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    • MSU football should expect a lot from itself after the loss to Ohio State
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    MSU football should expect a lot from itself after the loss to Ohio State

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    EAST LANSING – One refreshing thing about new Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith is that he doesn’t try to downplay big issues.

    Take Saturday night, for example. The Spartans lost 38-7 to Ohio State in a game where they were physically competitive in the second half.

    When asked if he was encouraged or discouraged by the performance, Smith started with this:

    “Well, I think we’re still a long way off because it’s in the details. And it’s in this turnover. … Credit to those guys (the Buckeyes) – 38-7 is not close. In the end it’s all about the scoreboard.”

    It helps that Smith is in his first season at MSU. Losing by 31 at home in year 4 makes you feel more compelled to defend it – talk about an inch game and moments of botched execution.

    If you turn the ball over three times, twice in the red zone, and let your opponent convert 11 of 21 third-and-four attempts and come up a yard short on fourth-and-one, it’s more than inches.

    And yet Saturday night also marked the most promising MSU football game in three seasons.

    Because this was Ohio State and, as we all saw and Smith also said, “I didn’t feel like there were a lot of snaps that we just overwhelmed.”

    That’s not nothing.

    The question is: what now? I’m looking forward to MSU’s game at Oregon next Friday. Because while the four games after that, and after a bye – Iowa, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois – are all as winnable as they are loseable and complete toss-ups – Friday’s game in Oregon is the last chance for the Spartans to play. , to take a swipe at a potential playoff opponent and let people know.

    This next game is house money in some ways, but it will also reveal the Spartans’ determination, maturity and real-time growth. Quarterback Aidan Chiles showed that overnight on Saturday. And against Ohio State, the Spartans showed they have the goods to compete with Oregon. To probably compete with everyone.

    They’ve seen it now. They know their own strength. While maybe they didn’t do that before Saturday. For Oregon to put up a good fight, it won’t take anything beyond the Spartans’ weekly capabilities.

    “We’re going to have a chance in every ballgame, a chance to win, if we can clear the turnover and get off the field on third down,” Smith said.

    “I think we just have to be honest with ourselves first,” MSU running back Nate Carter added. “We have to hold ourselves accountable for the mistakes we make as an offense, to put ourselves in a predicament where we can’t clear the red zone – like turning the ball over, not keeping the football, things like that. … It’s been back-to-back games (that) we’ve had the same issues. So what can we do this week so that doesn’t happen on Friday night?

    What we don’t know about this team is how resilient and together they will be when life gets tough. It’s one thing to bounce back after a bad race or ride. Defeats can affect you differently. When teams feel like their preseason ambitions are slipping away, when a team’s swagger is humbled, when a roster with 61 new players – and from a variety of previous situations – is asked to bond through adversity, there is no guarantee that this happens.

    MORE: Couch’s numbers for the MSU football team after their performance against Ohio State

    In the locker room after Saturday’s loss, defensive lineman Anthony Jones — who played one season at Oregon and last season at Indiana before transferring to MSU — implored his teammates not to let two tough weeks be the start of a downward spiral, to avoid mistakes correcting, but not dwelling on what cannot be changed.

    “He’s been a part of teams like this,” Carter said of Jones. “He was part of good teams that were great and then they hit a rough patch and it was a few games and now the season is completely over. … We have a long season ahead of us and we have a lot of opportunities and a lot of games.”

    What lies ahead immediately for the 3-2 Spartans is a tall order: a short week of preparation, a cross-country trip, an opponent that is an entrenched rival for many of MSU’s coaches and some of its players that Smith and Co. from Oregon State followed. , a 4-0 Oregon team that seems to have found its footing in the last two games.

    No one expects much from the Spartans in Eugene. But after Saturday night in East Lansing, they can expect a lot from themselves.

    RELATED: Bench: 3 rushing attempts against Michigan State’s 38-7 loss to Ohio State

    Contact Graham Couch at [email protected]. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch.

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