It’s been nearly a week since No. 12 MSU’s playoff hopes and dreams were slashed by No. 8 Ohio State and the Spartans are now left picking up the pieces.
“It’s important that we respond,” head coach Mark Dantonio said on Tuesday during his weekly press conference. “From my perspective, things either get worse or they get better. They never stay the same so it will be important as we move forward that we take the correct approach.”
Dantonio has built a powerhouse program at MSU that, throughout the fall, had molded into a contender for a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff. However, with the 49-37 loss to the Buckeyes on Saturday, MSU is now an after-thought in the playoff conversation.
The same can be said about reaching the Big Ten championship game. With the loss to fellow East Division foe OSU, MSU is ultimately two games back of the Buckeyes. That means the scarlet and gray will need to lose two of its final three games against the likes of Minnesota, Indiana, and Michigan.
Although it’s evident that MSU can no longer control its destiny for its two primary preseason goals, players are keeping a positive look on things. Junior quarterback Connor Cook said the team has had a positive mindset since the loss and knows MSU has to simply move on.
“Win or lose, you celebrate a win for 24 hours, you lament it for 24 hours and at a certain point you have to put it behind you, and I think the guys have done that,” Cook said.
Like Cook, junior defensive end Shilique Calhoun isn’t dwelling on this past week’s loss to the Buckeyes.
After an awful outing against Ohio State, where the MSU defense surrendered more than 500 total yards, Calhoun is focused on learning from the mistakes to move forward. Calhoun said he is focused on the next challenge on the Spartans schedule — a road trip to Maryland on Saturday.
“You have to deal with adversity in life and this is one of those teaching moments where it happens and you just have to bounce back from it,” Calhoun said. “We did come into the game excited and we did want to win but things happen and it didn’t play out like we wanted it to so now it’s just on to the next game and try to learn from the mistakes we had in that game.”
