EAST LANSING — Jonathan Smith got a chance to get away from the grind of football season Saturday. He spent time with his family, did some work around the house, and of course, he tuned his TV to a great slate of college football games.

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“This Big Ten conference is week in and week out, you gotta bring your fastball,” Smith said Monday. “You gotta bring your A-game. It’s tough to win games.”

It’s hard to win games but easy to lose them, Smith says, and his team’s body of work shows that. Michigan State is 8-8 in his tenure, but just 3-7 in Big Ten play. In conference road games, it’s more like 1-4.

Michigan State will need to improve, particularly on defense, if it wants to prove its 45-31 loss at Southern Cal was a blip, not a trend.

“Each week has a life of its own,”

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