About 10.5 months ago, Jonathan Smith stood behind a podium emblazoned with the Spartans logo on a stage in the Gilbert Pavilion and shared his vision for Michigan State football.

He knew this journey was going to be tough and gradual. But he was ready for the undertaking at Michigan State, which went 4-8 last season and had a shadow cast over the program because of a scandal involving former head coach Mel Tucker.

Smith felt like he had the blueprint to rebuild the Spartans into a championship-caliber program. That method included being process-oriented. The team — which he’s reiterated numerous times since — was going to stick to the plan, from January through December, Sunday through Saturday, the start of practice through the final break.

“This takes a minute,” Smith said Nov. 28 at his introductory press conference.

And Smith has the time, patience and the commitment to get this right.

The first half of Smith’s first season hasn’t been picture-perfect. The Spartans (3-3, 1-2 Big Ten) entered the bye week on a three-game losing skid after falling to Boston College, Ohio State and Oregon. Smith’s highly touted young quarterback, Aidan Chiles, has had a turbulent first six starts, much to the dismay of some fans. The defense has been solid but needs a reprieve that the offense can’t give it because of its inability to sustain drives.

Michigan State’s offense is ranked No. 114 in the nation, averaging 19.8 points per game, while the defense checks in at No. 46, allowing 21 points per contest. A year after having the nation’s best red-zone offense at Oregon State, Smith has seen the Spartans convert on only 14 of their 21 trips to inside the 20-yard line, a 66.7% rate that’s tied for the fourth lowest in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The Spartans’ run game has been anemic. Michigan State is also one of the most turnover-prone and highest-penalized teams in the country, a lethal combination, especially in one of college football’s toughest leagues.

Moments after his longtime rival, Oregon, romped the Spartans by 21 points, Smith welcomed the bye week.

“We need it,” Smith said last week. “We got to find a way to improve.”

This week is all about taking a step back, slowing down, recovering and then preparing for the final stretch of the season. Michigan State will do a deep dive in the film room on the team’s first six weeks of action and, as Smith said, “find ways that we can play better.”

This isn’t what fans are going to want to hear but success for Michigan State this season was never going to be strictly contingent on the tallies in the win column. Sure, the Spartans want to win — who doesn’t? But as the past two games have shown, they don’t have a roster ready to compete with the nation’s top teams.

Instead, success over the final six games will be found in the little details of the game.

Is Chiles improving his footwork and making better decisions with the ball? Is the offense stringing together better drives and not leaving points on the field? Can Michigan State make its run game more efficient? Can the Spartans limit the turnovers and penalties?

For Smith, specifically, can he maintain the confidence of his locker room, especially the younger players, and keep the team’s focus on the program’s integral process?

Answers to questions like those — and so many others — will be more telling of whether Michigan State had a good season or a bad one.

Smith has a proven track record of success and experience coaching at the Power Five level. He left a mark at Oregon State twice — first as a player, then as a head coach.

When Smith took over the Beavers in 2018, he inherited a program that went 1-11 the season prior. In his first season, Oregon State went 2-10. But the Beavers continued to build off that season, and Smith, the 2022 Pac-12 Coach of the Year, constantly had Oregon State punching above its weight.

Michigan State has even more resources than what was available at Smith’s alma mater, an adverse reality to the modern landscape of college football.

If history is any indication, the arrow is pointing up for Michigan State and the best should be yet to come.