Yes, Michigan State football is right on schedule under Jonathan Smith

Losing in Week 4 to a tough Boston College team on the road wasn't exactly a feel-good moment for Jonathan Smith in his first season with Michigan State football.

The Spartans went into the game as 4.5-point underdogs and lost by exactly four points thanks to a touchdown pass by Thomas Castellanos with just under 1:30 remaining in the game. The Spartans looked like the better team for about 50-plus minutes and while that's impressive considering it was a road contest against a rising team in their annual tribute game under the lights and in a monsoon while without their top two pass-catchers, it still left a lot to be desired.

Fans didn't take the "moral victory" angle after the last-minute loss on Saturday.

If you checked Twitter following that third Aidan Chiles interception to end the game, you would have thought that the season was over and Michigan State was an abject failure.

But the Spartans are right on schedule. Heck, they might be ahead of schedule through four games of the Smith era. If you told fans before the season that Michigan State would be 3-1 through the first four weeks, everyone would've taken that. Most would have predicted a loss to Maryland and a win over Boston College, but this is more than a fair trade.

There are matchups with Ohio State and Oregon approaching over the next two weeks and if Michigan State can show that it can be competitive in these games, we might be talking about a 7-win team. If Michigan State can at least make Ohio State sweat out a win in East Lansing next weekend, you have to feel good about the chances to make a bowl game.

Michigan State has looked much better through four weeks than we expected and it should probably be 4-0, if we're being honest.

The Spartans are right on schedule under Smith and maybe even slightly ahead of schedule and the Boston College loss shouldn't be at all discouraging. It's just an opportunity for growth.