As the calendar turns from September to October, so does No. 10 MSU’s (3-1 overall) season from non-conference to Big Ten play.
The Spartans begin conference play with a difficult opponent as No. 19 Nebraska (5-0 overall) comes to Spartan Stadium for an 8 p.m. kickoff.
Head coach Mark Dantonio was back at the podium Tuesday to address Nebraska, redshirts and concussion protocol in light of the recent situation at Michigan.
Concussions
Michigan head coach Brady Hoke has been in the news a lot in the aftermath of him keeping sophomore quarterback Shane Morris on the field despite a possible head injury. Hoke said it was a high ankle sprain, but recently athletic director Dave Brandon has apologized and said Morris suffered a concussion.
The incident has put all schools, not just ones down the road from Ann Arbor, in the spotlight for how they handle concussed players on the sidelines.
“As a coach, I’ve also sat in three and half hour concussion symposiums from the leading expert in the country,” he said. “We’re not going to put anybody in the game that we think is at risk.”
Dantonio did not address the Michigan situation specifically but did say it’s sometimes difficult to deal with players who want to go back in the game.
“Guys want to stay in,” he said. “So it’s difficult to assess sometimes. I think it’s difficult.”
“A program game”
Last season when MSU went to Lincoln, Neb. they had never beaten Nebraska on the road. Following the team’s 41-28 win they could no longer say the same thing.
“We looked at it as a program win,” he said. “We needed to go to a place like Nebraska where we didn’t have a lot of fans in the stands and they had a ton and be able to play and play well and that was accomplished.”
After games against less-than-competitive Eastern Michigan and Wyoming, Dantonio said that while the team didn’t overlook any opponents, the competition level is about to increase.
“I think certainly the competition level is going to be higher,” he said. “We expect that. We acknowledge that.”
Redshirting players
Coaches have until the sixth game of the season to declare a redshirt on players, and in the case of freshmen defensive end Montez Sweat , Dantonio said he is going to take all the time he needs to make the decision.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “We’ll have to see what his injury status is.”
