The goals for MSU football head coach Mark Dantonio and his Spartans have been clear all season long — reach higher. Dantonio has also said they’re taking this season one step at a time.
For MSU, step one was winning the Big Ten East Division, step two — win in Indianapolis and step three, is to inevitably reach the national championship.
This season, the Spartans (11-1 overall, 7-1 Big Ten) have wins over defending national champion Ohio State (11-1 overall, 7-1 Big Ten) and national championship runner-up Oregon (9-3 overall, 7-2 PAC-12).
“We have asked our guys to reach higher,” Dantonio said. “As simple as that sounds, we needed to do things that we didn’t get done last year. We beat the two teams that played in the championship game last year. We’ve moved forward. But I think there are still things out there for our football team to accomplish. We’ve got the East Division Title but I think our players want more. They want it all.”
Standing between the No. 5 Spartans and their goals is No. 4 Iowa (12-0 overall, 8-0 overall). The narrative surrounding the Hawkeyes has been that their schedule was weak and they’re not as good as their record suggests.
The Hawkeyes have a power football offense and a technically sound defense highlighted by Tatum-Woodson Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year Desmond King and First-Team All-Big Ten offensive guard Jordan Walsh.
And for senior linebacker Darien Harris, an undefeated season is an accomplishment no matter who you play.
“I think anybody on the team would be a fool to go in and take an undefeated team lightly,” Harris said. “They’re 12-0 for a reason. They have done a great job this season in all facets of the game and obviously, they have been really successful, and at the end of the day, both teams are playing for a shot to go to the playoffs, so I’m expecting a hard-fought battle.”
Step one is complete. Step two, the Big Ten championship, is Saturday and the winner of that game should find themselves in the College Football Playoff.
However, just three weeks ago the Spartans were coming off a loss to Nebraska and the national media seemed to forget about MSU.
For the team, that loss was a wake-up call and they still believed its goals were in reach whether they were getting the publicity out or not.
“You go back to the Nebraska game and the loss there, Shilique (Calhoun) was one of the first players I went up to after in the locker room and asked if he was all right,” Co-Defensive Coordinator Mike Tressel said. "He was a little teary-eyed, but he said that it was one of the best things that could’ve happened to our team. Then a whole switch changed. The guys changed from thinking we were going to be the best defense in the country because everybody was going to do their job to decide that we’re going to be the best defense in the country.”
After MSU beat Ohio State and a few teams in front of MSU in the rankings suffered defeats, the Spartans found themselves back in prime position to achieve their goals.
“We feel like if we look at our goals and we say we want to be champions, that helps us understand the amount of work that is needed to go into that kind of season,” junior linebacker Riley Bullough said. “We know it’s one game at a time. We’re mature enough to know each and every week you’ve gotta go out and play as hard as you can, but in the end you gotta know what you’re working for.
“We’re working for a championship — it’s no secret. We talk about it every week. So, you know, it’s time to be about it this weekend at Indianapolis, and we couldn’t be more excited.”
As strange as it sounds, it appears a loss is exactly what this team needed to realize its potential.
“When you have someone take it away from you, you kind of sit back and re-evaluate yourself. Recheck yourself, and we did that,” senior quarterback Connor Cook said. “We know what it feels like to lose, and it’s the worst feeling in the entire world.”
And now, as the Spartans prepare to take on the Hawkeyes Saturday at 8:17 p.m. in Indianapolis, the Spartans are exactly where Dantonio has built his program to be.
“There (are) no secrets here,” Dantonio said. “We built this program to a point where those are our goals now. Initially our goals were to do other things but these — this is where we’re at now. This is why we’ve come here. We recruited to these goals, and the fact that we’ve reached to this point we’ve reached here, we’re at this point, gives credibility to what we talk about here.”
