As the Season Crashes and Burns: 3 Thoughts on MSU Football

It’s no secret that Michigan State is a mummified version of what this program once was. They’re the bottom-dwellers living in the cellar with the door locked and no escape in sight.

It’s been a grotesque season riddled with embarrassments, questions, and plain disgust. Watching this team this year has brought out my inner dad. I’m not even mad — I’m just disappointed.

I didn’t come into this season with blind optimism, but Jonathan Smith was entering year two with his quarterback Aidan Chiles still under center, and there was at least a glimmer of hope. Maybe this team could band together like a ragtag group of misfit toys who somehow topple the Abominable Snowman. Instead, they fell off a cliff like Wile E. Coyote holding an ACME blueprint upside down.

So if you’re wondering, “What in the world is this article even getting to?”—fair question.

What I’m doing here is laying out three things for all of us to think about. Agree or disagree, let’s at least try to find something interesting to talk about when it comes to this putrid 2025 football team.

1. Jonathan Smith Probably Isn’t Getting Fired

With the amount of money Michigan State owes Jonathan Smith, and with the program staring down the barrel of potentially its worst Big Ten finish ever, the chances MSU hits the reset button again are slim to none. Add in the scholarship restrictions and overall limitations hovering over East Lansing, and there’s likely no coach out there who sees MSU as their top destination right now.

That doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be a line of applicants—everyone wants a Division I job—but if you’re pounding the table for someone like Brian Kelly (guilty), there’s no chance he’s coming to the mitten under these conditions.

As bad as Jonathan Smith has been—and if you haven’t read my previous articles, maybe you don’t know this—but I genuinely think he is the “Weekend at Bernie’s” version of a head coach. Just a limp body propped up every Saturday to absorb all the hate. Last week proved it again: timid on fourth-and-short, coaching scared, no brass to go win a game. It was like watching someone slowly sink into quicksand while a rope sat right in front of them… and they just stared at it, dragging the whole team down with them.

Unfortunately, Jonathan Smith’s vanilla coaching style is likely to haunt East Lansing for the foreseeable future.

2. Alessio Milivojevic Might Actually Be Legit

Here’s a shocking twist: Alessio Milivojevic could actually be a very talented quarterback. And if the Spartans’ offensive line ever decides to block someone, Michigan State might be in for a faster resurgence than expected.

Milivojevic gets hit on almost every dropback. He’s sacked more in a week than some quarterbacks are in a month. This isn’t on him—this is a full-on indictment of an offensive line that sometimes forgets it plays Division I football.

Yet despite all that, Milivojevic consistently puts MSU in positions to win. It feels like eons since we’ve been able to say that about a Spartan QB. Yes, Chiles has better escapability, but behind this offensive line, “trying to escape” isn’t helpful—it’s chaos. You need poise and presence to stand in, stay tall, and deliver an accurate throw while pressure is barreling in. Chiles doesn’t have that in his bag. Milivojevic does.

And if Michigan State is going to steal one conference win this season, it’ll be this weekend at Ford Field against Maryland—with Milivojevic playing hero ball and Jonathan Smith somewhere down the street eating at Detroit Burger Bar.

3. Can the Spartans Turn This Ship Around Next Year?

Is there any real hope for a resurgence in 2026 even if Smith stays? Or will a coaching change be the only way MSU sees daylight?

Even if Smith returns, I do believe starting the year with a much better quarterback gives this team at least a fighting chance. The defense was atrocious early in the season but found its stride midway through and has been surprisingly solid since. Iowa didn’t complete its first pass until under three minutes remained in the first half on Saturday. Outside of the baffling decision to punt to the nation’s best returner—which of course resulted in a touchdown—the defense held strong for three full quarters.

Call it a moral victory. And maybe—maybe—it spills into the final game of the season. If Michigan State can grab one Big Ten win, and do it to close the year, that momentum could leak into 2026.

There’s still a pulse. Barely. But it’s there.

Whether the Spartans can actually turn the ship around is a question we’ll all be pondering all offseason.