Then we can assume an Ohio State University team that just manhandled No. 10 Nebraska embarrasses the Spartans in East Lansing, and MSU proceeds to fall to No. 12 Penn State to end the season.

That would mean the MSU football would finish the season 3-9 overall with one Big Ten win just a year removed from a College Football Playoff appearance. That would give the Spartans their worst winning percentage record since 1917 (I'm not counting the 1994 season because their wins were forfeited).

MSU football coach Mark Dantonio isn’t fully to blame –– offensive play-calling has been atrocious, the replacement players filling in for last year’s graduates have underperformed mightily and the team hasn’t found a capable leader on the field on either side of the ball.

Now, it might be time for Dantonio to take a little bit more control of this team. Let’s see him get angry. Let’s see him either take heavy responsibility or call out those who have failed. Something has to change with this team.

Because right now, they are traveling down a road that could have negative repercussions impacting years beyond this one. Recruitment, even after Dantonio brought in arguably his best class this past season, is going to be affected in some fashion. Because if I'm a young kid with offensive talent, I wouldn't want to be in a system run by Dave Warner. Would you?

It’s not just the inches. It’s not just the injuries. It’s the personnel. It’s the decision-making on offense –– which has made fans call for co-offensive coordinator Warner’s job the past month.

The system worked before, having co-offensive and co-defensive coordinators with Dantonio calling almost no plays besides the trickery here and there. Now it is too jumbled, and when the talent level is down, it makes it even more noticeable.

Dantonio has never been an offensive mind, holding defensive coordinator and secondary coach roles throughout his career. At the same time, there is no better opportunity than now to give it a chance. He has been in the game long enough to know how an offense works and has run the same scheme since his arrival in East Lansing in 2007. He could do it, and I think he would do it well.

This past week, MSU's offense exhibited a lack of execution. The Spartans got into Illinois territory their first six possessions and came away with only nine points. A lot of that had to do with penalties. 

That absence of any sense of discipline must be infuriating to Dantonio, as the team committed 10 penalties for 89 yards against the Fighting Illini. But it has continued to be a theme for the Spartans all year. Maybe Dantonio isn't holding his players accountable enough, because in-game infractions are something that is fixed with better coaching.

It's time for Dantonio to take on that accountability and respond the way he has in the past. It’s time to get experimental. Throw in some different packages on offense. Bring different blitz schemes to see whether or not they are going to work in the future. At this point, the future is the reason they are playing now.

And if Dantonio doesn’t start taking more of a role with this team, that future might get really grim, really fast.