Jonathan Smith Talks Michigan Loss and MSU’s Urgent Next Moves
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EAST LANSING, Mich. --- There was not much talk about Michigan State's next game against Minnesota during head coach Jonathan Smith's weekly Monday press conference.
A lot of the questions were centered around MSU's five-game losing streak, the level of urgency and pressure Smith is already under to win in Year 2, and also about how much support he has within the university.
To his credit, Smith answered most of the questions directly. The presser went on for about 17 minutes, which is a little longer than usual.
MSU on SI was there for it all, and has provided a full video of Smith's press conference below for you to watch.
Watch Jonathan Smith here:
Additionally, a partial transcript of the press conference is provided below. This is just a small part of everything Smith said, though, so the recommended way to learn everything is to watch the video.
Transcript
SMITH: Recapping after watching the tape, I think defensively, [they] really kept us in the game. I thought they had a critical hold for a field goal, 10 points at half, the third quarter, a couple long drives there. You know, we couldn't get off the field a couple of times, a tough call extended the drive, that kind of thing.
But I did think the effort was there, not a lot of missed assignments type thing. I do think as the game got into the second half, they [Michigan] leaned on us a little bit, because they've been out there quite a bit.
Offensively, slow start, call it lack of execution, timing, some things that we got to do better. Didn't help ourselves penalty-wise, a drop, inaccurate throws, wanted to be able to regroup.
And then you look at opportunities in the fourth quarter, didn't finish. You can go back to the couple of fourth downs, got us a chance to make it a much more, you know, back in the game, didn't happen.
Special teams-wise, was pleased with Eckley's hang time in regards to the punt game coverage unit. That part was good to see, because that had been missing for a couple of weeks, but ultimately still came down to just not good enough and got beat.
And so, how do you move forward? Regrouping. Guys got told the truth quite a bit yesterday, looking at things.
Still a lot out in front of us. We spoke to that, because, again, I think the preparation, we weren't second-guessing the week of work that went into leading into that. And really the energy, passion we played with, can we recreate that on a Saturday and execute a little bit better?
So that's where our mindset is moving forward, looking toward the opportunity that's coming on the road in Minnesota.
Got a bunch of respect for the program. P.J. Fleck, well-established over there in the brand of football they play. Physcial, play good defense. They're doing it again this year.
Yeah, they are coming off a tough loss just like us, but they play really well at home.
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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