Coach Smith, Michigan State Frustrated After Narrow Loss
Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith got his first taste of the Spartans' rivalry with the Michigan Wolverines. There is no question that Michigan has a much more talented roster than Michigan State does. Still, Michigan found themselves and a Michigan State team that refused go down without a fight.
However, a hotly contested rivalry game can sometimes negate a roster differential or an opposing team's home-field advantage. That is what happened Saturday when the Spartans and Wolverines faced off in Ann Arbor.
Smith was not in the mood to hear about moral victories or that the team was close to beating Michigan in his first season as Michigan State's coach. Smith was not a fan of how the Spartans missed multiple opportunities to tie the game or take the lead.
He noted the lost opportunities were some of the things that frustrated him.
"Frustrating. Disappointing. A lot to digest in the game," Smith said. "I look at both ends of halves, we didn't finish well at all. At the end of the first half, give them the 2-minute drive, we give them the ball, then they get three points there, so that finish wasn't good. Going into halftime, I thought we regrouped. The field position was not great. But our guys did continue to battle.
"Fast forward to the fourth quarter, get it within a score, we got the ball, drive all the way down there, fourth-and-5, we don't finish the thing. We still got three timeouts, and we can't get them off the field, so didn't finish like we wanted to. The group battles. Really, all three phases, there was some things we didn't do well enough to earn a win tonight. And that's why it's frustrating and disappointing."
As frustrating as Saturday's loss may have been, the season is far from over for Smith and the Spartans. While they do have another difficult two games on the horizon, they have two very winnable games after that. Best of all, three of Michigan State's next four games are at home.
While none of the remaining games are easy, it is still fair to expect Smith to find two more wins and reach a bowl game in his first season.
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Ezekiel is a former Sports Editor from the Western Herald and former Atlanta Falcons beat writer.