It’s amazing what difference a couple of months makes. Michigan State football was 3-0 after beating what looked to be a solid Boston College team (turns out, it was not) about two months ago, and it looked like the Spartans may finally be on track to make a bowl game.
Unfortunately, that has not been the case.
Michigan State hasn’t won a game since beating Youngstown State in mid-September, and Jonathan Smith finds himself directly on the hot seat under a new athletic director.
Smith can’t feel very confident about his job security heading into the final week of the regular season, and he shouldn’t. There has been talk of J Batt moving on and looking for his own coach to lead the football program, but there have been no statements made by the athletic department, one way or another.
Michigan State fans have been left in the dark over the past month, or so, and it’s a disappointing feeling knowing that there’s a chance Smith could be retained despite having an 8-15 record in East Lansing.
Fan support is at an all-time low, and retaining Smith might just put it close to zero.
If Batt doesn’t make the seemingly obvious move, he may lose all fan support heading into the 2026 season, and both ticket sales and viewership will suffer. No one will want to support the Spartans if they get another season of the same product. We’ve seen mediocrity over the past two seasons under Smith, and he hasn’t changed much of anything. Bringing him back feels like waving the white flag.
Maybe Batt wants to see what the 2026 coaching carousel could bring. There may be a better crop of coaching candidates on the market then, but waiting that long could just dig the program even deeper. It’s already in the “irrelevant” stage.
Batt built a ton of goodwill among fans for his early changes to the game-day atmosphere and his fundraising ability, but he would lose most of that by bringing back a head coach that has worn out his welcome.
Fans are checked out right now, and it’s never been more obvious. Heck, the program is offering free tickets to Friday’s game at Ford Field against Maryland because the turnout will be so minimal.
We’re in the dark ages of MSU football again, and Batt has the ability to change that.
If he doesn’t, things could get ugly heading into 2026. We’d see the negative effects of that as soon as the spring game — attendance would be embarrassingly low.