EAST LANSING — Jonathan Smith’s career revolves around college football Saturdays, yet coaches remain hyperfocused inside their own tightly structured bubbles each week.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise Michigan State football’s head coach is learning about his new program’s rivalry with Michigan, as there was never much time to watch other games at his previous stops, all west of the Mississippi River.

Yet he recalled one moment that stood out — to him and everyone who follows the sport.

“I seem to remember some highlights. I remember a punter that ...” Smith said Monday, trailing off while alluding to the Spartans’ dramatic 2015 victory at Michigan Stadium on Jalen Watts-Jackson’s return of a dropped snap on the game's final play. “I'm not going there in regards to multiple (games), but that one stands out.”

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He won’t be the only one Saturday night getting his first taste of the intensity and bitterness between the two programs.

MSU (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) travels to Ann Arbor to face the Wolverines (4-3, 2-2) for the first time with neither team ranked since 2008. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. (BTN), the fourth night start (and third straight) in the 117-game history of the rivalry, and the Spartans’ fifth straight primetime kick.

“We all know this thing is special,” Smith said. “Rivalry weeks in the state, this is what you know college football is about. And it's is a big, meaningful game. Anticipate it being a tough, physical, big challenge Saturday at their place. And we're looking forward to it.”

It will be the first opportunity for 61 new MSU players and nine of the team’s 11 coaches, including Smith, to face U-M. Only 30 Spartans on the current roster got into last year’s rivalry game, and two assistant coaches — Courtney Hawkins and Demetrice Martin — played for MSU.

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Saturday also marks the first time since 1995 both teams have first-year coaches. That year, Nick Saban’s Spartans beat Lloyd Carr’s Wolverines, 28-25, in East Lansing. MSU hired Smith last November after Mel Tucker’s September firing, while Sherrone Moore got promoted in late January after Jim Harbaugh left for the NFL following U-M's national title run.

That means there is a lot to catch up with for Smith and his underlings.

“I gathered a ton of information," he said. "I've read through a lot there, and I've highlighted some things. It really focused a lot around the Paul Bunyan Trophy and kind of what that means. This game is different. We're playing for this trophy game. Gave them a little bit of the history, learned myself, kind of on that end, that's where it where it started with the education of the guys.”

The recent history has been far less about a wooden giant with an ax. It has been more about gigantic axes to grind.

Michigan holds a 73-38-5 all-time lead in the series and a 51-23-3 mark in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines have won two in a row, including a 49-0 blowout at Spartan Stadium on Oct. 21, 2023, which came two days after the initial reports of the allegations of cheating involving Michigan staff member Connor Stalions began to emerge.

U-M won the 2022 game at home, 29-7, after which an altercation in the Michigan Stadium tunnel landed eight Spartans in legal trouble in Washtenaw County.

That all happened after Tucker became the first MSU coach to win his first two games against the Wolverines, including an epic 37-33 victory at home in 2021 against a U-M team that went on to make its first of three straight College Football Playoff appearances.

Prior to Tucker, recent College Football Hall of Fame inductee Mark Dantonio flipped the rivalry for the first time since the Biggie Munn and Duffy Daugherty era by going 8-5 against the Wolverines during his 13-year tenure as the Spartans’ all-time winningest coach.

Trajectories for both programs once again appear to be in fluctuation. Saturday will be the first time U-M enters the game coming off a loss since 2008 and the first time since 2005 when the Spartans won their previous game and the Wolverines lost theirs. MSU defeated Iowa on Saturday, 32-20, to snap a three-game losing streak, while Michigan lost its second in a row, 21-7 at Illinois.

“Our goal is to go 6-0 (the rest of the season), that's what we're trying to do,” fifth-year MSU senior wide receiver Montorie Foster Jr., who was part of the 2020 and 2021 wins over U-M, said late Saturday. “So there's definitely momentum for that game. I can't wait to that game and get out there that night, for sure.”

Though Smith has yet to face the Wolverines, he has plenty of personal experience upon which to draw from. The 45-year-old went 2-2 as starting quarterback for Oregon State against rival Oregon from 1998-2001, then coached the Beavers to a 2-4 mark against the Ducks.

“I definitely felt it on upon arrival," Smith said of this rivalry. “I think I got asked about them even with my introductory press conference. I've felt it since getting here. I understand that this is an important game, the most important regular-season game we'll play, and the passion for it, which I love being a part of. I've been in multiple in-state rivalries.

“So no question, it's been well, well received on my end that this thing is important.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jonathan Smith on MSU-Michigan rivalry: 'I remember a punter that ...'