Michigan State football, 3-0, faces its toughest test yet in week four on the road at No. 24 Boston College in BC's annual Red Bandana game.

After shutting out Prairie View A&M Saturday, the Spartans look ahead to the matchup Saturday under the lights, where they can expect their highest-level opponent of the season thus far. 

Though undefeated through three games, MSU's early-season struggles have come in the form of penalties and injuries. 

The Spartans have some of the highest penalty numbers in the country, ranked 132nd out of 133 schools in the NCAA for the most penalties committed, with an average of 107 penalty yards per game.

Against PVAM, the Spartans committed 11 penalties for 102 yards. 

"It was a disappointing performance on our end," MSU head coach Jonathan Smith said Monday. "Just a lot of inconsistencies, technique assignments, and some errors that I felt like we made kind of early in training camp and had gotten fixed."

If the Spartans don’t clean up against Boston College, the Eagles will have the clear advantage. However, if Michigan State can fix some of its penalty problems, it has a fighting chance of starting 4-0 and being nationally-ranked ahead of playing Ohio State at home. 

Smith said he’s mostly hung up on penalties occuring before and after the whistle, such as late-hit personal fouls. He said he's looking for the team to play smarter.

Penalties aren’t the only disturbance Michigan State is experiencing, as injury problems have been another dilemma the Spartans have to confront. 

Seven players have been injured in the first three weeks of the season, a majority of them long-term. On defense, the secondary has particularly suffered. On offense, the right guard position has seen the most turnover due to injury.