|
|
|
Mark
Dantonio
likes
his
chances
of
upsetting
No. 2
Michigan
By LARRY
LAGE
AP
Sports
Writer
EAST
LANSING
- Mark
Dantonio
closed
the door
of his
spacious
office
and took
a seat.
"That's
my go-to
chair,"
he said,
gesturing
to
another
piece of
brown,
leather
furniture.
It might
be a
good
week for
him to
switch
things
up at
Michigan
State.
The
Spartans
(2-5,
0-4 Big
Ten)
have
lost
five
straight
games
for the
first
time
since
1991.
No. 2
Michigan
(7-0,
4-0) is
up next
and the
rival is
favored
to win
by more
than
three
touchdowns
Saturday
at
Spartan
Stadium.
Dantonio,
though,
is used
to being
doubted.
No one
thought
he, or
any
coach,
could
turn a
mediocre
program
into one
of the
best in
college
football
as he
did in
recent
years
despite
the
nearby
presence
of
traditional
powers:
Michigan,
Ohio
State
and
Notre
Dame.
Few, if
anyone,
predicted
Michigan
State
could
ever
dominate
the
Wolverines
as it
has
under
Dantonio
with
three
straight
wins and
seven in
an
eight-year
stretch
for the
first
time.
And when
Michigan
was
punting
with 10
seconds
left
last
season
and a
two-point
lead at
the Big
House,
the
usually
stoic
coach
was
confident
his
players
would
find a
way to
win.
They
did,
swarming
around
punter
Blake
O'Neill
after he
bobbled
a
slightly
low snap
and
returning
the
football
38 yards
for a
game-ending,
game-winning
play for
the
ages.
A huge
picture
of Jalen
Watts-Jackson's
return
hangs
outside
Dantonio's
office,
just to
the
right of
his door
in a
can't-miss
spot for
any
visitor.
What
jumps
out to
Dantonio
when he
sees the
picture
or
thinks
about
the
improbable
play?
"I guess
you
always
have a
chance,"
Dantonio
said in
an
interview
with The
Associated
Press.
"I would
say the
chance
of that
happening
relative
to the
chance
of us
winning
on
Saturday,
I would
say we
got a
better
chance
of us
winning
on
Saturday."
If
Dantonio
can help
his team
extend
its
streak
in the
series,
it would
be the
biggest
upset in
the
rivalry
since
unranked
Michigan
State
stunned
the
top-ranked
Wolverines
28-27 in
1990.
Back
then,
Michigan
went for
the win
on a
2-point
conversion
with 6
seconds
left and
Desmond
Howard
couldn't
control
the
football
as he
hit the
turf
after he
appeared
to get
tripped
by Eddie
Brown.
In the
same
corner
of the
same end
zone 15
years
later,
Watts-Jackson
lay with
a broken
hip
after
scoring
a
touchdown
that
validated
the
feeling
Dantonio
insisted
he felt
just
before
it
happened.
"When I
looked
out
there, I
saw
confident
faces
when I
went out
there,"
he said.
These
days,
Dantonio
and his
players
acknowledge
confidence
is
lacking
after
following
up a
36-win,
three-year
stretch
with as
many
losses
as they
had from
2013
through
2015.
What
does
Dantonio
see when
he looks
at his
players'
faces
this
week?
"They've
got to
answer
that on
Saturday,"
he said
quietly.
Dantonio
often
has to
answer
Jim
Harbaugh-related
questions,
but
insisted
Michigan's
coach
does not
consume
his
thoughts
or
provide
an
obstacle
he can't
overcome
in
recruiting.
"I'm
consumed
by too
many
things.
I can't
control
that,"
Dantonio
said.
"What I
can
control,
to some
extent,
is what
is going
on here.
I think
he's a
great
coach."
The
feeling
is
mutual.
"He's
done a
great
job,"
Harbaugh
said.
"One of
the best
college
football
coaching
jobs in
the
history
of the
game."
That's
not a
stretch.
After
Michigan
State
was a
national
power in
the
mid-1960s
under
Duffy
Daugherty,
the
Spartans
went to
only one
Rose
Bowl and
won
eight
games or
more in
consecutive
seasons
just
once
before
Dantonio
was
hired to
replace
the
fired
John L.
Smith
for the
2007
season.
Dantonio
took the
program
back to
the Rose
Bowl
three
years
ago —
for the
first
time
since
the 1987
season —
won a
school-record
13 games
two
years
ago and
became
the
first
Big Ten
coach to
have at
least 11
victories
five
times in
a
six-year
span. He
won 12
games
and a
school-record
third
Big Ten
title
last
year.
"Coach
Dantonio
is one
of the
greatest
coaches
in the
country
and has
proven
that
over the
last
nine
years,"
athletic
director
Mark
Hollis
said
this
week.
Dantonio's
accomplishments
and
support
he's
getting,
however,
are not
helping
him rest
easy.
His
offense
is
sputtering
with a
freshman
quarterback
behind a
banged-up
offensive
line.
His
injury-depleted
defense
is
looking
overmatched,
which is
unusual.
His mind
races,
trying
to
process
problems
and come
up with
solutions,
day and
night
and he
can't
stop it
even
when his
head
hits the
pillow.
"It
doesn't
get
turned
off.
That's a
problem,"
Dantonio
said.
"I've
always
slept
really
good.
Lately,
not so
good. I
talk to
my wife
and we
talk
about
things.
We make
sure I
laugh.
We pray.
I don't
read too
much
right
now. I
should
say I
should
probably
read to
get my
mind off
things." |
|
|
|
|
|
|