Thanks in large part to senior running back Javon Ringer, the Spartans pounded that statement into Eastern Michigan’s defense as they beat the Eagles 42-10 at Spartan Stadium.

“We felt we needed to make a statement in terms of running the football,” Dantonio said. “The emphasis of this football team is toughness and I think to do that you have to run with the football. The game is won up front, offensively and defensively. I’m an old-timer I guess, but I believe that.”

The Spartans played old-school football, running early and often, handing the ball off to Ringer nine times on the opening drive. Although Ringer fumbled on the Eastern Michigan 1-yard line to end the drive, Dantonio continued to give the ball to Ringer, who rushed for 135 yards and five touchdowns on a career-high 34 carries.

After the game, Ringer said his body didn’t take that much of a pounding. The 5-foot-9, 202-pound running back deflected all of his praise to the offensive line, which was highly criticized after its poor blocking in the season opener against California led to fewer than 100 rushing yards.

Dantonio said the game plan was to run the football. It worked so well in the first half that during halftime Dantonio told offensive coordinator Don Treadwell to keep the football on the ground. That was fine with senior right guard Roland Martin and the rest of the offensive line, who said they had something to prove after last week.

“It gets you excited because you get to go out there more and more and hit somebody,” Martin said. “You just keep pounding them and you know that (the defense) has to be sore. We had the ball a lot, so we just kept pounding them and pounding them. We like to go out there, run the ball and run the Michigan State offense.”

Although Ringer and the O-line dominated the game when MSU had the ball, the MSU defense put the clamps down on the Eagles’ offense. Although they didn’t put a lot of pressure on Eastern Michigan quarterback Andy Schmitt, the Spartans held a team that put up more than 600 total yards and 52 points in week one to less than 350 yards and 10 points.

“Michigan State’s defense is very athletic,” said Eastern Michigan head coach Jeff Genyk, whose team falls to 1-1. “There were a number of plays that normally we would have made, but immediately there was a Spartan defender in our way.”

In the second year of the Dantonio era, the Spartans got their first win of the season by running the football, blocking up front and playing hard-nosed defense.

Sure, there were a few spectacular plays: Redshirt freshman wide receiver B.J. Cunningham’s one-handed grab in the third quarter, for example.

But, for the most part, it was handing the ball off and letting the big boys up front do their work that won the game.

It might not have been flashy, but it was the way — at least in Dantonio’s eyes — that football is meant to be played.

Cash Kruth is a State News football reporter. Contact him at kruthcas@msu.edu.