Michigan State's head coach Jonathan Smith approaches the huddle during a timeout in the fourth quarter of the game against Michigan on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

MSU Joins Surprising List of Winless Big Ten Teams

Originally posted on Michigan State Spartans on SI
By Carter Landis | Last updated Oct 31, 2025 10:00 AM ET

The Michigan State Spartans have had an abysmal season in 2025.

MSU has lost its last five games and has not won a Big Ten game. As a result, fans and former players have called for the university to fire head coach Jonathan Smith.

While it’s unknown whether or not the team will move on from the former standout Oregon State coach and quarterback, he must turn things around quickly to save his job. A win this weekend against Minnesota would help in a big way.

MSU is 0-5 in Big Ten play, and while that is embarrassing, the Spartans find themselves surrounded by unfamiliar names in the conference’s basement.

It’s been a weird year in college football. It’s bizarre when Michigan State is winless in conference play, just like Penn State and Wisconsin.

The winless Big Ten teams

The Nittany Lions and the Badgers are usually two of the best teams in the Big Ten, so seeing them without a win against any conference team is shocking. MSU will take on Penn State in a few weeks, and both teams could still be winless to that point.

To give the Nittany Lions the benefit of the doubt, they have been without star quarterback Drew Allar for a while. They lost to UCLA in a major upset at the beginning of the month and fired James Franklin a week later.

Since PSU has been rolling with an interim and appears ready for a transition, it makes sense that the team is struggling. It is, however, odd that the Nittany Lions have not been able to beat even one conference foe yet.

Wisconsin's struggles

Things are spiraling in Madison, as Luke Fickell is losing control of the program. He has gone away from everything that made Wisconsin the powerhouse it has been in recent years, as the team has struggled to run the football or defend anyone.

Fickell is 15-19 in his fourth season leading the Badgers, leading many to believe that the university will pay his hefty buyout and move on from him as head coach. Will Wisconsin find a win on the schedule and turn things around?

MSU does not play Wisconsin this season, so it will be a while before the Spartans and Badgers clash again.

The other winless team in conference play is Purdue, but the Boilermakers are one year removed from the Ryan Walters disaster, and it will take some time for Barry Odom to turn things around. His recruiting classes have been promising, though.

The Spartans are trying to climb out of the basement of the Big Ten. They have not enjoyed watching Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon dominate over the last two years.

Will Smith be the coach to bring them back to the top of the Big Ten? It’s hard to say, but things do not look good right now.

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This article first appeared on Michigan State Spartans on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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