Patience Shrinking as Michigan State Enters Intriguing Week vs. UCLA

Firstly, this isn't a piece calling for Smith to be fired. He's built a program from the ground up before at Oregon State (who are now a dreadful 0-6 without him), and there is still plenty of reason to believe that it's possible in East Lansing as well.

Where the ravine between Smith and many others on the outside lies is the pace of the progress. If Michigan State goes 6-6 and plays against some random MAC team in the GameAbove Sports Bowl in Detroit, yes, that's technically progress, but MSU isn't a program where .500 seasons are considered acceptable.

We now live in an era where head coaches are expected to turn ships around nearly instantaneously. There might not be a program that Michigan State fans look at with more envy than Indiana right now.

The Hoosiers used to be considered one of the doormats of the Big Ten that the Spartans could cruise past for a nice and easy conference win --- MSU leads that all-time series, 50-19-1.

Then, IU hired Curt Cignetti and --- nearly instantaneously --- became a powerhouse. Indiana went 11-1 during the regular season, dominated Michigan State at Spartan Stadium, 47-10, and went to the first 12-team College Football Playoff. This year, the Hoosiers are already 5-0 and will be on College Gameday next Saturday when they travel to face Oregon.

Why shouldn't the average Michigan State fan look at perhaps the worst program in the Big Ten's history and think, "Why can't we have that?"

Most fans aren't concerned with whatever the coach's internal five-year plan is. All they see is what gets put out there on the field on Saturdays, and right now the product isn't good enough.

J Batt

Even though Smith is in his early stages as Michigan State's head coach, the Spartans are still in an interesting position in that the athletic director is even newer. J Batt was announced as MSU's new AD back in June after previously holding the same position at Georgia Tech.

There's never been a time in college sports where alignment between the head coach of the football team --- the biggest money-maker for the athletic department --- and the AD is more important. Since Batt didn't hire Smith (fired AD Alan Haller did), there's naturally a bit of awkwardness with that. I don't know what Batt's and Smith's relationship is like, but that's the type of thing that could shape decisions for Batt down the line.

Batt did hire a football coach at Georgia Tech, and he did well. He took over the GT athletic director job shortly after the previous coach had been fired. The interim head coach, Brent Key, went 4-4 after inheriting a 1-3 start. Batt gave him the full-time job. Fast forward to now, and the Yellow Jackets are 5-0 and in the CFP hunt under Key's leadership.

UCLA

All that now leads MSU to what is probably the most intriguing --- and most important --- week of the Smith era so far, with perhaps the exclusion of Michigan last season because of the nature of that game every year.

Michigan State should beat UCLA. Michigan State needs to beat UCLA. The Bruins are certainly feeling good after beating Penn State, but they are still just 1-4 with losses to UNLV, New Mexico, and Northwestern for a reason. It's still inexcusable from a supposed CFP contender, but at least the Nittany Lions kind of can say they had to travel cross-country and were coming off that loss to Oregon that was about as emotionally draining as it gets.

The Spartans don't get that. UCLA has to come to Spartan Stadium and play a game that starts at noon ET, which is 9 a.m. back in Los Angeles. Without a win there, it's nearly impossible to imagine Michigan State finding three other wins and reaching a bowl game. If the Bruins march into East Lansing and win, things might get messy for MSU really quickly.