It’s been a day and a half since Michigan State fell on the road to in-state rival Michigan 24-17 in Jonathan Smith’s first crack at the Wolverines as head coach of the Spartans, and he is still frustrated at the missed opportunities his team left on the field in Ann Arbor Saturday night.

“I think for me, it kind of crystallized Saturday night,” Smith said at his press conference on Monday. “Leading into it, (I) knew it was important, rivalry, emotions are going, but now truly experiencing it for the first time, that thing is different, that thing is important. That’s why it’s so frustrating to feel like we could have done a few things better. But, you got to move onto the next week and whatnot, but you will not forget, after experiencing that sucker, I will not forget that thing.”

This was Smith’s first time coaching against the Wolverines as Michigan State head coach. While this rivalry is stressed 365 days per year, there is nothing that can compare to experiencing it.

“I think you just walk into the place and there’s a genuine dislike,” Smith said. “You could feel that from the get go. From the pregame, from the crowd, to the place, and sharing the tunnel. That’s unique in a rivalry to share that tunnel and walk by these guys nonstop. You hear about the former players and how much this thing means. After experiencing this thing one time, this thing is different and that crystallized for me on Saturday.”

After the loss, the locker room was full of players who were not happy with the result.

“That locker room, when I walked in after that game — this thing means something,” Smith said. “It was frustrating. I actually told them that’s a good thing. If I walked into the locker room and these guys were staring at their phones or something, we’d have problems. We didn’t have that. This thing was emotional and that’s how we want to be playing the game.”

During the second half, Michigan State linebacker Jordan Turner was penalized for targeting after a video review. The Spartans sent in an appeal to the conference, but it was denied. Turner will miss the first half of Saturday’s game against Indiana.

“It’s not going to be easy on him, but he’ll be locked in,” Smith said about Turner missing the first half of the Indiana game. “He’s one of our captains.”

As for long snapper Kaden Schickel, he was injured on punt coverage during the game. There is no official diagnosis yet, but Smith noted that it doesn’t look promising that he'll be able to return this season.

After an emotional loss, it can be difficult for a team to reset and focus on the next opponent. Michigan State had a players-only meeting on Sunday to discuss how to move on and prepare for the undefeated Hoosiers.

“I’m pretty confident in this group,” Smith said. “We will not forget Saturday night, I promise you that. But, moving forward, you got a big time team coming in, back at home. I think these guys will be excited to play on Saturday.”

Indiana will present a difficult challenge for the Spartans. The Hoosiers are undefeated and have aspirations to win the Big Ten Championship and make a run in the College Football Playoff under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti.

“Schematically, Cignetti knows what he’s doing, putting the thing together,” Smith said. “He’s had success at other places. I do think they’re playing with a lot of confidence. You just watch them from the start of games and being able to finish games, these guys are playing with a lot of confidence and they’ve had some real success.”

Continuing to establish a consistent rushing attack will be one of the keys for the Spartans. Indiana has the No. 4 rush defense in the country. The Hoosiers only allow an average of 86.1 rushing yards per game.

“Really important to look for some balance,” Smith said. “I think we’ve taken a step since the bye week, the last two weeks, in the run game in particular, we’ve taken a step. It makes things easier on the quarterback when you have some balance like that. We got to continue to keep that going because we’ve had more production moving the ball when you can do both, so (I've been) pleased with the run game effort the last two weeks.”

Michigan State's defense, however, has not recorded a sack since the game against Boston College on Sept. 21. Getting pressure on the quarterback will be important against one of the better quarterbacks in the Big Ten in Kurtis Rourke, assuming he plays.

“These guys can throw it,” Smith added. “They do a nice job in the (run, pass, option) game. They’re going to have the balance of mixing run and pass, but we want to affect the passer, especially against a good quarterback.”

Michigan State will host Indiana on Saturday at Spartan Stadium. That game will kick off at approximately 3:30 p.m. and will be exclusively streamed on Peacock.

For Smith’s and Alan Haller’s comments on the skirmish at the end of the Michigan State vs. Michigan game, click here.

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