Michigan State cashes in on payday
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio is never one to let a chance to provide some motivation for his team to slip by, even if it is a little goofy.
He did it earlier this season at Penn State when he gave every player a poker chip and he was at it again last week when he handed out Payday candy bars to his team as it headed to Maryland.
According to Dantonio, building off the win over Purdue the previous week and taking care of business against a reeling Maryland team had bigger implications.
“I’ve been saying it all week long, it’s a big payday game,” Dantonio said.
“Everybody got Payday candy bars and maybe they’ll get to eat them now. In an opportunity to get bowl eligible, which is the 11th time in 12 years, and any way you cut it, as you go through November you continue to drive forward and the more games you win the better bowl you go to or the more you are into whatever situation is afforded to you.
“(We’re) 4-2 right now in the conference, which is big, and we have a big game next week and that’ll be another great challenge.”
With the payday taken care of at Maryland thanks to a 24-3 drubbing, the attention now turns to No. 10 Ohio State, which visits Spartans Stadium for a noon kickoff on Saturday. While the 18th-ranked Spartans (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) can knock the Buckeyes out of contention in the East with a win — while helping out rival Michigan — it would also keep whatever faint title hopes Michigan State has alive.
More importantly, it would be another quality win for a relatively young team that would improve its bowl standing with only two more regular-season games to play.
“We still have an opportunity to win four more games,” Dantonio said. “Certainly, this is a big game coming up. November, as I said — for every college football team in American — takes on a little bit of a twist relative to what you’re able to accomplish. With every win those accomplishments become greater.
“We’ll focus on the present and try to get it done this week. But I do think, not just for this football team, but for other teams, big things are possible in November.”
In order for Michigan State to accomplish big things, it will need to keep playing defense the way it has much of the season, including at Maryland where it allowed the Terrapins to gain just 100 yards. It was a performance Dantonio called “dominant” as the Spartans had six three-and-outs and also had five sacks while limiting Maryland to 26 rushing yards.
They could also use the running game they had against the Terrapins. Going for 269 yards, led by Connor Heyward’s 157, might not be reasonable against Ohio State, but moving in that direction would benefit an offense that has had its struggles this season.
“I thought we played better (on the offensive line),” Dantonio said. “I thought we got movement on the offensive line and played pretty well. Our backs — again, we ran the ball a lot — and I think our backs missed a couple of cuts, but they ran hard in there as well and were productive.”
