Why MSU's Jonathan Smith Shouldn't Consider the UCLA Job
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UCLA just fired its head coach, DeShaun Foster, back on Sunday after an 0-3 start. That leaves a power conference opening that will get filled during the annual coaching carousel this offseason.
On Monday, Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith was named as a potential candidate for the opening. On paper, there is sense to it; Smith was born in Pasadena, California --- right where the Rose Bowl is --- and had only played and coached football on or near the West Coast his entire life before he took the MSU job.
For this episode of the Michigan State Spartans Insider Podcast, we dive into why it would be unwise for Smith to take the vacant job of the team he will face on Oct. 11.
Watch here:
As for his ongoing duties at MSU, Smith spoke to the media on Monday about the Spartans' upcoming game against the Big Ten's other Los Angeles-based school, No. 25 USC. Below is a partial transcript of his press conference.
Transcript
"OK, kind of like each week here, recapping a couple of thoughts. Offensively, you know, 10 possessions, I think we scored seven times on those 10.
"I did think, again, watching the tape, Aidan (Chiles) did a solid job. Completing pass, eyes up, smart with the ball, another good game running it.
"But in general, the running game, we got to get better, first and second down. You know, credit to the opponent schematically a couple of those, but we've got to break a couple of tackles, one of them with the safety kind of delaying, misidentification took place too many times, and we're just not getting the type of movement we want to get, so we've got to get improvement on that in the run game.
"Defensively, I thought they did a nice job of stopping the run. These guys were leading the country in running the ball, especially with the quarterback (and) his capabilities of running it; I did like that part, except on the long one, 66-yard play, I want to say. First of all, we're misaligned, unique formation, give 'em some credit, we're misaligned, we don't got anyone in the B-gap. We're not aligned correctly in the second area, we've got an opportunity to at least get him down, it's going to be a 30-yard play, we can't do that, so we've got to get better there.
"It was good to have Nikai Martinez back, getting a taste of it, he played, you know, maybe half of it, so it was great to see him out there, we do want to continue to improve going forward. Fourth down, third down, on that side.
"Special teams continues to be a positive, obviously huge return from Omari (Kelly); I do think the blocking on the thing, the decision-making on the punt return unit was critical. Martin (Connington) had a solid game, (Ryan) Eckley was only out there one time, that's usually a good thing."
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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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