Respected college football expert says "Jonathan Smith will win" at MSU

Jonathan Smith's first Big Ten Media Days as Michigan State football coach was an uneventful one, but he spoke openly about his goals for the program and he impressed media members.

Not just the media members in attendance were impressed by Smith.

No, some respected national media members chimed in on what they saw from Smith and Josh Pate had a glowing review for the first-year Spartan head coach.

Pate did have good things to say about Mel Tucker early on in his tenure, but this feels a little different. Smith has a solid track record already and that's something Tucker didn't have as a head coach before Michigan State hired him. He had one decent 5-7 season at Colorado where it felt like he gave the program some juice before the Spartans hired him.

Smith, on the other hand, turned around one of the worst programs in the Power Five and made it look rather easy. He turned his alma mater around in no time and Oregon State fans loved him for it.

Now, he's taking over what can be considered a sleeping giant in East Lansing.

Michigan State was successful in the Mark Dantonio era for having a similar "low ego, high output" mindset that Smith is bringing to East Lansing. He realizes that in order to go forward and lead the program back to the top of the Big Ten. It's a tall task, but some college football experts believe that it's going to happen and it's a matter of time.