Indiana Game the Ultimate Test of Resilience for Michigan State

Saturday's game against No. 3 Indiana could be the last chance for Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith. His seat has suddenly become extremely hot after MSU's 38-13 loss to UCLA.

Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch said on a podcast this week that he would "be a little surprised if he's the coach next week" if things go "really badly" against the Hoosiers. That is where things are at in East Lansing.

The Opportunity Ahead

Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith looks downward during the Spartans' game against USC on Sept. 20, 2025. | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

IU is one of the last teams the Spartans should want to see right now. It feels like everything is caving in right now after a 0-3 start in Big Ten play, with all of those losses being by double figures.

The plus side is the massive upside that comes with facing the No. 3 team in the country. Michigan State hasn't won a game like this since it beat No. 1 Ohio State as an unranked team in Columbus in 1998. But Nick Saban was the coach of that team. Smith is... not Saban, though.

Perhaps MSU has no real shot against Indiana. It's probably more likely than not that IU wins this game by 40+ points than it is for Michigan State to be in a real position to win during the fourth quarter.

But if Smith wants to still have his job in 2026, he has to find a way to believe it can win. Outside opinions that may not be too kind to his team cannot have any bearing on the mentality of his players and the ultimate on-field product.

There has never been more outside noise that this staff and their players have had to deal with. It's the social media age, so the odds that people inside the football building have seen a "Fire Jonathan Smith" tweet are pretty high.

Everyone in there has a personal and/or professional relationship with Smith, so that can be difficult to process for them. It is weird for a 19 or 20-year-old person to walk onto a football field and maybe be wondering, whether they want to or not, about how if they do not play well enough, their coach might get fired. That's the type of thing MSU's roster will be dealing with on Saturday.

The Possible Path

Michigan State's head coach Jonathan Smith walks the sideline during the fourth quarter in the game against UCLA on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

There is still a relatively plausible path for Smith and his Spartans forward. Saying it begins with a massive upset victory over Indiana would be overly optimistic, so let's just say Michigan State loses by 14 or so; a competitive game, but, hey, the Spartans held their own.

That would probably be enough to buy Smith another week. Who would that mean he faces next? Oh yeah, Michigan. The Wolverines are a lot more beatable than the Hoosiers are, plus the game is in Spartan Stadium. If MSU finds a way to win that one, that might turn some of Smith's many current detractors into believers again, just given how important that game is.

Michigan State's Aidan Chiles prepares for the snap against UCLA during the first quarter on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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