MSU's Jonathan Smith Goes Over Defeat at USC

Michigan State's 45-31 defeat at No. 25 USC is obviously not the result the Spartans were looking for, but there are some reasons for optimism. MSU fell to 3-1 on the season and now falls into an 0-1 hole in Big Ten play.

After the game, MSU head coach Jonathan Smith went over his team's first loss of the season and talked about what his team did and didn't do well. Watch full video of his postgame press conference below.

Watch Jonathan Smith here:

What also can be found is a transcript of the beginning of Smith's presser.

Transcript

Jonathan Smith patrols the sidelines during Michigan State's game at USC on Sept. 20, 2025. | Darrell Craig Harris, On SI

SMITH: We just didn’t have enough. Credit to USC, that’s a good football team… but we didn’t have enough, at the end of the day.

Our guys, I appreciate it; we're down at halftime, went in there, regrouped. SC scores first, in the second half we're down 21 points, and the guys continued to battle, find a way to get into a seven-point game into the third quarter. But then again, we just don't have enough to finish the deal.

Credit to them. I thought a couple of times we had forced them to a fourth down, they convert. A couple of times, the quarterback, we're around him, a chance to come on the ground, don't do it. And so they finished better than us.

Sep 20, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava (14) throws against the Michigan State Spartans during the first half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images | Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Defensively, we've gotta find a way to play the run better throughout the game. And they did a nice job, mixed in some pressure and they were not pressuring. Credit to those guys, the way they ran the ball, that really was a big, big difference, I think, in their success.

They knew they were gonna be exposed in the pass game, but when you got both of that going, pass game and then the run game where it was. Yeah, made it tough.

Q: Do you have injury updates on Wayne Matthews III and others?

SMITH: Yeah, what I was just told quickly that going through all the thorough evaluation, took them over to the hospital, positive signs. But they were looking for confirmation on tests and things, but positive signs, that's what I was quickly told.

Stanton Ramil, first quarter, couldn't return. And then, yeah, Quindarius (Dunnigan) and Nikai (Martinez), both of them, same play, couldn't return after that, and then Wayne.

Sep 20, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Michigan State Spartans head coach Jonathan Smith watches game action 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

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