Michigan State HC explains decision on spring game, but does it make sense?

Getting that extra day of practice to really drill in on fundamentals makes sense, but coaches like Clemson's Dabo Swinney have rightly expressed that the only way to get better is to play football games, and the spring game — when done right — can be used to simulate a real game for the team.

“You don’t get better football if you don’t play football. Now, if you told me we could have two or three preseason games in the fall, I’d probably have a different approach to the spring. But we don’t get that, right? There’s a reason why in the NFL, they’ve also got (three) preseason games to play football, to figure their team out. ... We don’t get that. We play LSU. So I look at our scrimmage opportunities as an opportunity to expose our guys, teach them," Swinney recently said.

Swinney is also of the opinion that "poaching" is going to happen with or without a spring game. 

However, one of those "multiple factors" that Smith was referring to most certainly includes the paranoia of rival teams being able to scout out MSU's depth chart. That's especially true because there is an opportunity for a school like Michigan, for instance, to induce a transfer or two in the upcoming spring transfer portal window that opens on April 16.

Smith is looking to build back what was once an elite MSU program, and he can't do that if he loses his top young players to the transfer portal. So, yes, it makes sense to cancel the spring game. 

It hurts the fan base the most, though.