Can Coach Jonathan Smith Pull Off One Upset During Difficult Four-Game Stretch?

Michigan State has a brutal four-game stretch during the middle of the season. Can Coach Jonathan Smith find a way to win one of those four games?

Michigan State's head coach Jonathan Smith looks on during the Spring Showcase on Saturday, April 20, 2024, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA

Michigan State and Coach Jonathan Smith are about to enter the first season of rebuilding Michigan State’s football program. As the season inches closer and closer, Coach Smith and his coaching staff have done an admirable job in many aspects during their short time in East Lansing. Smith has noted that he does not plan for the rebuild to take long and has taken steps to at least try to ensure he makes it happen quickly.

Smith and his coaching staff have already encountered many of the typical issues a first-year coaching staff faces when arriving at a new school. While they have overcome most of those issues this offseason, the season will present Smith and his coaching staff with many more, mainly one of the most challenging schedules in the Big Ten and the country. 

Michigan State faces Ohio State at home, Oregon on the road, Iowa at home and Michigan on the road over five weeks, roughly halfway through the season. Two of those teams are ranked in the preseason top five. All four teams are difficult opponents regardless of where they are ranked, especially for a football program in the beginning stages of a rebuild like Smith and Michigan State are. 

While Michigan State likely loses all four games, there are few guarantees in college football, where upsets are the norm. Smith and the Spartans likely have set proper expectations for themselves and the team this season. Michigan State can still win six games and make it to a bowl game, even if it loses all four.

However, if Smith and his staff can find a way to pull off just one upset during that four-game stretch, Michigan State’s chances of reaching six wins and a bowl game will go from just a possibility to a near certainty. 

Of those four games, Michigan State will likely have a tough outing against Ohio State and Michigan. While Smith is familiar with Oregon from his time at Oregon State, it would be unreasonable to expect Michigan State to beat one of the top teams in the country on the road early in the season. This leaves Iowa as the team Michigan State has the best chance to beat during its brutal four-game stretch.

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