Ending the season with eight wins, head coach John L. Smith finished with the most wins a first-season MSU football coach. But Smith's work isn't done, as he prepares his team for a bowl game and revives players on the injured list.

"I think it's special what our kids have done," Smith said. "I think it's special what our coaches have done.

"But, as an individual - again, we are not about individual awards. We're not about any of that crap. We're thankful as a team that we have a winning record; we're thankful as a team that we get to go on to a bowl, and that's what it's all about."

Which bowl the team is playing in, though, doesn't bother the coach, who has been to six straight.

"At this point, you have to assume, and our assumption is one of the three in the south, I guess. The assumption would be Alamo, Sun or Music City, and I think it just depends on how it all works out."

Before the bowl selection is made, Smith plans to let his players relax and might even relax himself.

"We're going to give our guys time off," the coach said. "For the Thanksgiving holiday, they'll leave on Wednesday and have a few days off there.

"Then they'll come back, and we have the last week and then finals. We'll continue to lift weights, we'll continue to run. We may do a little throwing, making sure that we're out catching the ball and throwing it around, but we'll actually give them a break."

But once school is through, Smith plans to work his players hard and prepare for their bowl opponent.

"Once they get finals done, we'll crank it up, and we'll start practice and concentrate on getting ready for whoever we're going to play at that time," Smith said. "What we'll do at that point is start prepping our guys who are going to be playing. Our guys who are not going to be playing, they'll have a great time. They will prep us, and for part of the practice, they'll play each other and learn our offense and defense again, getting those young guys better."

Also over the break, Smith plans to do some recruiting in his free time.

"The real neat thing is that during recruiting, you can talk about bowl games," Smith said. "The next two weeks after this vacation and holiday are going to be vital for us. They will be big recruiting weekends."

Speaking of bowls

Though it's nearly impossible that MSU will play at Ford Field the day after Christmas, Smith has experience with the Motor City Bowl from when he coached Louisville there in 1998.

"They did a great job," he said. "I thought those people tried to make it everything that they could, and our kids really had a great time, even though it was 20 below."

Smith also put in his 2 cents about whether or not Ohio State still should receive a Bowl Championship Series bid.

"That would never happen, would it?" Smith asked. "Isn't the BCS smarter than that? You would hope. That would be a shocker."

But what Smith didn't say was, if the Buckeyes do go to a BCS game, it would most likely improve the Spartans' chances for a better bowl game.

Injury update

Smith remained doubtful about getting too many players off the injured list for the bowl game.

"I don't know that we're going to get anybody back, to be honest with you," he said. "From that standpoint, I don't think it's going to help much."

Looking at who's hurt, Smith gave sophomore offensive tackle Stefon Wheeler the best chance to play of the seriously injured players who have sat out significant time.

"He's feeling better," he said. "This time off with him will be vital. It's a neck injury. He has a little bit of a bulge in a disk, and I think that's where the pain has come from.

"We were optimistic, and we were kind of kicking him in the tail to come back as quickly as he could."

Smith also figured to have all-purpose yards leader Jaren Hayes, a sophomore running back, at full health after enduring damage to his body all season long.

"He needs to heal up," Smith said. "He's taken a heck of a beating. He could hardly even go last week. This time off will really help him."

But Smith said the return of junior defensive tackle Brandon McKinney is unlikely. If McKinney doesn't play, there is a chance he could be granted a medical redshirt, allowing him to play one more season.

Fields' day, again

Redshirt freshman punter Brandon Fields finished the season on a high note, being named the co-Special Teams Player of the Week in the Big Ten. Fields launched four punts, averaging 52.5 yards against Penn State this past weekend. He ended the season with the highest average in the Big Ten and third in the nation - 46.3. It was the third time this season the punter has earned the conference honor.