The bye week is now over and the dust has settled a bit since Michigan State's 47-10 loss to Indiana on Nov. 2, so it may be a good time to reflect and analyze the game without emotions completely taking over.

To call a spade a spade, the game against the Hoosiers was embarrassing, and Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith acknowledged that after the conclusion of the contest.

It was a demoralizing defeat that could set a team back pretty far if things aren’t learned from it quickly. That is not the mentality MSU has under Smith, though — and luckily for the Spartans, they have two weeks to fix things up with the bye week now over and game prep for this Saturday's game at Illinois taking place this week.

Michigan State just faced a team that, in many ways, represents what the Spartans aspire to be. Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti parachuted into a program with virtually zero expectations this season and has proceeded to beat the confetti out of every team on its schedule. There was a clear plan Cignetti had coming into the year, bringing over several players and coaches from his previous coaching stop, James Madison, who had familiarity with the system, along with veteran transfers from elsewhere, and they’ve performed at the highest level.

With its win over Michigan this past Saturday, the Hoosiers improved to 10-0 for the first time in program history. Still, we shouldn't compare Indiana's situation to Michigan State's at this point in time. Cignetti has been able to win now with many veteran transfers, and now he is tasked with finding sustained success moving forward. Of course Smith also wants to win as many games as possible in 2024, but it is important to note that MSU is building the program for the future, and that requires patience.

Smith may need more time to put the program he wants together, and that’s all right (for now). It’s well documented how his tenure at Oregon State began and the job he did turning it around a dormant program. Smith inherited a puzzle with pieces that may not even fit together, found a way to work with it, and has seen mixed results thus far. Not every new coach had the luxury Cignetti had of bringing half a roster over to escalate a rebuild, and not every rebuild is the same.

With that all in mind, there are some very real concerns with how this Michigan State team is playing right now, and those issues should be discussed.

In a weird way, I think it was important to have a loss like this against an Indiana program that the Spartans aren’t historically used to losing to, especially not in blowout fashion. And against a team that was in the same position as MSU 12 months ago. The Spartans lead the all-time series against the Hoosiers 50-19-2.

Of note, the Big Ten now has four teams ranked in top-five in the Associated Press top-25 poll: No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 Penn State and No. 5 Indiana. MSU has already played all of those teams except for the Nittany Lions.

Here are three eye-opening themes from Michigan State's loss to Indiana that perhaps weren't even seen in losses to Oregon and Ohio State.