He had surgery to repair the problem last week and sat out Saturday’s 24-17 loss to Ohio State.

Rucker is out indefinitely, and while it is possible he will not play the rest of the season, it will not be a career-ending injury, football head coach Mark Dantonio said Monday at his weekly press conference.

“We’ll see whether he’ll be able to play the rest of the season or not,” Dantonio said. “But he’ll certainly be able to play again.”

Freshman cornerback Ross Weaver and sophomore T.J. Williams will split time filling in for Rucker, Dantonio said.

With Rucker the only player currently on the Spartans’ injured list, Dantonio is optimistic about how the team looks entering the final stretch of the season.

“That’s a very positive thing right now at this stage of the year,” he said.

Close calls

With close losses to Wisconsin, Northwestern and now Ohio State, the Spartans have come up only a few plays short of a winning record in the Big Ten.

Down one touchdown against the Buckeyes and Wildcats and a field goal to the Badgers, MSU can attribute its 1-3 conference standing to a difference of 17 total points.

“We’re only a few plays away — either coaching decisions or players making plays or a recruit away,” Dantonio said.

While they’re not a team that prides themselves on moral victories, Dantonio said their close calls build credibility into what the program is trying to build.

Pretty in pink

Dantonio’s idea of what makes Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa, such a fierce environment to play in may not be what the Hawkeyes had in mind.

“Well maybe it’s because they paint the locker room pink,” Dantonio said.

On a serious note, he said it was “very difficult” to play anywhere on the road in the Big Ten. But he said the Hawkeyes’ interior decorating won’t have an effect on his Spartans.