Glancing at the Final Stretch for MSU, Jonathan Smith
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Unless Michigan State (3-6 overall, 0-6 Big Ten) miraculously wins out, the Spartans will fail to reach a bowl game for a fourth consecutive season. According to ESPN's College Football Power Index, the Spartans only have a 1.2% chance of beating Penn State, Iowa, and Maryland; so it's mostly safe to assume this is it.
For now, it looks like head coach Jonathan Smith is still around. Even though supporters of him seem to be extinct within the fanbase, there are still some reasons for that.
On this episode of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast, let's break down the reasons Smith has not gotten the hook from athletic director J Batt, at least not yet, and some of the things the team needs to show in these three final games.
You can watch the video of this episode in its entirety below.
Watch the MSU Spartans Insider Podcast here:
Additionally, a partial transcript from Smith's postgame press conference after the overtime loss to Minnesota has been provided.
Jonathan Smith
SMITH: OK, well, really tough. I always want to start giving credit to our opponent, Minnesota, Coach FlecK, congrats on a win.
But tough to fully describe. But really, some good moments defensively, really throughout the day. I thought they did a great job in the first half, holding them to 10 points, getting a stop at the end. Kept us in that one because we were struggling in the first half with protection.
Regrouped at halftime. Guys continued to battle, take the lead with a minute [and] 50 [seconds] left. And then they scored in regulation with 36 seconds.
You think about the stretch of time of their score and in nine minutes in the second quarter, next time they score is 30 seconds left in the game. So I go back to the defensive effort.
I thought Alessio [Milivojevic] battled throughout, wanted to continue to protect him more.
Credit to our group in regards to momentum swings. You think about that, you go down there, it's first-and-goal. We come away with zero [points] 'cause we missed a short field goal. Our guys didn't flinch, kept on going.
And then you get into overtime and the touchdown is going to beat a field goal.
Q: What was the explanation the officials gave you for picking up the pass interference flag during overtime?
SMITH: The explanation was, you know, there's not just one referee out there. They got eight of them. The communication of the group of eight that put eyes on the call, late, one came in with a stronger opinion to pick it up. And I felt like it was delayed in getting there, but that that was what the explanation was.
Q: What did Alessio do to begin getting starting reps?
SMITH: We started on Sunday, all the way back to start of this week, and verbalized to both of them that they were going to get 50-50 reps, let them work.
But the last three weeks offensively, we felt like we needed to look at a spark, changing things up. And some of that was splitting the reps throughout the week. End of the day, both of them had good weeks of practice.
End of the day was, you know, look at what we had done the last three weeks. We'd been playing two quarterbacks anyways, trying to find a spark for the offense.
That really separated them on our decision.
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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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