The cheer — which goes “Line ‘em up/ Knock ‘em down/ We are one/ Pound Green, Pound” — will occur during the first defensive MSU play after a kickoff or punt and after failed third down conversions by the opposing team. The cheer mirrors the 1960s cheer “Kill Bubba Kill,” when defensive lineman Bubba Smith played for the Spartans.

Current players have differing stories of how the phrase was introduced to this year’s team — some said it was when former head coach George Perles was honorary captain this year; some said it was from running backs coach Dan Enos, who was the starting quarterback in the late 1980s. Some just have no idea.

It really doesn’t matter to the players. All that matters is the meaning.

“It means a lot to me,” senior strong safety Travis Key said. “It fires us up, and it reminds us of how tough we are and how tough we have to be in order to play in this conference.”

The motto’s appeal has stretched beyond the players, as fans are attempting to rehabilitate the set of student section cheers that have been marked by obscenities and requests from coaches to display more sportsmanship. The “Pound Green, Pound” group at Facebook.com has more than 1,000 members. Numerous members at the Red Cedar Message Board voiced their support, some young and some older.

Even band members are figuring out ways to compose a tune to jump start the cheer.

Leva said he doesn’t expect every student will chant the first three lines, much like the few students who chanted the first three lines of “Kill Bubba Kill,” but the student section should be ready to scream “Pound Green, Pound” when that line comes around. If the cheer succeeds, it would reinforce part of Dantonio’s coaching philosophy.

For Dantonio, a coach who has put an emphasis on tradition, “Pound Green, Pound” means a lot. He constantly reminds his players of MSU’s history and tries to provide links to the past. With “Pound Green, Pound,” Dantonio has tied a phrase from some of the more successful Spartan football years into the present.

Dantonio recalled the Spartans teams he witnessed as a graduate assistant at Ohio State: “Whether they were running the football or they were playing defense, whatever it was, their emotions and the way they attacked the game situation gave them an edge, and they feared nobody.

“When I say ‘Pound Green, Pound,’ that’s just a way of saying exactly that. It doesn’t mean we’re going to pound the ball down your throats, it means we’re going to physically attack you.”

For a school that has seen plenty of better days on the gridiron, it’s a statement that means volumes.

“It makes sense for this program,” junior quarterback Brian Hoyer said. “We’re a program that’s trying to re-establish the toughness of Michigan State.

“It gets us pumped up. We use it a lot. It really means a lot.”

With a whole stadium shouting those words of inspiration, it’s difficult to imagine how the players will react.

“Pound Green, Pound.”