For all the fuming and fussing that has taken place, be assured that Michigan State football coach John L. Smith is darn glad to see the University of Hawai'i this week.

So much so, he'd probably send limos to meet the Warriors' flight in Chicago if it didn't blow his growling image.

Smith might make jokes about not "particularly caring for" UH coach June Jones — he was kidding, wasn't he? — at his weekly news conference. He might not want to send the Warriors video. But he wants Hawai'i on that schedule this week more than any other. He knows he needs Hawai'i on that opposing sideline come Saturday.

The initial "L" in his name doesn't stand for lolo and with Notre Dame looming next week, the last thing Smith wants is his team looking ahead to the Fighting Irish right now.

Which is what might be the case this week if his team took UH as just another 32 1/2-point nonconference underdog instead of somebody it wants to pound into the Spartan Stadium grass for payback.

With Michigan hosting Notre Dame this week and State going to South Bend, Ind., next week, the Fighting Irish are on a lot of people's minds in the Water Wonderland for the next few days. A lot of people in the Wolverine State will be talking up the game.

Smith knows that isn't healthy for a team like his, which has suffered from wandering focus. In 2003, Smith's first year at MSU, Louisiana Tech caught the Spartans napping, 20-19, in East Lansing, Mich., the week before the Notre Dame game. Last year, the Spartans took Rutgers cheap two weeks before and got stung, 19-14.

In Michigan they have a phrase for MSU's maddening inconsistency: "same old Spartans." It is a pattern that Smith, who is 13-12 at MSU, has to break if the Spartans are going to be anything more than the biennial bowl team they continue to be.

So this time around, he'll encourage a fanning of the competitive fires by recalling the perceived injustice of the difference in penalties assessed (16 to 5) in a 41-38 loss at Aloha Stadium last year. He'll put up with all the "payback for paradise" talk if it helps keep the Spartans focused on the Warriors and keeps them from thinking about the Irish.

Last year, with the first in a series of games contracted with Hawai'i before he took over, Smith wasn't happy about coming to Aloha Stadium and let it be known. A "penalty to be served," he called it. "A reoccurring bad dream" he termed it.

This week, however, the Warriors and the emotions their arrival is sure to stir, are answers to the coach's prayer.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.