Kirk Cousins shares thoughts on this year’s Michigan State team, talks partnership with Big Ten and Abbott

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins likes what he has seen from this year’s Michigan State Spartans football team. On3 recently caught up with Cousins, and he weighed in on the squad, which is currently 3-1 and coming off a 45-31 loss to USC.

“I really like (head coach) Jonathan Smith and the program he’s building at Michigan State. I love so much about what we as a program or a school are trying to do to give him the resources he needs to be successful,” Kirk Cousins told On3. “But it’s a process, and I think our fan base knows that, our administration knows that.

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“A 3-1 is a great start. We played USC tough on the road and just weren’t able to come out with the victory. But the Big Ten is no joke; it’s 18 teams, and these are some serious programs, going on the road this week in Nebraska is no joke. So it’ll be a tough test, but I’m looking forward to seeing what our Spartans can do in Lincoln.”

Smith is in his second season with the Spartans and led the team to a 5-7 record in 2024. Before the start of the season, Athlon Sports predicted that Michigan State would finish 14th in the 18-team conference. The schedule doesn’t get much easier for the Spartans, as they have a road contest against Indiana (Oct. 18) and a home matchup against Penn State (Nov. 15).

But this week’s Nebraska game is special for Cousins and Michigan State fans. The four-time Pro Bowl quarterback has partnered with the Big Ten and Abbott to tackle critical blood shortages across the country for the We Give Blood Drive, which pits all 18 Big Ten Schools against each other. Cousins is calling all Big Ten fans, students, alumni, and families to sign up to donate blood for their school at BigTen.Org/Abbott. The blood drive runs through Dec. 5, and the winning university will be announced at the Big Ten Football Championship game on Dec. 6.

Kirk Cousins discusses blood drive competition

“The winning school will get a million dollars at the end of the season, and they’ll announce the winner, the school or the fan base that donated the most, they’ll announce it at the Big Ten championship game, and so the program runs all the way until then,” Cousins said. In addition to the season-long competition, the Big Ten and Abbott are hosting 12 We Give Blood Weekly One-Up Challenges, pitting two Big Ten Schools against each other. Michigan State and Nebraska will not only battle on the field this Saturday, but the fans will see who can donate the most blood throughout the week.

“I’ll tell you what, Nebraska’s set a high bar,” Cousins stated. “They were number one last year, they’re number two in the Big Ten right now, with Wisconsin at number one. But the Spartans fan base is a large fan base, and we’re a pretty resilient group, we’re gritty, we’re competitive, so I’d like to think that we’re going to turn out in good numbers this week and compete and see if we can’t take down the favorite in Nebraska.”