What Spartans' Jonathan Smith Had to Say About Upcoming Undefeated Opponent
The Michigan State Spartans (4-4) will prepare for one of their toughest battles of the season as they welcome the undefeated No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers (8-0) into Spartan Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
In his first year at the helm of the Hoosiers, head coach Curt Cignetti had led the Hoosiers to a 13th national ranking and an incredible 8-0 start, one of three teams in the Big Ten that is still undefeated. It marks the first time since 1967 that the Hoosiers are undefeated heading into November.
Before accepting his new job, Cignetti was the head coach at James Madison for the past five seasons, leading his team to an 11-2 record last year and their first bowl appearance in their young FBS history. He also brought over several transfer players with him to bolster his new roster.
The Hoosier football program has flipped on its head, turning a 3-9 team last season that had not made a bowl game since 2020 to a national contender. They are now comfortably in a bowl game and have a legitimate chance at making the 12-team College Football Playoff.
"Credit to them, I mean, they turned a lot of new players in the first year at Indiana," said Spartans coach Jonathan Smith on Monday. "Obviously, schematically, Cignetti [HC Curt Cignetti] knows what he's doing, putting the thing together. He's had success other places and 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."
A big reason for the team's success has been due to the play of sixth-year senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke.
Rourke spent the past five seasons at Ohio University, starting the last three, and transferring to the Hoosier state to compete in the Big Ten. He has had a sensational start to a season and even though it is a long shot, Rourke has been talked about as a Heisman candidate.
In seven games this season, the former Bobcat has 15 touchdown passes, two rushing, three interceptions, and is on the doorstep of a 2,000 yard passing season (1,941). He suffered a thumb injury two weeks ago, receiving surgery which kept him out of last week's game against Washington.
Rourke is expected to be healthy and play against the Spartans in Week 10.
"We want to affect the passer and again, I think about the last couple of weeks, not playing prolific passing games," Smith said. "So, your sack counts [are] probably going to be down when you're playing teams like that, but these guys can throw it. They do a nice job in the RPO game, they're going to have a balance of mixed run and pass but we want to affect the passer especially against a good quarterback."
The Hoosier running game has been equally as effective and the wealth has been spread between two different senior running backs.
Wake Forest transfer Justice Ellison has been on a tear with 637 rush yards and nine touchdowns. James Madison transfer Ty Son Lawton has been utilized in more short yardage and goal line situations, garnering 434 yards and eight scores.
With 17 touchdowns between their top two backs, there is no surprise the Hoosiers lead the conference in yards per game (487.6) and points per game (46.5).
To this point, it has been an extremely favorable schedule for the Hoosiers as they have not played a ranked team this season and the best opponent they have played is probably Nebraska (5-3). The Spartans will be the toughest test the Hoosiers face so far and could be a potential trap game.
After a grueling loss to the Michigan Wolverines (5-3) last Saturday, the Spartans will hit the rest button, requiring a short memory as the will play a much better team this week. Coach Smith will have his guys ready and they will use last week's loss as motivation to upset an undefeated team.
"I think so, and again, I'm pretty confident in this group," Smith said. "We will not forget Saturday night, I promise you that, okay? But, we're moving forward and you got a big time team coming in, back at home, I think these guys will be excited to play on Saturday."
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