Whether just prepped player speak or an actual belief, the players won’t admit they’re thinking about being spoilers by the time the clock hits 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“If we win, obviously we’ll shake some things up,” fifth-year senior linebacker Riley Bullough said. “What that means, I don’t know for them. I’m really focused on our guys and our last game in Spartan Stadium … it’s more about us and our seniors going into this game.”

As the Big Ten East race slips into its final two weeks, the University of Michigan wields from a position of strength. Win out and they’re into the Big Ten championship game. Penn State needs to win out and needs a U-M loss to Ohio State to advance to Indianapolis. Ohio State needs wins over MSU and U-M and a Penn State loss to reach the title game.

MSU predicated its season on winning back-to-back outright Big Ten titles, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished in the program since the 1960s and hadn’t occurred in the Big Ten since Wisconsin won in 2011 and 2012.

With nothing left to play for other than improvement and a spark for the offseason, head coach Mark Dantonio didn’t harangue into coach speak, noting that this game could come with added implications even if those implications don’t benefit his team.

“I think they naturally do,” Dantonio said of his players thinking about having an effect on other teams seasons. “I think that’s pretty natural that you want to be playing for something. So, you’ve got a little bit of added significance there, but I think more importantly, it’s how you are going to measure up.”

While Dantonio acknowledged the players’ unconscious motivation to have an affect on the Big Ten race, junior linebacker Chris Frey denied the suggestion, putting emphasis on MSU’s focus on its improvements rather than OSU’s future.

“No, we’re focusing on us,” Frey said. “We’re not playing for anybody else, we don’t care who is where, who is doing what, we’re focusing on what we can do and we don’t really worry about anybody else.”

The Spartans pull into Saturday the clear underdogs as Ohio State rides a 22-point spread into East Lansing. Lead by dual-threat quarterback J.T. Barrett and former Cass Tech High School running back Mike Weber, Ohio State has averaged 46.5 points per game and 511.4 yards per game.

MSU’s defense by comparison has given up 360.5 yards per game and allowed an average of 27.1 points per game.

For MSU to win on Saturday it will have to play as structurally sound as it did last year in Columbus, stifling Ohio State’s potent offense and picking up key scoring drives. MSU will be without the talent it had last year, meaning it will have to rely on basic principles to stay in the game.

“Games are played on the field,” Dantonio said. “They are not played on paper. To continually say that and what you win with is great fundamentals. Ultimately, it’s great fundamentals, and how you play out structurally in a game relative to the formations you present, and offense, defense and special teams, and the formations as they present.”