EAST LANSING — The loss to Michigan cost Michigan State football one of its best defensive players for 45 minutes of football

It’s an inopportune loss at an unfortunate moment — with No. 13 Indiana’s high-powered offense up next.

Linebacker Jordan Turner will miss the first half of Saturday’s game against the Hoosiers (3:30 p.m., Peacock), leaving the Spartans without their leading tackler in the heart of their vastly improved and swarming defense.

“Very unfortunate. A little bit of a crazy call, in my opinion,” fellow linebacker Jordan Hall said Wednesday. “But we gotta keep pushing on, keep moving on. We’ll miss him in the first half, but we’re going to keep preparing out through the week and get ready for him to contribute like he always does in the second half.”

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On the final play of the third quarter in Saturday’s 24-17 loss to the Wolverines, Turner crashed down as U-M’s Alex Orji took a shotgun snap and faked a handoff. Turner met Orji in the hole, with the running quarterback spinning off the initial contact for a 3-yard gain.

During the TV timeout between the quarters, replay officials reviewed the hit and cited Turner for a targeting penalty. He was ejected from the game, missing the final 15 minutes. U-M scored four plays later, with running back Donovan Edwards throwing a 23-yard touchdown pass to tight end Colson Loveland as the Spartans’ linebackers and safeties overplayed the run with Turner out of the game.

“We practice making the right form tackles, so it’s not something that I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m going into a tackle,000 like, I need to keep my head up.’ It’s just something that we practice and it becomes routine,” Hall said. “Sometimes in the heat of the moment, depending on the angles and whatnot, stuff happens. Which I think happened in JT’s case in the slightest bit.”

MSU coach Jonathan Smith on Monday said the school challenged the call to the Big Ten after the game, and league officials denied MSU’s appeal. Turner will be eligible to play in the second half for the Spartans (4-4, 2-3 Big Ten) against the Hoosiers (8-0, 5-0), per NCAA targeting rules.

That likely will move Hall, a sophomore, into Turner’s spot next to Cal Haladay in the middle of Joe Rossi’s defense, which held U-M leading rusher Kalel Mullings to just 18 yards on 13 carries Saturday and limited Iowa star Kaleb Johnson to 98 yards (75 of which came on one late touchdown run) on 14 attempts in an win a week earlier. It also will expand the already-growing role of senior Darius Snow and Wayne Matthews III.

Turner leads the Spartans with 48 tackles, with five of them coming in Saturday’s game at U-M. The 6-foot-1, 231-pound fifth-year senior, who transferred to MSU from Wisconsin in the offseason, also has three sacks, an interception and two QB hurries.

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“He’s really important. Obviously, you’ve seen the plays that he’s made,” Snow said of Turner. “He’s not just a good football player, but he’s a great leader and vocal. We’re just gonna have to play, and we’ll get him back in the second half, which is cool. But I have confidence in Jordan Hall, I think he’s a great player.”

MSU ranks 45th in the nation in run defense, allowing 129.6 yards on the ground, and is tied for 23rd nationally in giving up 315.9 yards per game. The Spartans will try to continue that trend against Indiana’s high-powered offense that ranks sixth in the nation in total offense (487.6 yards), 24th in rushing yards (200.6) and second in the Football Subdivision in scoring (46.5 points)

Hoosiers starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke suffered a thumb injury on his throwing hand during a game two weeks ago and sat out Saturday’s 31-17 home win over Washington. Rourke had surgery last Monday but, according to ESPN, the Ohio University transfer is expected to try and play against the Spartans.

Backup Tayven Jackson was 11-for-19 for 124 yards with an interception along with passing and rushing TDs against the Huskies, while running back Justice Ellison, a Wake Forest transfer, ran 29 times for 123 yards and a score.

“The only thing I know is they’re going to have a quarterback,” MSU secondary coach Blue Adams said Wednesday. “My approach is the guy that they put in is going to be the guy to give them the best chance of winning. And I think in college football, especially at the level that we we play on, I think every quarterback is a legitimate quarterback. They can throw the ball well, and they can call plays and manage the game well.

“So the only thing I can kind of prepare for is that dude is going to be a good player, and so we kind of attack it that way.”

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

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Carter Smith, a four-star quarterback in the class of 2025 and Michigan football commit, has decommitted.

The Fort Myers, Florida, product had been committed to the Wolverines since November 2023. The Bishop Verot QB was ranked as the No. 14 player at his position nationally by 247 Sports’ composite rankings, as well as the No. 26 player in Florida and No. 158 player overall.

Smith posted the decision, while thanking U-M offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell, on social media late Wednesday evening.

“I would like to start by thanking the coaching staff at Michigan for everything they have done for me,” Smith’s post began. “I would especially like to thank Coach Campbell for everything and giving me such an incredible opportunity. With that being said, I would like to announce that I have decommitted from the University of Michigan.”

Smith, described as a “scrappy, dual-threat quarterback prospect that finds ways to win games” by 247 Sports director of scouting Andrew Ivinis, was seen as one of the ringleaders for U-M’s 2025 class after a successful junior year.

In 2023, Smith was named Gatorade Florida Player of the Year after he completed 133 of 213 passes (62.4%) for 2,223 yards, 29 touchdowns and four interceptions and also ran for 715 yards and 19 TDs. He averaged 6.9 yards per carry and led Bishop Verot to an 11-2 season and quarterfinal state playoff finish.

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound passer holds more than 20 Division I offers including Power Four bids from Florida, Florida State, Miami, Mississippi and Penn State.

Michigan is not without QB options in the class of 2025.

In recent weeks, there has been a good deal of smoke surrounding the nation’s No. 1 prospect, Belleville quarterback Bryce Underwood and the Wolverines’ continued pursuit of him. Underwood has been committed to LSU since Jan. 6.

A University of Michigan student who is from China and not a U.S. citizen allegedly voted Sunday in Ann Arbor and is being charged with two crimes, six days before a pivotal presidential election.

The filing of the charges was revealed Wednesday in a statement from Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s office. The press release didn’t identify the student but described him only as “a non-U.S. citizen.”

The 19-year-old individual from China was legally present in the United States but not a citizen, which meant he couldn’t legally cast a ballot, according to information from the Michigan Secretary of State’s office. He registered to vote on Sunday using his UM student identification and other documentation establishing residency in Ann Arbor, he signed a document identifying himself as a U.S. citizen and his ballot was entered into a tabulator, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

The ballot was cast at an early voting site at the University of Michigan Museum of Art on State Street, according to the Ann Arbor city administrator.

Later, the UM student voter contacted the local clerk’s office, asking if he could somehow get his ballot back, according to Benson’s office.

The student’s ballot is expected to count in the upcoming election — although it was illegally cast — because there is no way for election officials to retrieve it once it’s been put through a tabulator, according to two sources familiar with Michigan election laws. The setup is meant to prevent ballots from being tracked back to an individual voter.

“We’re grateful for the swift action of the clerk in this case, who took the appropriate steps and referred the case to law enforcement,” said a joint statement from the offices of Benson and Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit. “We are also grateful to law enforcement for swiftly and thoroughly investigating this case.

“Anyone who attempts to vote illegally faces significant consequences, including but not limited to arrest and prosecution.”

The person is being charged with perjury — making a false statement on an affidavit for the purpose of securing voter registration — and being an unauthorized elector who attempted to vote. The latter allegation is a felony punishable by up to four years behind bars and a fine of up to $2,000, according to Michigan law. The standard penalty for perjury in Michigan is 15 years in prison, but it’s unclear what it would be in this case involving lying on an application to vote. 

In a message to the Ann Arbor City Council members, obtained by The Detroit News, Milton Dohoney Jr., the city’s administrator, said there had been an instance of “potential voter fraud in Ann Arbor” involving a University of Michigan student who’s a green card holder.

“Through a series of actions, the student was apparently able to register, receive a ballot and cast a vote,” Dohoney wrote in an email Monday. “Based upon the scenario that we’re hearing this morning, the student was fully aware of what he was doing, and that it was not legal.”

Dohoney acknowledged in the email that the story might get “picked up by the regional or perhaps national media.”

Under a 2018 ballot proposal that voters approved with 67% support, people can register to vote in Michigan up to and including on Election Day. Proof of residency for voting can include a driver’s license, state identification card, a utility bill or university records, according to the Secretary of State’s website.

The statement from the Secretary of State’s website and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s office described voting by non-U.S. citizens as “an extremely isolated and rare event.”

“Let this much be clear: Voting records are public,” the statement added. “Any noncitizen who attempts to vote fraudulently in Michigan will be exposing themselves to great risk and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, the state’s top law enforcement official, said her office had launched an independent, parallel investigation into the voter fraud allegation in Ann Arbor.

“It is the responsibility of each and every resident of this state and nation to adhere to the law, and Michigan election law makes clear that non-citizens cannot vote in our elections,” Nessel said. “We take all allegations of voter fraud extremely seriously, and the public should expect nothing less.”

In 2012, during a legal fight over Michigan’s voter application requiring individuals to attest their U.S. citizenship under penalty of perjury, then-Republican Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s office said there was evidence of two instances in which Canadians had voted in Michigan elections using state-issued driver’s licenses to register.

The presidential race in Michigan between Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to be close. Some experts have predicted it could come down to tens of thousands of votes.

In 2020, Trump lost Michigan to Democrat Joe Biden by 154,188 votes or about 3 percentage points, 48%-51%. After that election, the Republican maintained false or unproven claims that widespread voter fraud influenced the outcome in Michigan. However, bipartisan canvassing boards, a series of court rulings and an investigation by the GOP-controlled state Senate Oversight Committee all upheld the result.

But the accusations about the 2020 election have helped to prompt heightened scrutiny over the 2024 vote.

In recent weeks, Elon Musk, a prominent Trump supporter who has been described as the world’s richest man, has been posting on social media about Michigan’s voter rolls. And during a rally in Oakland County on Saturday, Trump called Michigan’s early voting system “ridiculous” and voiced support for people having “prove” they were U.S. citizens before casting ballots.

“There’s bad stuff going on,” Trump contended.

Michigan voters approved a ballot proposal in 2022 to provide a right in the state Constitution for at least nine days of early, in-person voting. That amendment passed with 60% support.

The Michigan Secretary of State’s website says in every state, “only U.S. citizens are eligible to register to vote or cast a ballot in any state or federal election.”

“There is no evidence to support claims that large numbers of noncitizens have voted in past elections or are registering to vote in 2024,” the Secretary of State’s website says.

cmauger@detroitnews.com

Staff Writer Melissa Nann Burke contributed.