Michigan State football has just two guaranteed games remaining in 2023, and the Spartans are coming off of a 38-3 defeat on the road to No. 1 Ohio State.

MSU's focus is now on Indiana. The Spartans and Hoosiers will play at noon on Saturday (Big Ten Network), and both programs enter the contest with records of 3-7 overall and 1-6 in Big Ten play.

Interim head coach Harlon Barnett took to the podium on Monday to discuss Michigan State's matchup with Indiana, finishing 2023 strong, injuries and more.

"(We're) back again for another week to get on track and play with discipline and finish the game against another good opponent in the Big Ten in Indiana," Barnett said. "Our guys had a good practice today, and I look forward to many more good practices throughout the course of the week as we continue to prepare."

As everybody knows by now, it has been a year full of turmoil for the Spartans. Mel Tucker was fired in September, Barnett was thrust into an "acting" head coach role (he is now interim head coach) and the results on the field have been disappointing.

Barnett was asked an interesting question about this whole experience: If he were to write a book about this season, what would this week's chapter be about?

"Finish," Barnett said about the premise of a hypothetical book chapter on the 2023 season. "(The chapter) would be just about finish now. You always want to finish what you start. I remember for years, being with Coach (Mark) Dantonio, he used to talk about how his dad used to say, 'complete your circles.' And so, you've gotta finish.

"Once you start something, you have to finish. And so that's where we are right now, at the point where we need to finish. Regardless of what has happened or what's gonna happen in the future, we can control what we can control, and that's finish."

Michigan State's offense struggled against the Buckeyes this past Saturday. The Spartans totaled just 182 yards (compared to 530 total yards for Ohio State) and only recorded 11 first downs. Ultimately, MSU was only able to muster three points on the night.

Barnett discussed the offensive struggles and mentioned that it comes down to execution. According to the interim head coach, a play's success, or lack thereof, often comes down to the minor details.

"It's always one guy here or there with the execution piece, just finishing their job and doing their job with great execution, and getting it done," Barnett explained. "So it's always this one little thing. (It's) like, 'Man, there it is. If we just execute (we can be successful).' So, we just keep talking, great attention to detail ... and then finishing and doing your job at a very high level consistently. And you've just gotta keep preaching it to them until they get it."

Regarding Indiana, Barnett noted that the Hoosiers have a "good quarterback" in redshirt freshman Brendan Sorsby and that the defense "plays hard" and "competes." Barnett and the Spartans are looking forward to the challenge against the Hoosiers.

"It's gonna be another tough, Big Ten football game down in Bloomington," Barnett said. "We're looking forward to it, though. We feel like we can go down there and compete and get a win."

Barnett mentioned that the Spartans were "locked in and focused on the attention to details that we've been talking about." He also complimented the team's resiliency.

Indiana head coach Tom Allen also received praise from Barnett.

"What his teams do since he's been there, what I've noticed, they play hard and they're going to continue to fight," Barnett said about Allen. “(Indiana is) like most Big Ten teams, but they're gonna just keep playing and fight to the very end. And so, again, for example, our game last year with those guys (they just kept fighting) ... since he's been there, those guys come to play. I know he really preaches the 'love' thing to them down there: '(Love each other).' It shows up on film. That's how they play. So, we're going down there expecting a tough, hard-fought game."

Shifting gears from on the field topics to off of the field, Barnett was asked about how difficult it is to communicate with recruits amidst the uncertainty of the football program. He noted that regardless of who the next head coach is, or what the new coaching staff looks like as a whole, the message right now is to sell prospects on Michigan State University itself.

For Barnett, while he admitted that it "can be tough" to recruit right now, the part about promoting Michigan State as a school and the program's history is easy for him because he "is a Spartan." Barnett wants to see MSU do well in the future "regardless" of if he is here after the 2023 season or not.

On the injury front, Barnett noted that redshirt senior Khris Bogle, who missed the previous game against Ohio State, is expected back this weekend against Indiana.

Barnett also said the coaches thought young defensive linemen Jalen Thompson (true freshman) and Zion Young (sophomore) "did well" against the Buckeyes. He expects both to be "really, really, really good football players." Additionally, he noted that redshirt freshman defensive lineman Ken Talley is "coming along well."

With the wide receivers, Barnett expects redshirt freshman Jaron Glover to be back at some point before the season ends, but he wasn't certain if Glover would be available against Indiana or not. Barnett also noted that redshirt senior Tre Mosley's availability for the rest if the year is in question.

At quarterback, Barnett mentioned that he is still "not sure" if redshirt junior Noah Kim will return this season as he is still "healing up" from an injury. Michigan State's quarterback depth is now very thin as true freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt will preserve his redshirt and sit out the rest of the 2023 season.

While redshirt freshman Katin Houser remains Michigan State's starting quarterback and is healthy, walk-on redshirt junior Andrew Schorfhaar — who played three snaps against Ohio State in what was his first ever collegiate game — is now the direct backup for MSU.

In a scenario where Houser gets hurt and Schorfhaar either isn't able to perform or also goes down with an injury, Barnett mentioned there are contingency options in place, but of course, that is not a situation the Spartans hope to see.

"We have some other options," Barnett said about an emergency quarterback situation. "We have some options that if worst comes to worst, and if we have to, whatever (we have to), we'll figure it out. There's some other things that we could possibly do, and hopefully it doesn't get to that."

Leavitt ended up playing 45 total offensive snaps in four games this season. He completed 15 out of 23 passes (65.2%) for 139 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also rushed 13 times for 67 yards.

There were some curious ways in which Leavitt played this season. He played just four snaps against Maryland and seven snaps against Nebraska. When reflecting on this, Barnett admitted that perhaps the staff could have deployed him differently, but at this point, it is what it is.

"That's always hindsight, 20/20, right?" Barnett said about Leavitt's playing time. "I thought about that, actually, at one point, like, do you try to save him for the last four games? Who knew this was gonna happen? And so, we did what we did. He played when he played, and you can't go back in change it, so keep it moving forward."

Sticking with some personnel notes, Barnett also talked about redshirt senior running back Jaren Mangham and true freshman cornerback Chance Rucker.

After transferring in from South Florida in the winter and going through spring practices, Mangham missed the Spartans' first six games of 2023 and has slowly made his way back. Against the Buckeyes this past weekend, Mangham had more carries (nine) and rushing yards (35) than he had on the season as a whole (he had just four carries for seven yards entering the game).

Barnett mentioned that he and the rest of the team are excited that Mangham is now able to contribute, and take some pressure of off redshirt sophomore running back Nate Carter.

"Jaren's a really good back," Barnett said about Mangham. "He seems like he's getting his feet up underneath him ... he's really hitting the hole. He's quick for a big-bodied guy. We're fired up that he's playing for us now and getting some time."

As for Rucker, the true freshman defensive back had an incredibly difficult task of going against Ohio State's All-American wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who had seven catches for 149 yards and three total touchdowns (including one rushing).

Barnett mentioned that Rucker is still learning and still needs to "apply the coaching." He said that Rucker was "right there" on certain plays against OSU, but minor details like using his left hand instead of his right hand to try to knock the ball away on one of the touchdowns he gave up are the things that came back to haunt him.

"All this experience that he's gathering now is going to help us in the future," Barnett said about Rucker. "He continues to improve and get better, but in the offseason, he knows he has to get a little bigger, stronger, faster, and he'll be just fine."

Speaking of defensive players, Barnett also said that "a great defense is a loud defense with their mouths (communicating) and their pads." He wants to hear the defense at all times.

The Spartans now look to get back in the win column against the Hoosiers on Saturday afternoon.

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