Michigan State and Indiana show 2 different paths to a college football rebuild

Posted by Admin November 7, 2024 Football

EAST LANSING — There was a time not that long ago when fans would have been glued to their TVs on Tuesday, waiting eagerly to see where Michigan State stood in the initial College Football Playoff rankings.

Then again, 2021, the last time MSU was apart of the discussion, feels lightyears from 2024 with the changes that have happened since. And it has been nine years since coach Mark Dantonio actually guided the Spartans into the 2015 CFP field of four.

Current coach Jonathan Smith got to see first-hand how far the program he inherited has to go to get back to the elite echelon of the sport. Entering the fourth quarter of his debut season, MSU (4-5, 2-4 Big Ten) has lost to three of the 12 teams in Tuesday night’s first CFP rankings of the season. And it lost by a composite score of 116-27.

Smith’s task looks gargantuan. Especially when four other conference foes are currently in the field, let alone the glut of other programs in the expanded 18-team Big Ten in front of the Spartans.

Saturday’s blowout loss to Indiana pointed to two coaches and two programs seemingly heading in two different directions. But there is some nuance to that.

Needing two more wins in its final three after this week’s second bye of the fall, MSU visit Illinois on Nov. 16 looking to both find footing for the rest of this season and create a building block for the future of Smith’s program.

There are plenty of reasons why the Spartans are in their current state of stagnation.

MSU football stagnation: How it happened

While No. 10 Indiana and new coach Curt Cignetti flexed its might, blasting MSU 47-10 to skyrocket to No. 8 in the CFP rankings, it showed differing approaches to a rebuild.

Former coach Tom Allen was not a dynamic recruiter, as evidenced by Indiana’s 9-27 record in his final three seasons before getting fired. Consequently, just 12 of the 39 outbound transfers after his dismissal landed at Power Four programs this season.

Cignetti arrived from James Madison, which he helped move to the Football Bowl Subdivision into the Group of 5 Sun Belt Conference two years ago. Of the 31 transfers he brought in during his first offseason, 14 followed him from JMU to Bloomington. Just seven of the 31 played at the power conference level a year ago. He also landed a one-year rental at quarterback in Ohio transfer Kurtis Rourke, among the 49 first-year players on the Hoosiers’ roster.

Coupled with additions familiar with Cignetti’s coaching and system, plus Rourke’s veteran presence after starting for three seasons with the Bobcats, the Hoosiers’ mix has formulated a 9-0 start.

Smith took over for Mel Tucker, whose tenure ended in disgrace two games into last year, his fourth season. Though Tucker, a former NFL assistant coach, relied on one-year transfers almost every year, his best ability was amassing talent along the offensive and defensive lines in his three-plus seasons on the high school recruiting trail.

Most of those four-star players hit the portal by the spring and are gone. The Spartans lost 38 players from last year’s roster, and half landed at major conference programs this season.

Unlike Cignetti, Smith did not raid his former school’s roster. Only three transfers followed from Oregon State, each an offensive starter. Center Tanner Miller is in his final year, but tight end Jack Velling has another year after this season, and quarterback Aidan Chiles has two more. Among the 61 new players with the Spartans this fall, 24 were transfers, with 16 having played at power conference schools. It is a plan continued from Smith’s philosophy that helped resurrect his alma mater.

“Just looking at Oregon State’s track record, it was really impressive,” offensive lineman Stanton Ramil, a four-star Tucker recruit, said earlier this season. “One of the small things that stuck out to me was how many people they had in the portal each year, It’s just like one of the lowest among the FBS schools. That just stood out to me, being around the same group of guys for four or five years, whatever it might be. That’s what I want in college.”

MSU football stagnation: How to fix it

Smith has pledged to turn MSU into a “developmental program” again, something Dantonio did wonders with in the pre-portal era.

Still with a few key contributors who are Dantonio holdovers, Smith’s primary tasks are to replenish the young talent on both lines that was lost to the portal. That takes time, both to land high-end talent in a new area for him and his staff, and to then mold them into Big Ten-level players ready for the NFL. The Spartans do not have time to wait, though, and could look to rebuild their offensive line and reel in a few elite pass rushers — whether they be stopgaps for a season or via the recruiting ranks in the winter. It is easier said than done in the NIL era of bidding wars.

Smith’s approach to bringing in transfers was fairly thoughtful, working to fill gaps in the scholarship chart with players who have additional years of eligibility remaining, and very few whose time in college will be over when this season ends. The expectation is to use this year’s group of transfers and recruits, such as Chiles, Velling and freshman phenom wide receiver Nick Marsh, to provide a solid foundation and then take full flight in 2025. The run game flashing and the early success of defensive coordinator Joe Rossi’s unit show there has been development.

Getting to a bowl game, however, needs to happen. All the burgeoning stars in Smith’s program must get the extra month-or-so of practices and a 13th game to further familiarize themselves with one another for next season, and to go into the new year feeling better about themselves.

Win two more, and that will happen. Just temper expectations of MSU contending for a national title in the short-term.

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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