Michigan State football coach Jonathan Smith on Big Ten wn over Maryland

really pleased with the group to find a way to win the win the game um I thought it was a good college football game back and forth these things are long games there's a lot that's going to take place throughout the game and especially now with the two-minute timeout there's a lot of football left after the two-minute timeout really pleased with the way we finished both halves obviously getting Fe field goals that were that were meaningful I thought defensively coming in we knew this is an explosive offense challenged our defense to just make them earn it put together long drives where they had to earn it throughout and for the most part we did that and so uh and they kept on responding even when we got down right they came up came up huge for us uh with that and so really really happy on on really the group's effort uh that's a good offense that's a good team we're on the road for the first time in Big 10 play to come up the way we did uh really pleased with that and then I appreciate Spartan Nation showing up I mean we had a big old showing of of Spartans out there cheering us on the whole time and that that was awesome Aiden B back you know second game I know it was kind of up and down performance but when when it counted I mean making play no question you know we got more explosive offensively he threw some strikes down the field obviously Nick Marsh comes on the on the stage in a big big way um we got to clean up a lot on offense Aiden Aiden included I think a couple of those interceptions are just his footwork he's got to you know throw it in proper balance he was just inaccurate on a couple of them and again there's some learning curve curve there but the kid is resilient Aiden kept on coming back and again we had the ball at the end of the game he's the quarterback drove us down the field and set it up for Jonathan cim seems like there were a lot of uh there was an emphasis on getting guys going who maybe weren't going last week early on swing pass right out of the gate to monori from like Rhythm plays was there a real emphasis on trying to get what hadn't worked offensively we wanted to find some Rhythm we wanted to spread some touches around I thought coach linger did a good job of kind of early on spreading that out where not just montor but you saw Glover get a catch gets the catch and so we wanted to get that early on um some Rhythm what have you seen about Nick Mar's development in 9 months to be this featured player for you and how I mean you've been coaching offensive football for long is that rare for a young kid like that to be well he was he was on the we he had been progressing throughout camp and making a bunch of bunch of plays and so you know game one he was out there we just didn't Target him as much but this game he definitely was going to play more had some targets for him in the middle of the field and he comes up huge but at the same time he's catching the ball on the sideline operating in our two-minute at the end of the half and at the end of the game the guy's true freshman um he's uh mature Beyond his years in a lot of ways aen and Nick are fut of fut pieces of this offense right and um so to see them be able to connect and make that kind of big impact that late in the game when backs were kind of against the wall just how excited is that make you feel about I think yeah it it shows the potential not just of those two but of this offense that we can um do some things be explosive we have to though find a way to be more efficient offensively too many missed the Simon field I think the penalty side flipped on us this game defensively had way too many last week this week it felt like it was on offense I don't know the exact number but whether we're in wrong formation we're not lining up on the line of scrimmage we got three and out we got turnovers again and so tonight we were explosive enough to kind of make up for some of that poor play you've been a part of a lot of big wins over time I'm just wondering what this sort of thing does early in a ten year early for a team that sort of yeah it it's big in regards it's still early this is game two we we got a lot of football left but at the same time some of the messages we're preaching I think some of the belief that comes you know finding a way on the road resiliently with some durability throughout the game uh that Echoes some of our messages we've beening the season where are you in terms of balance between new install and making the correction yeah we we're trying to clean up directions we're not trying to just create brand new offense defense or special teams week in and week out so we want to be about corrections now you got a game plan you you can't just be doing the same thing week in and week out and so there's a balancing act but we want to get good at what we do minutes SES and some of those third Downs converted were not just third and one and twos now we we did extend some drives and credit to Maryland they did the same thing they were lightell especially in the first half on third down to make us you know those drives continue and that's a huge play in in in the in the game anytime there's a third down whether you're getting off the field or you're continuing to drive did you notice some progress on the Run game not a lot of negative plays maybe not you know Nate has a one chunk but a lot of positive if not a lot of there there's some there I I'm telling you we got we got we got to get better in the Run game uh this thing we we've got the potential to do some more yeah I think you know got over 100 yards maybe combined but there's still meat left on the bone in that and we got to keep on working the last Drive started at the 16 weigh down in your own end what was the strategy coming out were you trying to get the last score and how did that play out the Str well I think we possessed it was about 212 so we knew the two-minute warning was coming up and so we ran the ball and let the clock go down there and then it turned into a third and long again and that was a huge conversion once we got the first first down we were going to go um and that's how it played out to be down by a touchdown three different times rally on the row every time and then take it down for the last Drive what do that do for a team second yeah hopefully you know add some confidence and resilience that this thing ain't over until you know it's showing zeros and we've got the capability to be able to finish games and you have to in this day and age in this league and college football in general you got to be able to finish we did today how important was that I think it was after aeden's first pick that they scored off for him to come back that next drive and put together a positive drive to kind of you know yeah I I I think it's always in the response and important when you have a mistake or what not to be able to get back out there and go and again he had he had a few of them today offensively in general we did uh today but that's what this group is we got to continue to improve again we're all about learning improving onto the onto the next week so it's going to be a great Sunday to digest this film conne some like particularly two guys really haven't played a lot of football together well you know anytime you explosive you connecting on a deep ball I think about the early Glover you know this thing we're in bad field position down in distance-wise that guy throws a strike Glover comes up with a huge uh catch there that was a big moment for us offensively to feel like okay we're settling settling in here I feel like going on the road did you see like the demeanor and the communication all those things that you'd want to see I guess when when it's new for all these guys and yourself um yeah there it was solid uh there's a few things that you know I'm even thinking about now that we could we could have done better but the way they handled the road being down continued to fight go throughout the 60 minutes I was pleased with was it for Jonathan have that game winning field goal after the kickoff yeah well In fairness to Jonathan we're about to kick off on that we're kicking the ball out of bounds with one second left we got 10 guys on the field we only have 11 players out there and so that's on the coaches we we got a ton to to keep playing another the injuries coming in particular yeah was big what kind of things you guys had to do in terms of douling last week during the game Wasing practice Yeah it was coming out of the game there was kind of late identification how serious it it was he's he's longterm you probably won't see him again this year um and so you know it's this next man up I think we did rotate again o line wise at tackle and at guard um with those guys and that's where I'm back to we can keep on jelling we got to keep on working on that group what's injury for uh lower body yep Gat he's plugging he's plugging away you know with glove and monori and then obviously Marsh coming on the stage you know those guys been out there a little bit more but we got confidence in Gates and you talk about another guy that's explosive he can he can make some plays back it off a little bit kept it in front rest I'm sorry ask a question first drive open they did yeah we went back and forth because you don't want to sit in one whether you're pressing the whole time or off the whole time but yeah we they challenged us early and we let's face it we were fortunate on a couple of those guys getting behind us they got good players I mean lockley does a great job but we wanted to change that look of not being impr press the whole time and forcing the issue of putting 8 10 12 Play Drives together last one for Coach with our Marian we talked to Joe a little bit we saw him in P today not last week Joe was saying kind of a TVD thing just how are you handling that obviously delicate situation yeah it is and he was around more this week um and you know we we'd love him to get to the point where he can be out there a ton at the same time you know getting ready for a game there's a lot of prep that goes into it and when he gets enough of that you'll you'll see him out there all right thanks coach that'll be it for met today thank you