Happy Hate Week, everyone. Michigan State and Michigan will duke it out for the Paul Bunyan Trophy at the end of the week, and for one coach, he could be battling for his job.
Jonathan Smith already finds himself on the hot seat about 1.5 years into his tenure with Michigan State, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that the program hasn’t improved under his watch. The team has gone from bad to, well, bad in a year’s time. And a 38-13 loss to UCLA at home really put everyone over the edge and had fans fleeing from the bandwagon at an alarming rate.
Smith feels the pressure to win, and win now. He even said that in today’s college football, results are expected much quicker, and he has to adjust to that.
Unfortunately, it feels like time is running out on him.
The UCLA loss soured a lot of fans and sparked a ton of coaching search threads on social media. Michigan State fans were immediately ready to move on after that lifeless home loss to one of the worst teams in the Big Ten. A 38-13 loss to Indiana the following week didn’t exactly help the case, but at least the team showed a little more fight. That bought him a little more time.
But now it feels like he’s reached the end, and a game against Michigan is fitting for, potentially, Smith’s final appearance in the green and white.
However, the question that needs to be asked before Saturday’s big game is: will a win over Michigan save Smith’s job and get him off the hot seat?
The answer? Probably.
While a victory over the Wolverines wouldn’t get him completely off the hot seat, it would likely earn him the rest of the regular season to prove himself. That means that Michigan State would be 4-4 with some serious momentum heading into the month of November, and there would be nothing but winnable games left on the schedule.
If Smith’s Spartans are able to beat No. 25 Michigan in the biggest game of the season, there’s a good chance that the momentum conjured by the win would help Michigan State win two of the final four games against Penn State, Iowa, Minnesota, and Maryland. Heck, this team could legitimately win all four if they can beat the Wolverines.
Imagine Michigan State upsets Michigan on Saturday and then wins three of the final four games after that — we’d be looking at a 7-5 bowl-bound team.
Seven wins in year two would put Smith’s rebuild right back on track, and potentially even ahead of schedule. An eighth win in a bowl would be the cherry on top.
Long story short, yes, I believe that beating Michigan would do wonders for Smith and the rest of the coaching staff and team as a whole. That win alone won’t save his job, but the momentum created by it would likely lead to a bowl berth and a more confident roster and staff.
This may be the most important game of Smith’s career.