EAST LANSING- With rivalry week taking the nation by storm ahead of next weekend’s conference championships, Michigan State football was vying to reach their first bowl game since 2021, hosting Rutgers in their regular season finale. 

Even though it was Senior Day, those were the only celebrations Michigan State would be having, as the Scarlet Knights would crash the fun with a 41-14 thrashing of MSU to conclude head coach Jonathan Smith’s inaugural season in East Lansing. 

“Credit to Rutgers, but we didn’t play well enough to earn a win or a chance to continue on playing,” Smith said. “Got a great appreciation for the guys in that locker room.”  

Graduate kicker Jonathan Kim, who had not made a collegiate field goal before arriving in East Lansing, was among the 18 Spartans honored before the game’s commencement for Senior Day, and expressed what Michigan State meant to him after his final game at Spartan Stadium. 

“It (MSU) has absolutely changed the trajectory of my life,” Kim said. “If I hadn’t come here, then I would be working a 9 to 5 (job) by now. I was lucky enough to get to play two more years of college with a shot at the NFL.”  

In a snowy Thanksgiving weekend affair, the Spartans opened the game firing, riding high behind the contributions of the backfield tandem of redshirt junior Nathan Carter and sixth-year runner Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams.   

MSU ran the ball on all five plays of their initial possession, with the two backs combining for 75 rushing yards on the opening drive which was capped off by a 26-yard touchdown scamper by Carter, with the 7-0 lead marking the only lead of the game for the Spartans. 

The Rutgers offense would soon come alive, taking advantage of the Spartans’ continual offensive miscues, which included Jonathan Kim’s kickoff that landed out of bounds following the Spartan touchdown. Making the most of the short field, star running back Kyle Monangai would tally 30 of his 129 rushing yards on their inaugural drive, headlined by a seven-yard score to tie the game at seven. 

In the second quarter, with a prime opportunity to tie the game at 10, Smith controversially opted not to send Kim out on fourth and short in the red zone after calling a timeout, a decision that led to Lynch-Adams being stopped for a loss.  

“There really wasn’t (any consideration),” Smith admitted. “With those conditions, a yard, we had had good movement on the previous play, so the value of seven, three, zero, was a big separator there.” 

On the ensuing possession, the Scarlet Knights drove 94 yards down the field in just eight plays to extend their lead on an Antwan Raymond 13-yard touchdown run. Rutgers added two more Patel field goals (from 30 and 42 yards out) to put MSU in a 16-point hole going into the break. 

Entering Saturday, Michigan State had been outscored in the second half by every FBS opponent they faced in 2024, and that trend continued against the Scarlet Knights after their first drive out of the break sputtered, leading to a turnover on downs in Rutgers territory.  

“We’ve gotta play better in the second half offensively,” Smith said. Too many times where there’s good flashes, we’ve got good plays, but the ability to sustain it on longer drives (isn’t there). Just gotta be a little bit more detailed in some of those plays to put it in the end zone.” 

The banged-up Spartans continued their woeful play in the second half, as Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis found receivers Ian Strong and KJ Duff on the touchdown and ensuing two-point try to put the Scarlet Knights up 24-7.   

After scoring eight touchdowns with Oregon State in 2023, junior tight end Jack Velling had not found the end zone in 2024. After spending time in the hospital due to injuries suffered last Friday against Purdue, it was unclear if the transfer would be able to play, but the Seattle native finally amassed his first touchdown as a Spartan on a five-yard toss from Chiles in the fourth quarter. 

“It was special because we’ve been trying to connect all season long,” Chiles said. “It’s good having Jack as a teammate, as a friend. It’s just nice having him there as a second coach type thing.”  

Rutgers would add ten more points in the fourth quarter, including Raymond’s second touchdown of the day, to prevail 41-14. The Scarlet Knights became the first unranked team to eclipse 40 points at Spartan Stadium since 2016, in front of a nearly vacant student section who started to question the future of the MSU program.   

“I no longer care about the fans, except the ones that stayed,” Chiles said. “To the fans that stayed through the game, through the whole game, and the whole season, this will not be the same next year. I can promise you that.”  

Chiles tallied just 150 passing yards in a deflating end to the sophomore’s first full season as QB1, as the Long Beach, California native said it was “sickening” playing for a team that missed a bowl game for the third consecutive season. 

“I don’t think this is a losing team,” Chiles admitted. “I don’t think this is a losing program. If you want to be on a losing team go somewhere else.” 

No stranger to full rebuilds, Smith, who went 2-10 in his first season at the helm with Oregon State, looked to his turnaround and Corvallis as means for motivation regarding the future of the program, calling it a “game of development”. 

“I think the landscape (of college football) has changed going all the way back six years ago,” Smith said. “I do think there’s some stepping stones- even as frustrating as some of the points this season were- that we’re going to build off of. A few younger players got a good amount of (playing) time and there’s value there.” 

With their record falling to 5-7, the Spartans looked to the offseason to potentially work on their issues and add talent via the transfer portal and recruiting circuit to improve upon their 61st-ranked 2025 class. 

“This place, you can do it here,” Smith said. “We’ve just gotta keep on working to get it done.”