MSU will not be playing for any hardware on Saturday in Happy Valley but Dantonio is still putting a lot of significance on this week’s matchup against the Nittany Lions.

On Tuesday, Dantonio considered this week’s trip to Penn State a “program game” as MSU looks for its fourth double digit-win season in its last five years.

“Winning 10 games around here right now is the benchmark, obviously that gets you a little bit of notoriety, not much, which is I guess is a positive,” Dantonio said. “That’s what we’ve been able to traditionally do right now so that’s been a very big thing for this program. Puts us in the hunt always to be relevant in terms of the national picture and certainly relevant in the Big Ten picture and I think that’s what we are trying to do here.”

With a win on Saturday, MSU will have a good chance to finish in the top-10 in all three major rankings and be picked for one of the selection committee non-playoff bowl games.

Lippett to start in secondary

The big news that came out of Tuesday’s press conference that it appears senior Tony Lippett won’t only start at wide receiver this week, but at the field cornerback position.

Lippett was listed as the starter on the depth chart that was released Tuesday morning and Dantonio confirmed that he is set to get his first start in the secondary this season. Lippett appeared at cornerback last week against Rutgers, recording one tackle and two pass breakups.

Dantonio said Lippett didn’t start getting reps in practice at cornerback until last week ,but his ability to retain what he learned from playing the position earlier in his career has helped him make the smooth transition back to defense. Sophomore cornerback Darian Hicks is listed as Lippett’s backup for this week’s game at Penn State.

Snubbed by Big Ten

Despite continuing its dominance of the league — with the exception of one week — MSU has yet to be recognized by Big Ten officials. And Dantonio is starting to take notice.

For a 13th straight week, MSU had no players recognized in the Big Ten’s weekly awards. The league hands out awards for offensive, defensive, special teams and freshman player of the week every Monday.

When asked about the situation, Dantonio pointed to a number of players who he believes have demonstrated excellence on the field this year and said he was disappointed with the lack of recognition. However, Dantonio said he understands how MSU has somewhat become the forgotten team and is more focused on the overall bigger picture of winning games.

“Sometimes, I think, it’s to the winner goes the spoils to be perfectly honest with you,” Dantonio said. “We are a little bit of the forgotten ones right now, we got a very good football team and a chance to win 10 football games. We can take comfort in that and take comfort in the fact that we are going places.”