Head coach Mark Dantonio addressed the media on Thursday, giving his thoughts on what went wrong last week against the Ducks and the recent news on Penn State once again eligible to play for a bowl game.

Assessing Cook’s play at Oregon

Through three quarters of play junior quarterback Connor Cook looked impressive leading MSU down the field drive after drive. But it was in the fourth quarter where Cook began to struggle, according to Dantonio.

Cook finished Saturday’s contest against the Ducks with a career high 343 passing yards and two touchdowns, completing 29-of-47 passing attempts. However, Dantonio said Cook wasn’t his usual clutch-in-the-moment self down the stretch, leading to a mixed review from the coach.

“I thought Connor played very well, but in the fourth quarter he needs to play better,” Dantonio said. “He’d be the first to admit that because coming down the stretch, that’s when your quarterback needs to play very very well and he had his opportunities to do those different things and he’s good enough, he’s proven he’s good enough.

If it was last year at this time, I would of said he had an excellent game. But it’s this year, this time, and if you want to play at that level, your quarterback has to play at that level.”

Dantonio added that Cook being more mobile is something he wants to see, but isn’t surprised Cook didn’t run it more against Oregon after enduring a knee injury against Jacksonville State the week before.

Importance of bye week

Bye week’s are a part of all levels of football, and play a vital role in the progress of a team. MSU is taking the bye week as an opportunity to regroup after losing a week ago.

“It gives everybody the chance to catch their breath a little bit and sort of begin a little bit to try to be a little bit more of a student during your off week, so we’ll try to do that,” Dantonio said. “At the same time, come to grips with everything that happened last weekend, regroup, refocus.”

Last year, MSU also had a bye week after losing its only game to Notre Dame early in the season. Dantonio said he is indifferent on having a bye week following a loss because it’s not something he can control.

Penn State back in the bowl picture

Big news came out of the Big Ten earlier this week when it was announced Penn State is again eligible to play in a bowl game and Big Ten Championship Game.

The news broke on Monday, with Penn State immediately eligible to play in the postseason this year. Penn State had been on probation following its involvement in the Jerry Sandusky scandal with the football program receiving a four-year postseason ban originally.

Dantonio said on Thursday that he was happy to hear the NCAA and Big Ten removed the postseason ban, considering it unfair to punish the current players.

“I think it’s a good thing,” Dantonio said. “I think it’s a good thing for the conference, I think it’s a good thing for the Penn State players and I applaud the people that made that decision because, ya know, those are young people there, they’re the ones who are taking the hit.”

Penn State is 2-0 thus far and now becomes one of MSU’s biggest threats in the Big Ten East Division race this season.