Last year at the end of the season, I thought that the Spartans couldn’t do worse the next year than they did that year. Boy was I wrong. This was not a good season for Michigan State whatsoever. They finished 4-8 and aren’t bowl-eligible for the second season in a row. MSU lost their head coach after just the second game of the season and switched starting quarterbacks in the middle of the season. This season was just all-around weird and not good for the Spartans.
MSU started the season 2-0 after beating Central Michigan and Richmond both in blowouts. After the second game of the season vs Richmond, they suspended head coach Mel Tucker but then later fired him due to sexual misconduct. After Tucker, MSU put Harlon Barnett in charge as interim head coach. Barnett lost his first six games as interim head coach before finally getting his first win against Nebraska on senior day. He then won one more game two weeks later against Indiana. That put MSU’s final record at 4-8.
This year, Michigan State passed for 2,398 yards. The leading passer for the Spartans was Katin Houser with 1,130 yards followed by Noah Kim with 1,090 yards. MSU ran for 1,068 yards and the leading rusher was Nathan Carter with a total of 792 yards. In total, the Spartan offense got 3,466 yards. Overall the offense wasn’t good this year.
As you may have seen, there have been a lot of new hires on the coaching staff for the Spartans including a new head coach, Jonathan Smith. Smith was the previous head coach at Oregon State. Through six seasons as head coach of Oregon State, he had a final record of 34-35. This past season, Oregon State finished 8-4 overall and went 5-4 in conference play. Smith was also a quarterback at Oregon State from 1998-2001.
The hiring of Jonathan Smith has changed the coaching staff tremendously for Michigan State. So far, the hires have been Brian Lindgren as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Keith Bhonapha as assistant head coach and running backs coach, Brian Wozniak as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, Jim Michalczik as run game coordinator and offensive line coach, Legi Suiaunoa as defensive line coach, Blue Adams as secondary coach, Mike McDonald as head football strength and conditioning coach, Dan Van De Riet as chief of staff, Courtney Hawkins as wide receivers coach, and Joe Rossi as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. There might be a few more hires in the near future as well.
A little while ago, Oregon State quarterback Aiden Chiles entered the transfer portal. Just recently he decided to follow his head coach over to Michigan State and decided to commit. Also, before Aiden Chiles committed to MSU, Katin Houser, Noah Kim, and Sam Leavitt all entered the transfer portal. That meant the only quarterback left at Michigan State was redshirt junior Andrew Schorfhaar. Schorfhaar has only two completions in his career for -3 yards. Chiles was a very big pickup for the Spartans.
Michigan State did not have a good season whatsoever. Already, the Spartans have way higher expectations for next year than they had this year. Hopefully, they will be able to exceed those expectations.
