Jonathan Smith has some explaining to do after ugly opener
Well folks, we survived. I hate having to use that word after playing (checks notes) Florida Atlantic, but there really is no other way to describe the feeling after that game.
The good news? Michigan State won 16-10. The bad news? They essentially did everything possible to lose that game. And that’s true for everyone, including Jonathan Smith.
Nobody should have expected a perfect game from Michigan State Friday night, we actually shouldn’t have expected anything close to one, but nobody saw this bad of a game coming. Everyone deserves blame, but at the end of the day, a lot of it falls on Smith.
The team was undisciplined and didn’t look ready to play at times, but nothing stands out more than one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen a head coach make.
With 11 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Spartans found themselves up 16-10 facing a fourth-and-1 at the Florida Atlantic nine-yard line. Surely Michigan State kicked the easy field goal to make it a two-score game right?
Nope. Instead Michigan State called the most boring play of all (a run up the middle) that went for a loss of two yards.
Turnover on downs.
Thankfully FAU wasn’t able to take advantage of that horrific decision from Smith, but just about every other team on MSU’s schedule will in the future. Smith has to defend himself after this decision or at least fess up that it was a terrible choice by him. This isn’t a video game, this is real-life football where sometimes you just have to make the “boring” play call instead of the fun one.
And Smith failed to make the boring, yet smart, play call.
Smith did comment on this decision in his post game press conference and shared the following.
"That was probably overly aggressive… If you kick the field goal and you make the thing, you’re up two scores. So hindsight 20/20 we probably would have gone the other direction."
- Jonathan Smith
“That was probably overly aggressive,” Jonathan Smith said of the decision to go for it on fourth down. “Some of that is going to be a little bit mentality. I preach to the team the difference between seven and three points is huge. That opportunity arose.
— Jim Comparoni (@JimComparoni) August 31, 2024
“If you kick the field…
At the end of the day Michigan State won which is the thing that matters most, but there are a lot of massive question marks about this team with game management by Smith near the top.