There have been bigger games in the rivalry, to be sure. Lots of them.

In fact, Saturday’s matchup between Michigan State and Michigan marks the first meeting in which neither team is ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 since 1998, back when Nick Saban was coaching against Lloyd Carr.

Don’t try telling Jonathan Smith this game isn’t significant, though. Smith seemingly has righted the ship in his first year as Michigan State’s head coach, coming off a 32-20 win over Iowa in which the Spartans dominated in all three phases of the game. That snapped a three-game skid, and put Michigan State (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) back on the right trajectory toward making a bowl game for the first time since 2021.

“We’ve got a huge week,” Smith said Monday at his weekly press conference. “We all know this thing is special.

“This is what college football is all about.”

Michigan (4-3, 2-2) is coming off a 21-7 loss at Illinois, a second straight defeat. The Wolverines have won two straight against the Spartans, including 49-0 last season en route to the national championship. Interestingly, the last time the teams met when neither was ranked, in 1998, Michigan also was coming off the 1997 national championship.

The rivals kick off at 7:30 Saturday night at Michigan Stadium, for Michigan State’s fifth consecutive night game.

Smith is completely new to the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry, while his counterpart, first-year Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore, is not, as a longtime staff member under predecessor Jim Harbaugh. Smith said he’s grasped the importance of the game since he arrived on campus, and spent Sunday emphasizing the importance of the game during a team meeting. The team has more than five dozen new players, and lots of new coaches. There are a couple of coaches who have experience with this rivalry and have helped explain the significance of the Paul Bunyan Trophy.

“I definitely felt it upon arrival,” Smith said of the rivalry. “This is an important game, the most important regular-season game we’ll play. … No question, it’s been well-received on my end. This thing is important.”

The Spartans are coming off as impressive of a game as they’ve played all season, holding Iowa to 283 yards of offense, 75 coming on one play. Michigan State rotated in 17 different players in its front seven, which will be key again this week against a Wolverines team that is a much bigger threat on the ground than through the air. Michigan State limited Iowa to 133 yards rushing, and again, 75 of that was on the touchdown run by Caleb Johnson. Michigan State is preparing for all options at quarterback for Michigan, which hasn’t yet named a starter for Saturday.

On offense, Michigan State was as balanced as can be, with 468 total yards, led by sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles (“Aidan’s most complete game,” Smith said) and receivers Montorie Foster Jr., a senior, and Nick Marsh, a freshman from River Rouge, each of whom hit the 100-yard receiving mark. And on special teams, Jonathan Kim set a Michigan State single-game record, making six field goals. He also had two extra points, matching Iowa’s point total (20) on his own.

Marsh was named the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Week on Monday, and Kim earned the conference’s special teams player of the week honors.

Foster talked all last week about wanting to go 6-0 in the second half of the season, and Michigan State is one-sixth of the way there, with its biggest game to date up next.

“We are now in the back half, and these games mean more, right?” Smith said. “I know (the rivalry is new) for me, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Smith, of course, is no stranger to rivalries. As head coach of Oregon State, he got Oregon each year. As a quarterback at Oregon State, he beat Oregon twice in four games, including a 44-41 double-overtime thriller in 1998.

As the head coach at Oregon State, he beat Oregon twice in six games.

As for the Michigan State-Michigan rivalry, Smith said he can recall some highlights over the years.

“I remember a punter …,” Smith said, to a few chuckles. “That one stands out.”

On the injury front, Smith said redshirt senior receiver Alante Brown, who’s been out since suffering an upper-body injury in the season opener, could return against Michigan. Brown went through pregame warmups against Iowa, though he did not play in the game.