No fans in the stands and no band on the field.
Sparty’s costume will be packed in a room somewhere, and even Zeke the Wonderdog will be sitting this one out.
This is what Michigan State’s players and coaching staff will encounter Saturday when they arrive at Spartan Stadium for a noon kickoff with Rutgers to open the COVID-delayed season. There will be no walk from the Kellogg Center surrounded by thousands of tailgaters, no running out of the tunnel in front of more than 70,000 fans.
The moment some players and even first-year coach Mel Tucker have been waiting for will have a decidedly different feel, to say the least.