Jonathan Smith's first year as Michigan State football's head coach has officially come to a close with a 41-14 clunker against Rutgers and that means the Spartans will not, in fact, be bowling.
This is now the third straight season of a bowl-less campaign for Michigan State and that has gotten some fans a little in their feelings. Heck, I even wrote a scathing piece about the first season under Smith being a "failure" immediately following the Rutgers loss. It may have been a prisoner of the moment piece, but it's how I truly felt.
Seeing Michigan State get run off the field by Rutgers with a bowl game on the line was truly embarrassing and the program has come too far just for that to happen.
Still, Michigan State surpassed its preseason expectation of 4.5 wins set by Vegas, but it feels like there were 2-3 wins handed away. The first was at Boston College. The second was against Michigan in Ann Arbor. And the third was arguably Saturday's loss to Rutgers where a hot start and 7-0 lead after the first drive turned into a 41-14 drubbing. Getting out-scored 41-7 after the opening drive at home with a bowl on the line was just unacceptable. The execution in game 12 was embarrassing. The lack of passion shown on the sidelines from the head coach was disappointing.
With all that being said, though, I will admit that the players seem to love Smith and what he's doing for the program. We've seen now countless guys come out over the past few days and vouch for the staff, stating that Smith is the right guy and that fans need to be patient.
I'll admit, the culture was in a rough spot when he took over. He was inheriting a roster filled with guys who really didn't want to be there anymore and a number transferred out immediately. Other guys stuck around, but the lack of depth this season was obvious. The small recruiting classes that Mel Tucker had from putting all his eggs in four and five-star recruits' baskets had backfired and left Smith with a thin roster which grew even thinner with injuries.
Year one is a wash. It's not a success, it's not a failure, it's just what was to be expected. It's a rebuild and that was the exact season we should have expected. It's what Smith does from here that gets true judgement.
If he hits the portal and complements a so-so 2025 recruiting class with an elite transfer haul, there will be a lot of us eating crow. And I don't doubt that he can do it. He had a great portal haul before his first season with the Spartans, landing guys like Wayne Matthews III, Jordan Turner, Jack Velling, Aidan Chiles, Tanner Miller, Nikai Martinez, D'Quan Douse, Luke Newman, and Kay'Ron Lynch-Adams, among others. He did a good job there and will have the resources to replicate that.
Now he needs to show that he can develop and get the ship turned around the right way. That starts with a bowl berth with a very manageable schedule next year.
Win 7-8 games next year, win 9-10 in year three, and then compete for a playoff berth in year four and all of the year one disappointments are forgotten.
This is a rebuild, and sometimes we forget to treat it as such. Year one was a wash.