For a third-straight season, the Michigan State football program is going to miss out on a bowl game.
Following a 41-14 blowout loss to Rutgers in cold and snowy conditions on senior day, Michigan State finished the 2024 campaign — the first season with Jonathan Smith as head coach — with a 5-7 overall record and a 3-6 mark in conference play.
"Obviously a tough one," Smith said about the loss to Rutgers. "Credit to Rutgers, but we didn't play well enough to earn a win or earn a chance to continue on playing (this season)."
The final result of the 2024 campaign is of course disappointing for Smith and the Spartans, but he feels his program has plenty to build upon moving forward.
Smith praised his seniors who will be moving on from MSU. He was grateful for those players who welcomed him and his new staff to East Lansing, and those who bought into their vision.
"We've got a great appreciation for the guys in that locker room," Smith said. "(We) spent a little bit of time digesting, talking to some seniors in that group that put a lot into this place and played their final game. I've got a lot of respect for them, for really being open-minded to buying in to a new way of doing things this year. I do think they played with a lot of great effort and showed some leadership and things. I told the team, these things are tough, when guys have just finished (their college careers), so (I) appreciated them."
Smith went on to reiterate that he spoke to his team about the appreciation he has for the players for being open to the staff's ideas and philosophies, and went into more detail on why he feels that way.
"I do feel like they bought into a lot of the work, (and) the idea of doing it together," Smith said about his team. "We've got to get better and grow and develop. This is the ultimate team game, and so we've got to do it as a team. We emphasize a lot of those things, and I'm just confident that, again, the guys that make it not just strictly about themselves, those are the best teams, and we're confident in what we're building here."
Smith also made it clear that the program has an eye toward the future. He had a clear message for the players who will be returning in 2025. The head coach believes that there is a lot of work to do — evidenced by the Spartans' numerous struggles on the field this season — but that the foundation is there to turn this program into a winner.
"(I) also spoke to the rest of the group — those that didn't play their last game at Spartan Stadium — (and) I'm still confident that we can get this thing in a way better place," Smith said. "It's gonna take some work, though, and we're in the midst of it right now. And these things are disappointing (how the season ended), and we had some, definitely, ups and downs this year, and we've gotta keep on plugging away and going to work.
"I've got a belief in our approach, our process, and how we're doing it. And (I) wanna feel like the guys that have more time here, we can get it going. But we've gotta ... play better, we've gotta get better. And so that starts with me, the approach. Coaches, we're gonna digest this whole season and find ways where we can play better because we need to. And this place, you can do it here (at MSU). We've just got to keep on working to get it done."
As for the loss to Rutgers on Saturday, Smith pointed out a few things that changed the trajectory of the game.
After a 7-0 start for Michigan State on its opening drive of the day, thanks to a 26-yard run by running back Nate Carter, the Scarlet Knights proceeded to outscore the Spartans 41-7 the rest of the way.
"I think (the game) really separated in the second quarter," Smith said about the loss to the Scarlet Knights. "You look at the fourth (down)-and one, we can't get a yard inside the 10 (yard line), so they take over, they go 95 yards and punch the thing in. (We) don't get much. They end in more or less a two-minute drive (and get a) field goal. And then we go out there with three snaps, three incompletions, don't take anything off (the clock), and they chip in another (field goal). So the momentum swing there was big.
"But you're regrouping at halftime. We've got to get a way to get a stop, and to really score first in the second half to get yourself back into it. They come down and convert I think three or four times on third down, take about eight minutes off the clock, and that really changed the thing. And that's what Rutgers is about. They're leading the league in time of possession for a reason, and they really separated the thing at that point."
The fourth-and-1 play that Smith referenced happened early in the second quarter when Rutgers had a 10-7 lead. Instead of opting to tie the game with a field goal, Smith and the Spartans went for the first down. With the ball at Rutgers' 6-yard line, quarterback Aidan Chiles handed the ball off to running back Kay'ron Lynch-Adams, who was stuffed by the Scarlet Knights, resulting in a turnover on downs.
Smith mentioned that there was not a lot of thought to take the three points and tie the game in that situation, as seven points would have been a much bigger momentum shifter. However, the Spartans ended the drive without adding to the scoreboard at all.
Now with Michigan State's 2024 in the books, the Spartans' focus will be on improving the roster for the 2025 season and beyond.
Smith spoke about the young players on the current roster and the importance of development, even in this day and age of the transfer portal, but he also knows that the Spartans have to add talent to the team in order to be more competitive moving forward. He plans do that through the high school recruiting and the portal.
"In this landscape, I still think this thing's a game of development," Smith said. "So whoever is on your roster, those guys need to get better and develop. And we've got some good players on this roster that have a lot of years left of eligibility. I'm confident in our approach (to development) and those guys continue to work, and that's on us as coaches to develop them. At the same time, you've got to continue to add good players that can play at high level that are in on our approach of doing it, and we're confident we can do that. And as it turns into these next couple of months, there will be quite a bit of that."
With the transfer portal and name, image and likeness (NIL) now in place, along with several other factors, Smith is well aware of the shift in landscape in college athletics.
At Smith's previous stop, he was able to build up a struggling Oregon State program primarily through innovative scheme and development of his players, even when guys perhaps weren't the highest-rated recruits coming out of high school. While Smith is still adamant that development is of the utmost importance, he knows things have to be approached differently now in order to build and sustain a winning program.
"The landscape has changed going all the way back to over six years ago (when I took over at Oregon State)," Smith said. "The transfer portal, NIL, was not existent when I first got started. I do think there's some stepping stones — even as frustrating as some points of this season were — (and) we're going to build off of that. A few younger players got a got amount of time, that's value there. So if those guys keep playing and getting some experience (that's big). We worked through this season with some young guys in some young spots."
Michigan State has a long way to go to be able to compete with the top teams in the Big Ten and at a national level. Smith knows that, and he knows it will take time to get there. However, with the way the transfer portal functions, Smith believes the Spartans can accomplish a lot in one offseason, and can take some serious steps in closing the talent gap between MSU and the elite teams.
"I think a lot's possible in one offseason," Smith said. "There are some positions that we need to get better, we need to add some depth there. We need some current guys that are getting a lot of snaps to take a step in their game, which I'm excited about doing that work of that. But yeah, each year I think now — especially in this landscape of college football — you're gonna have some turnover on your roster, and you've got to do a nice job of identifying and plugging in spots where you need it."
Reflecting on his first year coaching in the Big Ten, after six years as a head coach in the Pac-12, Smith noted that it is "competitive" and that there is "good players," "good schemes" and "tough road environments" in the league that stood out to him.
Smith also provided an update true freshman defensive back Jaylen Thompson, who was carted off of the field on Saturday.
"He was released and is doing OK," Smith said about Thompson. "(He's) in concussion protocol is what I was told."
As for what is next for the Spartans, Smith noted that the coaches will meet with every player on the team in what he called "more or less exit meetings." The purpose of these meetings are to "digest the season and talk about the future."
Michigan State will also add to its roster in the coming days and weeks. The Early Signing Period for the 2025 class opens on Wednesday, Dec. 4, and the winter window for the transfer portal opens on Dec. 9.
