Folks, nobody has been more disappointed in the Spartans this year than me. But even I have managed to talk myself into seeing the results of this season as reasonable . . . if the Spartans win the rest of their games. And they should have a good shot at doing that.
If the Spartans win the rest of their games this season, including their bowl game, they will end the season at 8 - 5. That's three fewer wins than last year. When you consider that they played a tough schedule this year, and that they replaced their entire passing game (quarterback, receivers, tight ends), and that they lost 2 of their best defensive players in recent memory (Jerel Worthy and Trenton Robinson), three fewer wins sounds about right.
Sure, we all hoped that the passing game would somehow not struggle and that they wouldn't suffer key injuries (especially on the O-line), but hope usually doesn't pan out. You have to be more honest with yourself about what you have, and I think many of us forgot that. I think that most of us expected this year's Spartans to be where next year's Spartans will be. I think that next season we have much more reason to have extremely high expectations.
This year, we had to be more patient. We should have expected an 8 - 5 season. Of course, if the Spartans don't finish 8 - 5, then we can start to get a little upset. MSU should be able to beat Northwestern, Minnesota, and probably any team they'll face in their bowl game. If they finish below 8 - 5, this team can be deemed to have under-performed. The coaches will deserve much of the blame and they will have to seriously think about making significant changes as they prepare for next season.
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