Staring down the opportunity to drop his sixth straight game, Mark Dantonio professed strong belief that MSU could topple the No. 2 University of Michigan football team on Saturday.
Dantonio, facing a smaller press corps than usual for the normally high-profile game, told those gathered that despite what the media and others think, MSU can pull the upset win.
"Can we win?” Dantonio said, though not asked the question directly. “Yeah, we can win. I firmly believe that. I know none of you do, but that’s why I’m coaching.”
The Spartans are faced with a daunting task, having slipped to a 2-5 record. Winless in the Big Ten, they now face the No. 2 team in the country fresh off seven consecutive wins. Vegas betting lines have pegged the Wolverines as a 24 point favorite over MSU, and a plethora of media sources have predicted the Wolverines will win easily.
Nearly from the outset of his coaching career at MSU, Dantonio has nodded toward the Wolverines’ football program as one he wanted his team to compete with, year-in-and-year-out. Despite losing the first matchup with U-M, Dantonio has since owned the rivalry over his tenure, going 7-2.
Dantonio complimented the Wolverines’ football team and head coach Jim Harbaugh for their 7-0 start that's seen wins handily over nearly every team they've faced.
“Probably truly one of the best coaches maybe that have come through,” Dantonio said “Whether it’s college coaching or in the NFL in past years, obviously very well established, and he’s got things going down there.”
At his Monday press conference Harbaugh called MSU’s rise under Dantonio, “One of the best college football coaching jobs in the history of the game. It's been at the highest level."
Practically mirroring U-M, MSU decided to not release a depth chart ahead of the matchup. It’s become policy under Harbaugh that the Wolverines do not release a depth chart, citing they do not want opponents to receive an advantage from knowing where they stack players.
Dantonio, however, said the Spartans' decision was based on uncertainty over whether young guys or veterans would be playing in certain spots.
“In all honesty, I told Ben (Ben Phlegar, football information director for MSU Athletic Communications), I said, ‘hey, just put Spartan there,’” Dantonio said. “'Just put Spartan, Spartan, Spartan, Spartan,’ because somebody is going to be out there with a green helmet on.”
Not releasing a depth chart left question marks about key positions, including the starting quarterback, which Dantonio reiterated would be a “game-time decision” as it had been the previous two weeks.
Redshirt-freshman quarterback Brian Lewerke started the past two weeks against Maryland and Northwestern. He was pulled against Northwestern in favor of fifth-year senior Tyler O’Connor, but played the whole game against Maryland.
O’Connor and junior quarterback Damion Terry have recently suffered injuries.
“It’s probably a game-time decision based on how the week goes in terms of whether it’s his play, others’ play, or quite frankly some injury situations,” Dantonio said.
Even with the quarterback change, MSU’s offensive struggles have been marred by questions about play calling, most of which have been directed at the decisions of co-offensive coordinator Dave Warner.
Dantonio, however, didn’t shy away from questions of his coordinators and the lack of efficiency, seemingly just as confused as why MSU, after record-setting years on offense, can’t seem to find touch on offense.
“We’ve had the top two wide receivers over the year in the Big Ten Conference the last two years, so I can’t all of a sudden think, ‘well, you know what, maybe our offensive coordinator just isn’t calling plays to go down the field,’” Dantonio said. “That’s not the case.”
As for curing the ails of the offense, Dantonio doubled down on previous weeks' assertions of being consistent and making plays when the opportunity presents itself.
“It’s about execution,” Dantonio said. “It’s about production, and it’s about timing in terms of when you call these plays at times or things of that nature.”
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
Further backing his coaches, Dantonio negated on the possibility of him making play calls the rest of the season, adding one that his specialization is in defense and two that he had faith in his coaches’ abilities.
“I’m going to allow our coaches to coach,” Dantonio said. “I’m going to have great faith in our coaches, and I’m going to have a great deal of loyalty for our coaches, because I know what’s going on on the inside, and I know how hard our coaches work.”
