Jonathan Smith recognized this as he looked for Ohio State’s 38-7 victory over Michigan State in East Lansing to open conference play for the Buckeyes. Smith went out of his way to emphasize several times in his postgame press conference that he felt his team was under-performing or felt overwhelmed on many snaps during the game.

However, the Spartans’ head coach also expressed criticism of MSU’s mistakes and shortcomings and praised Ohio State for capitalizing on it. Smith specifically pointed to the first drive of the game for Michigan State’s offense, which ended with a turnover on downs, as well as a later dropped interception, multiple fumbles and a 27-yard punt before the end of the first half.

“Thanks to Ohio State. This is a good football team, well coached. We didn’t help ourselves in the first half. self-inflicted.”

Smith admitted that the margin of victory suggested the game really didn’t appear to be close, although he insisted MSU didn’t appear to be overmatched. After going into the locker room trailing around the clock, he believed that a strong performance, which included a points win in the third quarter, would have put the Spartans in position to bring the game back into contention in the fourth quarter close. Instead, Ohio State scored two more touchdowns and shut out the hosts for the rest of the evening with four MSU punts and an interception in the final 30 minutes of the game.

“Thanks to OSU, 38-7 isn’t that close. As we looked at each snapshot, we weren’t overwhelmed. I thought the effort was there. The difference is they made plays and took care of the ball. I think both teams played pretty hard.”

Michigan State’s head coach particularly praised the Buckeyes’ defense for making life difficult for the Spartans on offense. Ohio State finished the night with four sacks, three turnovers and allowed just 65 yards of total offense in the second half. The Spartans averaged just 1.9 yards per carry on the ground as a team, while dual-threat quarterback Aidan Chiles finished the night with -9 rushing yards on six attempts.

“Without total studying (OL Rakeem Johnson and OL Rustin Young), I felt like they weren’t completely overwhelmed and (QB Aidan Chiles) had time…they (OSU) had a good front there, you had to choose between pressure.” through individual conversations. We had the mentality to make them earn it.”