MSU coach Dantonio: We won't run up score for style points
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) It was a winning weekend for Michigan State, even though the Spartans didn't play.
That's because Kirk Cousins, Brian Hoyer and Drew Stanton - all former quarterbacks at Michigan State - led their NFL teams to victory.
''I think that's a statement of Michigan State football - what they have been able to accomplish individually and then as a group,'' Spartans coach Mark Dantonio said. ''When young people look at our program, they have to be able to sit there and say, `Yeah, you know, if I'm coming to Michigan State, we can have great success and we can go on and play at the highest level and be successful at that level as well.'''
The 11th-ranked Spartans return to the field Saturday to face Eastern Michigan, and although Michigan State lost its showdown at Oregon two weekends ago, Dantonio's team remains highly regarded. The euphoria from last season's Rose Bowl run hasn't worn off. Now the question is whether the Spartans can do enough against their remaining opponents to earn a spot in college football's four-team playoff.
''Here we are at the beginning of the season with the bye after two games, that's very early in the process. And I think any time that's happening, you want to play,'' Dantonio said. ''We want to be fresh. We want to be motivated to play and have great attention to detail, all those different things we talk about.''
Michigan State (1-1) led Oregon in the third quarter before allowing four touchdowns in the final 20 minutes of a 46-27 loss. If the Spartans win the rest of their games and take the Big Ten title, they'd probably be part of the playoff conversation, although their conference is off to a poor start this season.
Dantonio made one thing clear at his news conference Tuesday: He isn't worried about running up huge margins of victory to impress the playoff committee.
''We are going to play to win, and after that is accomplished, we're going to try to get our younger players playing and develop experience and depth on this football team,'' he said. ''I'm not interested in taking a timeout before the end of the game to get another seven points. I'm interested in playing the game the way it's supposed to be played and letting it go.''
Oregon took a timeout before Royce Freeman's 14-yard touchdown run on fourth down with 1:25 remaining, although Dantonio said he didn't really take issue with that.
''I think they called a timeout because they decided to go for it on fourth-and-2, and I think it just sort of happened they scored the touchdown,'' he said. ''I think it was probably the smart thing to do rather than risk a field goal. ... It happened that they scored the touchdown on it, but no, I didn't hold it against them or anything like that.''
The Spartans are 45 1/2-point favorites Saturday, and it may be a little while before they're seriously tested again. They host Wyoming next week before opening Big Ten play with a huge game against Nebraska on Oct. 4.
It may be hard for the Spartans to stay in the national consciousness until then, since they don't have any marquee games for the rest of this month. But NFL players like Cousins (of Washington), Hoyer (Cleveland) and Stanton (Arizona) are doing their part to bring more positive publicity to the Michigan State program.
''It just tells you the kind of quarterbacks that a school like this produces,'' said Connor Cook, Michigan State's current QB. ''It just shows that we have a good quarterback breeding ground - I don't know. It kind of speaks for itself. ... All good guys, with good quality character.