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V-Cast: is Michigan State leaning toward sticking with Jonathan Smith as its football coach?

On3 imageby: Paul Konyndyk21 hours agoPKonyndyk
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Michigan State saw its losing streak in Big Ten play extend to eight games with a 20-17 loss at Iowa on senior day at Kinnick Stadium. This was a game where the Spartans led by as many as 10 points in the second half. Failure to contain explosive Iowa punt returner Kaden Wetjen, however, proved costly for the Spartans who lost this game on a last-second 44-yard field goal.

Afterward, SpartanMag staffers Jim Comparoni and Paul Konyndyk weighed both the good and the bad from Michigan State’s latest loss and whether the effort and toughness that Jonathan Smith’s team showed at Iowa will help the embattled second-year Spartan football coach keep his job.

Continue below for the V-Cast.

V-CAST TOPICS

Can’t Fault the Effort: It is easy to find fault with the Michigan State football program during a season in which everything that could go wrong for the Spartans probably has. Nobody, however, should cite lack of effort as a shortcoming for this team. The Spartans played with maximum effort and a high care factor against Iowa. Michigan State had a strong defensive performance throughout this game in holding the Hawkeyes to just 300 yards and two touchdown drives. The Spartans also played hard on offense, with redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic leading the way with a gritty performance in his third career start for Michigan State.

He’s Our Guy: Milivojevic and linebacker Jordan Hall both publicly gave their support to Smith after Michigan State’s latest setback. Hall described Smith as good football coach and leader with the right temperament and demeanor to lead the Spartans through a tough time. Milivojevic, who signed with Michigan State in Smith’s first recruiting class, indicated that he loves playing for Smith and he loves playing with his teammates. The redshirt freshman also predicted that both he and his teammates would fight to finish their season with a win next weekend at Ford Field.

The Hot Seat: At this juncture it does not appear that Michigan State athletic director J Bat is ready to sever ties with Smith and move in a new direction with program leadership. That could change if the Spartans play with anything less than maximum effort against Maryland at Ford Field next weekend than they played with at Iowa. Without a donor base stumping for regime change, Bat does not have the same level of pressure to replace Smith that he might if program donors were completely opposed to giving Smith and his staff another year.

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