MSU's Jonathan Smith Goes Over Bye Week, Previews Nebraska Game

See all of what Michigan State's head coach had to say during his press conference on Monday.

Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith talks to the media on Sept. 29, 2025 ahead of his team's game at Nebraska. | Jacob Cotsonika, Michigan State Spartans on SI

EAST LANSING --- Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith spoke to the media on Monday afternoon to go over his team's bye week and to also preview the Spartans' next matchup against Nebraska.

Smith also had several updates on several key players, including starting linebacker Wayne Matthews III, starting left tackle Stanton Ramil, starting safety Nikai Martinez, and a few others.

Video of the entirety of Smith's press conference can be found below.

Watch Jonathan Smith:

Below is also a partial transcript of Smith's opening statement from his Monday press conference.

Transcript

Michigan State's head coach Jonathan Smith holds a football as the team warms up before the game against Youngstown State on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

SMITH: Bye week, kind of approached it early in the week to take a deep look at ourselves, and so Monday and Tuesday, a lot of self-scouting, trying to learn from the first four games, what we put out on tape, what we're doing well, what we've got to do better, just kind of an evaluation of our schemes, personnel, those kind of things. And you're always looking to grow and just learn lessons from that, so we took those couple of days and then emphasized that in practice on Wednesday, flipped gears on Thursday practice with an emphasis on Nebraska, and then we did that on Sunday as well.

So, gave Friday and Saturday to the guys. We did a heavy amount of recruiting, Thursday, Friday, Thursday evening, Friday, all day we'd be watching the guys. 

Sep 20, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Michigan State Spartans quarterback Aidan Chiles (2) throws against the Southern California Trojans during the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

And so, big goal, coming back yesterday, just kind of improvement on what we learned, right. Emphasizing that, just kind of recovery, got some bumps and bruises, mid-season healthy, getting refreshed and refocused, after four games going into a stint of one game at the time, this is a stint of five games straight here. 

I was pleased with the work we got done yesterday, kind of as a team. 

Sep 20, 2025; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule walks onto the field before the game against the Michigan Wolverines at Memorial Stadium. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

(We're) headed toward a big opportunity back into this league and conference play in a tough environment, going back on the road. Coach (Matt) Rhule has done a nice job there. These guys are a good football team. They can score points. This quarterback's (Dylan Raiola) one of the better ones we're going to play. You can see their stats in points scored, passing yards, and those things. 

I think defensively, they hold their own. Done some really good things, especially on the back end. Pass defense, you look at it, stands out on tape, so we've got a real, real challenge coming Saturday.

Sep 6, 2025; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Dylan Raiola (15) passes against the Akron Zips during the first quarter at Memorial Stadium. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

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