With the state of college football today being that teams continually need to prove themselves, Dantonio said Tuesday at his weekly press conference that the No. 8 Spartans will be prepared to take it up a notch when they visit Northwestern on Saturday (noon, ESPN).

“It points toward a little bit of redemption for them,” Dantonio said. “They understand what they have to do.”

The Spartans had their way offensively with their first six opponents, averaging 225 yards per game on the ground, but Saturday they found a defensive front that limited the Spartans all game.

MSU hadn’t been held below 175 rushing yards on the season before Saturday, but even when the MSU passing game began clicking in the second half, Illinois never let the Spartans find running lanes and held MSU to 93 yards on 31 carries.

Sophomore running back Edwin Baker and freshman running back Le’Veon Bell were swarmed each time they touched the football, and they were held far below their season averages with 36 combined yards.

The Spartans won the battle of the trenches in each of the first six weeks, as they rank fourth in the Big Ten in rushing yards (206.1 yards per game) and second in total offense (447.6 yards per game), but faced an Illinois rush defense that was up to the task.

Although junior quarterback Kirk Cousins was sacked only once, Illinois got to him for five hits and some nasty licks.

The good news for the Spartans is that Northwestern’s rush defense has yielded 140.5 yards per game, which ranks seventh in the Big Ten, and that players are motivated to redeem themselves.

“(Senior center) John Stipek was walking off the field telling me, ‘Coach, this will not happen again,’” Dantonio said. “He was not elated about winning, he was talking about his performance and the performance of the offensive line.

“So he knew at that moment what had happened and was clearly bothered by it.”

Taking his time

Dantonio said he’s unsure if he’ll be able to return to the sidelines Saturday and said it’ll be a game-time call.

Dantonio, who suffered a heart attack after MSU’s victory against Notre Dame on Sept. 19, said he’s feeling better and walking better, but would like to go through a full-two and-a-half hour practice before returning to the sidelines.

Dantonio said he’s not in a rush to return and will wait until he feels up to it.

“It remains to be seen until I move through the process of this week,” Dantonio said. “It might be something where you just ease into it some.”

Hoover’s big game

Dantonio said he was impressed with sophomore defensive end Tyler Hoover, who was named MSU’s defensive MVP in last week’s win.

Entering the game with six tackles on the season, Hoover had nine tackles, a sack and a pass breakup in last week’s win and likely will grow with more time.

Standing 6-foot-7 and weighing 260 pounds, Hoover has the size to dominate on the defensive line, and his development has helped bolster the defensive end position.

“He’s getting much better at pass rushing, he gets his hands up and he’s a big frame to throw over,” Dantonio said.

“The exciting part is that he’s only going to get better and better.”