The annual game against Michigan is always the most important contest on Michigan State’s schedule. End of discussion.
MSU head coach Jonathan Smith has never been involved in the Battle for Paul Bunyan before, but that will change on Saturday. Regardless of his lack of experience in the Great Lakes State's biggest rivalry, this type of matchup is something he is very familiar with.
“I’ve felt it since getting here,” Smith said Monday. “(I understand) this is an important game, (the) most important regular season game we’ll play – and the passion for it, which I love being a part of – multiple in-state rivalries – so no question, it’s been well-received on my end that this thing is important.”
Close-quarters rivalries have followed him for a long time. Of course, his alma mater and prior coaching stop, Oregon State, has a heated rivalry with Oregon that stems back a few years longer than UM-MSU. The Beavers and the Ducks first met in 1894, whereas the first meeting between Wolverine and Spartan was in 1898.
Smith went 2-2 against Oregon as a quarterback and 2-4 as a head coach in the series that was formerly known as the “Civil War.” He knows this type of game is weighed differently than the others.
“This game is different, and so we started with that a little bit yesterday just educating all of us,” Smith said. “We’ve got 61 new guys on the roster (in) their first year here, (plus new) coaches, and so we talked a little bit about the history, educating them there yesterday. So we are doing a few things that are different.”
It really has been a learning process for Smith. He said that the Michigan-Michigan State game was not something he paid much attention to throughout his career on the West Coast, but that the legendary “Trouble With The Snap” ending in 2015 was the highlight that had stuck with him.
“I gathered a ton of information (on the rivalry),” Smith elaborated. “I read through a lot there, and I highlighted some things, really focused a lot around the Paul Bunyan Trophy and kind of what that means. You know, this game’s different, we’re playing for this trophy. (I taught the team) a little bit of history (and I) learned (some) myself.”
Along with Smith, plenty of MSU’s players need to get acclimated to the rivalry environment. It will be the first UM-MSU game for the Spartans' leading passer, rusher, receiver, and tackler, not to mention tons of other depth pieces among those 61 newcomers.
“I don’t have any doubt that our guys will be excited and ready to go Saturday,” Smith said.
That starts with the big week of preparation to come. Of course, the importance of this game is impossible to tune out, but that means changing now would do more harm than good.
“Our approach has stayed pretty consistent,” Smith said. “We play a game on Saturday and come in on Sunday and deeply look at it. Whatever the score was, we deeply look at it, approach it, find ways that we can build off of, things that we’ve got to get fixed. That was no different yesterday. And then, yeah, we’re going to put heavy work in Tuesday, Wednesday on the physical side, and then it turns into more tightened details mentally as we get closer.
“To me, you’re definitely looking for some consistency in your practices (and) your approach.”
Regardless, the acknowledgement of the moment is still there. Smith didn’t give any "the pride comes before the fall" type soundbites, but it’s clear that there is a healthy mixture of looking for improvement week-to-week but still knowing that this one means more.
The good part is that Michigan State has now played and beaten a team that is not unlike the Wolverines. Both Iowa and Michigan, to put it nicely, almost entirely rely on their run games to generate offense, and lean on quality defense as well.
As a result, the Spartans are going to need a similar performance from their defensive linemen and linebackers they had against the Hawkeyes.
“The goal was to kind of almost just contain the run game, (and we) did a great job against it,” Smith said. “We gave up the one crease, so that made the stats look a whole lot better, and it really started with the front seven at the line of scrimmage.”
Winning at the line of scrimmage has been key for Smith in these rivalry games. The team that had the most rushing yards won in all six meetings between Oregon and Oregon State while Smith was the head coach of the Beavers. The same holds true in the Battle for Paul Bunyan the last three years and going back seven of the past eight meetings. This year's rivalry game comes after perhaps MSU’s most impressive showing on the ground last week.
“The backs I think ran pretty physical,” Smith said. "(It) was nice to see a couple of those youngsters actually get a carry, too"
It was the first time both the run game and pass game both had good days, and that is not a coincidence.
“By far, O-line, best game," Smith said. "On the same page, did a good job with it, and I think it was Aidan (Chiles') most complete game after watching the tape."
Chiles threw for 256 yards on 22-for-30 passing with one touchdown and just one interception. The Hawkeyes were credited with just one quarterback hurry defensively and two sacks on the night.
“I think that was critically important for the whole operation to be able to run the football like that and then complement it with some explosion in the pass game," Smith elaborated. "Both (Nick) Marsh (and) Montorie (Foster Jr.) were huge for us. They show up in the stat book, but also they were doing a great job blocking down the field. They had a couple that allowed our backs to crease.”
Michigan State is a team that is currently playing its best ball at this point in the season in several facets. Michigan cannot say that right now.
The two rivals will meet in Ann Arbor this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time to duke it out for the Paul Bunyan Trophy, with the game set to be televised on the Big Ten Network.
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