Jonathan Smith addresses criticism of Michigan State's body language in UCLA loss

Michigan State was brought back down to earth in a major way in a 38-13 loss to UCLA. The defeat left many in the Spartans fanbase critical of the way things looked.

In particular, some referenced complaints about the team’s body language during the loss. Many players looked disengaged, and after the game UCLA running back Jalen Berger essentially said Michigan State quit during the contest.

“I don’t think that’s totally accurate in terms of not wanting to play, especially just feeding off the conversations we had yesterday in regards to leadership standing up, guys pointing things out,” Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith said. “Again, body language is tough in regards to when it’s going really sideways, especially you think about late in that game.”

After Michigan State scored the opening touchdown in the game, it was pretty much all UCLA until the game was already over in the fourth quarter. The Bruins ripped off 38 unanswered points before the Spartans finally found the end zone again.

Smith doesn’t seem overly concerned that his team will quit on him. He does, however, realize he’s got to find a way to generate some more momentum in the building going forward.

“We’ve got to find a way to bounce back, create some energy by some execution,” Smith said. “And that’s why we talked a lot about the back half of this season, what we’ve got in front of us.”

Jonathan Smith appeals to Michigan State fans

In the wake of a third straight loss on Saturday, Smith also wanted to make sure that his fanbase knows things will get turned around. The danger is allowing things to snowball out of control before he has a chance to do so.

As quickly as things can turn in the social media age, he knows he has to rally the troops. To that end, he issued a message to long-time supporters who may be questioning things right now.

“Well I think you tell them that Saturday’s not good enough and we’re very aware of it from the program side, that there are things to fix,” Smith said. “Then again, we’re going to continue to work to get it better.”

Michigan State will return to action on Saturday with a road trip to face No. 3 Indiana. So the road certainly isn’t getting easier in the short term.