Thursday July 2 Links and Banter
USA USA USA!
Well, there's a reason why the Spartans are on to their third head coach in 4 seasons. Johnathan Smith (no relation to former Spartans coach John L Smith), had tough sledding ahead of him with the dumpster fire left behind by Mel "Tugger" Tucker. Even still, 5-7 (wins vacated in 2024) and 4-8 just won't cut it in East Lansing. It could have been worse! Could have been a lot better, though. Let's get to the schedule and reminisce on the year that eventually brought Pat Fitzgerald back to the conference.
What were the expectations?
Kind of...: I can't say that I follow MSU closely, but I recall the expectations being quite, um, realistic, and the Spartans falling well short of them anyway. Which may explain the coaching change.
Transient Buckeye: Going into the season, I thought Michigan State was going to be pretty bad in 2025. They were, in fact, extremely bad in 2025. To the extent that there was any cause for optimism at all, it was rooted in the hope (note, I said "hope", not "belief") that Aidan Chiles might be able to build on the flashes of talent he'd periodically shown in 2024, and develop into a quarterback who could hero-ball MSU into a win or two against superior opponents. This....did not happen.
So, how'd it go?
Kind of...: Let's just say that one win conference seasons aren't really that common in East Lansing, after all. (Only four times in their 70+ years in the B1G...though three of those in the last 20 years.)
Transient Buckeye: Hey, I get to use the same .gif for both recap columns this week!
MSU did manage to sweep their nonconference schedule, so at least they had that going for them. After that, though? It was an unadorned cavalcade of misery. Things got so bad that at least some of our MSU game-thread posters were actually angry that the Spartans managed to beat Maryland in their season finale, because they were concerned that the win might keep Jonathan Smith in East Lansing for another season. I tried to reassure them at the time that if MSU was going to keep Smith, the decision would've been made one way or another before that game even kicked off, so the outcome wouldn't matter. It didn't.
What were the highlights?
Kind of...: I suspect "firing Jonathan Smith" would be a common response in East Lansing. Hanging tough with Minnesota and Iowa on the road? Beating Maryland in the season finale? Not getting in a tunnel brawl with Michigan? So many options...
Transient Buckeye: I'm not an MSU fan, but I think Kind of... has nailed it from the perspective of Spartan loyalists. If you squint hard enough, you could argue that they kept the game against USC in the L.A. Coliseum a lot closer than they should have. My own personal highlight was the revival of the career of early 2000s action-move star Milla Jovovich, who was inserted at QB for MSU after Aidan Chiles was benched/got injured/bit of both. Though the fact that the NCAA (the very embodiment of a Resident Evil) prevented her from carrying two pistols onto the field during games probably held down her effectiveness by quite a bit.
And the lowlights?
Kind of...: October and most of November.
Transient Buckeye: When you only win one conference game, there are going to be a lot of lowlights. The worst was probably MSU gagging away a game against Minnesota that they absolutely, positively should have won.
Any memorable and or absurd moments?
Kind of...: I sure don't remember much. If by absurd we mean in an Albert Camus, Myth of Sisyphus sense, then yeah, they got flattened by the boulder plenty.
Transient Buckeye: Again, I'm with Kind of.... When a team that's expected to be bad is bad, that's not memorable. And with the exception, maybe, of the Minnesota game, there was a paucity of "Sparty, No!" moments. MSU can usually be relied upon to be hilarious in their ineptitude, but last season, they couldn't even clear that bar.
