find who’s on microphone, preparing for each before every game,” Blaha said. “At the two-deep, why he plays there, and broadcast the same way he has least amped up and remind yourself when he plays there and all the rest.” since 1971 — knowing the names, how fortunate you are to be behind Blaha’s board construction has understanding the game and making that mic, and that you need to have remained similar over 50 years, sure Spartan fans know what is prepared and be ready to put your though players and coaches shift happening on the field. preparation into words and action.” continuously. Few coaches impacted He said his preparation has kept him him as much as Duffy Daugherty, who
SPORTS
SEASON REVIEW: INJURIES, LATE COLLAPSES PLAGUE MSU FOOTBALL IN FIRST EIGHT GAMES By Tyler Gaylord tgaylord@statenews.com It’s been a rough start to the Pat Fitzgerald era for Michigan State football. MSU is 2-6 and in the midst of a six-game losing streak. The Spartans are one of two teams yet to beat a Power Four opponent. It’s also been nearly a year since their last conference win against Maryland at Ford Field on Nov. 29, 2025. “I’ve never seen any thing like this,” Fitzgerald said regarding injuries after losing to UCLA on Oct. 24. “But that is what it is. It’s football. It’s a contact sport, and the next guy’s got to step up.” Now MSU enters a four-game stretch with no room for error as it pushes for a bowl game in Fitzgerald’s first season. It all starts with a trip to Ann Arbor on Saturday to face Michigan.
TWO MAC WINS AND A COMPETITIVE LOSS IN SOUTH BEND
The Spartans took care of business to start the year, beating two Mid-American Conference teams, Toledo and Eastern Michigan, by a combined score of 65-27. Week 2 was a different stor y. MSU comfortably beat EMU by 28, but a sluggish second quarter kept it close. The Spartans scored 21 unanswered points in t he second half to move to 2-0. MSU then faced No. 3 Notre Dame in the first “Battle for the Megaphone” since 2017. The Fighting Irish were favored by 29.5, but the Spartans lost just 27-10 and trailed only 17-10 at halftime. Many fans left viewing it as a moral victory. Fitzgerald did not. “A little bit of that is rat poison,” Fitzgerald said regarding moral victories. “Like, ‘hey, good job you played hard,’ that drives me crazy, like nuts.”
REALITY CHECK: BIG TEN PLAY OPENS WITH A THUD MSU took care of business and competed with a top-5 team, but that flipped completely
two games later. Nebraska opened Big Ten play with a 31-13 win at Spartan Stadium. The Cornhuskers led 24-10 at halftime, and their lead never fell below 11 points. In MSU’s first Big Ten road game, a 31-3 loss at Wisconsin proved the Spartans’ massive skill gap. The Badgers jumped out to a 17-0 lead before the Spartans scored their only points late in the game.
HEARTBREAK BY THE NARROWEST MARGIN Another blowout seemed inevitable against Illinois as MSU trailed 20-7 at halftime on Homecoming weekend. Then something clicked. MSU outscored the Fighting Illini 24-11 in the second half to force overtime, but lost by 1 point, 38-37, after a failed twopoint conversion. The next week, former Spartan quarterback Aidan Chiles and No. 25 Northwestern traded blows with a strong Spartan defense and were tied at 21 in the closing minute. The Wildcats blocked MSU’s 33-yard go-ahead field goal in
the final minute and sprinted down the field for the winning 34-yard kick. “I get paid to win, and we’re not winning, so it starts and ends with me,” Fitzgerald said after losing to Northwestern on Oct. 17.
SHORTHANDED AND OVERMATCHED MSU then faced No. 9 UCLA without sophomore quarterback Alessio Milivojevic and graduate running back Jaziun Patterson, and lost fifth-year defensive lineman Ben Roberts and junior safety Devin Vaught to injuries midgame. MSU trailed by 7 points at halftime despite the circumstances, but managed just 156 yards of offense in a 28-10 loss. “We need the bye week. We’re going to get some guys back, hopefully,” Fitzgerald said after the UCLA loss. “Those guys are working their tails off in rehab and doing everything they can to get themselves back.” Four games remain for MSU to flip its season: a road game at Michigan, back-toback home games against Washington and Oregon and a season finale against Rutgers.
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