Michigan State Football: 3 exciting stats from Jonathan Smith’s offensive staff

While we all wait to see who new Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith will bring in to coordinate the defense, he announced the hiring of several position coaches. Yes, many of them have followed Smith from Oregon State to Michigan State but several have ties to the Midwest which helps recruiting.

However, the coaches have something that intrigues me more than recruiting: Offensive statistics.

It’s no secret that the Spartans’ offense has been putrid for a better part of a decade, so with Smith’s background as an offensive-minded coach, I took a deeper look at how their offense faired this past season.

Here are three stats that stick out the most.

33.8 points per game

The Beavers’ 33.8 points per game is more than double what the Spartans averaged (15.9).

In fact, as much as everyone makes fun of Iowa for having such a bad offense, Michigan State’s was worse. They were the worst Power Five offense in America and that shouldn’t surprise anyone with working eyeballs. If Michigan State had averaged 33.8 points per game with their defense (which was no great shakes either) staying the same, they would have beat Maryland, Iowa, Rutgers, and Minnesota, bringing their record to 8-4, which was everyone’s expectation in the first place.

Oregon State reached the endzone in every single game (Michigan State was held without a touchdown four times if you include Iowa, where their only touchdown was a fumble recovery) and five times, the offense scored one touchdown or less.

Give the new staff some time to get their guys in their system with the resources that the university offers, and this program could be an offensive juggernaut like we’ve never seen.