Michigan State football: Respected CFB reporter has ceiling at 10-2

A respected college football reporter believes that if Aidan Chiles lives up to the hype, Michigan State football could go 10-2.

We are at the end of official visit season. Most news you’ll be seeing until Michigan State football fall camp will be about high school recruiting and record predictions heading into the 2024 season. Most podcasts will be littered with bold predictions.

Recently, Tom Fornelli — on the Cover 3 Podcast — proclaimed MSU’s ceiling this fall could be as high as 10-2.

Tom Fornelli of @CBSSportsCFB has high expectations for Michigan State football if Aidan Chiles plays to his maximum potential👀 #GoGreen https://t.co/AsTSdLKkPR pic.twitter.com/7AzVDm7s6c

— Michigan State Content (@msucontent) June 18, 2024

Fornelli works for CBS Sports and is one of the most respected voices not only in the Big Ten, but the entire country. As an Illinois alum, there’s no real bias that could be applied to his claim. He even came off has a Michigan superfan last year during their national title run.

He thinks that if Aidan Chiles plays up to his potential, MSU could reach the 10-win mark. Between the new talent at quarterback coupled with plenty of unknowns from last year’s squad, he thinks Michigan State football could be better than what people are expecting.

After the firing of head coach Mel Tucker last season, it’s nearly impossible to get a grasp on the state of the team. Between players thinking about their future and a change in leadership, the team could’ve been better than they led on. We’re also talking about a team that was in a position to win a couple more games before blowing them late. Even with the coaching change, there’s a world where the team still finishes 6-6 amongst the mess.

Fast forward to now, new head coach Jonathan Smith has completely flipped the roster by bringing over worthy talent from Oregon State, while showing the door to players not cut out for this level of football. I expect most of the players who stayed possess the talent to compete up to Smith’s expectations.

Even if Chiles becomes the superstar we all expect, I personally think 10-2 would require the Spartans to get pretty lucky. They would need a couple bounces to go their way, have a couple other players step up (looking at you, defensive line), and most importantly stay healthy. Something it feels like the program has never done before.

With the gauntlet of Ohio State, at Oregon, Iowa, and at Michigan, I think it would be miraculous if they split. That alone is two losses along with some other sneaky tough matchups (at Maryland, at BC, Rutgers).

If Chiles is the chosen one, I still wouldn’t expect more than nine wins.  Spartan fans’ expectations should be within 6-8 wins comfortably.