Dantonio wasn’t pleased with the way his highly touted defense played, saying Oregon had too many explosive plays.

“Too many big plays, too many explosive plays, given up by our defense,” he said. “Again, credit Oregon, but we could have done something about those plays. Too many missed opportunities.”

MSU has lost only two games in the last two seasons, both on the road and both early on. Last season, MSU lost in South Bend, Ind. to Notre Dame 17-13 in the third game of the season.

“Well, I think last year (it was a) very similar situation in the fact that we were undefeated and went away to play,” he said. “What we can take away that is similar is that we have a bye week. Whether we win or lose, we’re going to have to deal with the consequences.”

MSU’s offense put up good numbers against Oregon’s defense, but it was Oregon’s ability to run the ball, especially in the second half, that allowed them to score 28 unanswered points.

“When you look at the film there were a number of missed communications because of the crowd noise,” he said. “We gave up seven explosive plays. The history here has been when you give up four or more you’re not successful.”

MSU knew that running the ball to keep it away from junior quarterback Marcus Mariota and the explosive Oregon offense was going to be an important measuring statistic if MSU was going to be successful. The Spartans barely won the time of possession battle, 33:40–26:20, not the huge difference that Pac-12 foe Stanford was able to show in their wins against Oregon the past two seasons.

Mariota looked like the Heisman front-runner against MSU’s defense, going 17-28 for 318 yards and three touchdowns.

“As I said early in the week, Mariota is an outstanding quarterback,” Dantonio said. “What he does is lead. What he shows is toughness. Also what he does is create. There were numerous times where he created (Saturday) that really...pushed them into the forefront.

Dantonio said the key going forward is to not view this is a lost season after just one game.

“We’ll let our people settle a little bit,” he said. “Let them be a students little bit this week, but also practice some, get back to the task at hand.”

MSU has a bye this week and will next play Eastern Michigan at home on Saturday, Sept. 20.