On Tuesday, football head coach Mark Dantonio was at the stage for his weekly press conference, when he addressed the bye week, final thoughts after the Oregon loss and keys to beating Eastern Michigan.

Bye Week

This season’s first bye week mirrors last season’s in many ways for MSU. Last season, when MSU was coming off a close loss on the road from Notre Dame, Dantonio said having a bye week so early in the season isn’t ideal, and especially following a loss to Oregon he sensed his players are ready to get back on the field.

“I think any time, here we are at the beginning of the season with the bye after two games, that’s very early in the process,” he said. “I think any time that’s happening, you want to play.”

Dantonio said around 70 of his 105 players went home with their weekend off, either to visit relatives or see their old high school teams play.

“So they should be fresh,” he said. “We’ll go hard today (Tuesday) in preparation for Saturday’s game, and we will not overlook anybody.”

Oregon loss still looms

Even with the Oregon loss coming over a week ago, Dantonio still fielded questions about the loss to the Ducks. Dantonio was asked about Oregon calling a timeout late in the fourth quarter while in Spartan territory, which they would follow with a fourth and two conversion that ended in a touchdown.

“I think they called a timeout because they decided to go for it on fourth and two,” he said. “I think... it just sort of happened they scored the touchdown.”

Dantonio said he thought going for it on fourth down was a smart coaching decision aimed at putting the Spartans out of the game.

“I think it was probably the smart thing to do rather than risk a field goal off the block,” he said. “But no, I don’t hold it against them or anything like that.”

Looking to Eastern.

MSU faces Eastern Michigan, an opponent that Spartan fans might still be having nightmares about from their 7-6 season in 2012.

Eastern Michigan came into Spartan Stadium that year and lead at halftime. MSU needed a rally to beat the Eagles 23-7. Eastern Michigan finished 2-10 that season.

“In 2012 we were down 7-6 at the half. We were I think 30-point favorites. Our guys need to come ready to play,” he said. “If there was a message from that press conference, that would be the message. We need to come ready to play. We need to be able to perform.”