Dantonio On MSU-OSU Matchup: 'It's Everything You Want In A College Football Game'
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - It would be difficult to overstate the magnitude of Saturday's game between Michigan State and Ohio State, two Big Ten powerhouses with overall records of 7-1 and conference records of 4-0.
"Obviously the game has implications within our conference, especially within the division, so a huge football game," Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio said Tuesday. "[In a] big game like this, every play is sort of a life event. With respect to that I mean that every play could be the different between really winning and losing. It comes down to sometimes being that close.
"It's not the biggest game," Dantonio added, noting that the biggest game for the program has yet to come. "But it's a big game. There's no question about that ... It's everything that you want in a college football game."
Michigan State currently sits eighth in the College Football Playoff Rankings, the measure that reflects the consensus of the 12-member committee that will choose which four teams participate in this season's college football playoff.
Spartans quarterback Connor Cook said the team is not daunted by the stakes, which are considerably high given that any team that loses from this point on will essentially eliminate itself from possible inclusion in the playoff.
"That's why we come to a school like Michigan State, to play in games like this, to be on a stage with implications on the line," Cook said. "Coach D always talks about with pressure and stuff, pressure's good, stress is bad, and I think Coach does a great job with getting our minds right for the game so we're not stressed out or anything and we're just ready to go out there no matter what the stage is, no matter who the opponent is."
The Spartans have reason to be confident, coming off a 2013 season in which they won the Big Ten championship game and the Rose Bowl, but Dantonio has stated strongly that complacency will not set in.
"Win, loss, whatever, we are not going to become an entitled team," Dantonio said. "We want to be grounded in hard work. That's what I've said over and over, and that's who we need to be. That's just a part of the mentality that has to exist here.
"There's nothing wrong with being confident," Dantonio added later. "What I don't want to happen to our football team is for it to get soft, soft in terms of whether it's physically or mentally ... You've got to remain who you are. You cannot forget where you came from. That's been something we've talked a lot about here - never forget where we came from and what we had to endure to get there because it can change like that."
One of the most frequently mentioned Buckeyes in recent years has been quarterback Braxton Miller, but since he suffered a season-ending injury before Ohio State's year even began, redshirt freshman J.T. Barrett has taken his place and performed impressively.
In the 2013 season, Miller completed 63.5 percent of his passes, racked up 2,094 yards and recorded 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. This season - with four regular season games remaining - Barrett has completed 64.7 percent of his passes, amassed 1,856 yards and thrown 23 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
"I feel like with this offense, J.T. Barrett works better in this offense, and I feel like he has a better arm," Michigan State linebacker Taiwan Jones said. "He's a way better quarterback than Braxton."
In buildup to the game this weekend, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said the Buckeyes do not consider Michigan State a rival. Dantonio echoed those sentiments about Ohio State, though acknowledging that the game means more to some players because many come from Ohio.
Just because the coaches do not classify the game as a rivalry, however, does not mean the players do not. Cook and Jones both did so Tuesday, with both players saying teams can have multiple rivals, which only means more games with increased intensity.
"Rivalry games, there's always more energy," Cook said. "The hits are bigger, the energy's a little bit higher, there's more passion, stuff like that ... Things are going to get emotional. Things are going to get pretty hectic."
Jones noted that, for Ohio natives on the team, the game against the Buckeyes is a chance for revenge of sorts.
"We treat it as a rivalry game because we have a lot of guys on our team who [are] from Ohio who take this personally because some guys on the team ... Ohio State said they weren't good enough, Ohio State never recruited them," Jones said. "A lot of guys, they want to prove themselves.
"You can always have more than one rivalry," Jones added, "and regardless if they think it's one or not, we're going to treat it as one."
