Entering Saturday’s game against Penn State, Michigan State football` was winless through six Big Ten games. That losing streak to seven games with a 28-10 loss to Penn State.
A relatively ho-hum first half made the score 14-10 at halftime, and the one touchdown from Michigan State was on a 57-yard touchdown run on one of the first plays from scrimmage for the Spartans. It looked like the offense may have turned a corner, but after that, all the Spartans could manage was a field goal with a lot of drives stalling out.
The second half was all Penn State as the Nittany Lions as they scored 14 points and really seal the game with just a few minutes left in the fourth. Michigan State looked lifeless in yet another disappointing loss.
What’d we learn?
1. The QB was never the problem
While it was pretty easy to pile onto Aidan Chiles when things were looking grim, it was never a quarterback issue, and that really showed on Saturday.
Chiles was on the sidelines for this one and Alessio Milivojevic took a beating because the offensive line wasn’t able to block anyone.
This was never a Chiles issue.
2. This team is just defeated
For the past two months, it’s been more than obvious that this team just doesn’t have any juice left. It feels like they’re ready for the offseason and Saturday’s second half was proof of that.
Just like the team (seemingly), the entire fanbase is ready to wrap up the season.
3. Jonathan Smith has to be gone
This doesn’t even need to be said, but so little happened throughout the game that it was really one of the major takeaways.
If it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear now: this program will continue to rot in irrelevance if Smith remains in charge. He’s a good guy, a good coach, but just a bad fit with MSU.