Mark Dantonio reveals message from Michigan State's loss to Alabama
CHICAGO -- Michigan State is coming off one of its greatest seasons in program history, but there is a bit of an asterisk attached.
Sure, the Spartans qualified for the four-team College Football Playoff in the format's second year of existence, but there was the little matter of that 38-0 semifinal loss to Alabama, which coach Mark Dantonio discussed Tuesday at Big Ten media days.
It may be almost eight months later, but the loss still stings Dantonio and it has taken his wife, Becky, to be the voice of reason on the subject.
“That game sort of got out of hand,” he said. “My wife tells me: ‘Get over it, you lost.’ But I thought it was a competitive game in the first half.”
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It was a competitive game at halftime, when Alabama led 10-0, and it could have been considerably closer had MSU quarterback Connor Cook not thrown the disastrous interception near the Alabama end zone just before halftime.
Things turned ugly in a hurry for the Big Ten champions.
Still Dantonio was able to use it as a teachable moment.
“But what I said to our football team is: ‘Hey, we've gone this far, but there's still a ways we have to go. Don't hang your head. Let's get on with business. Life's full of ups and downs. There's going to be down times,’ “ he said. “To me it's how you handle the down times that define you.”
Sometimes, life’s best lessons can be taught through defeat and that was quite a defeat.
“It's easy to walk around when you've won,” Dantonio said. “More difficult when you've had a loss and you have to regain your composure and you have to move forward with the process.
“So Michigan State's always been about the process. This is just a stepping stone. That was a step back down the staircase. Time to take another step up.”
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Negative recruiting: In an interview with the Reading Eagle last month, Penn State coach James Franklin implied that four rivals – MSU, Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame – were negative recruiting against the Nittany Lions using the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
Both OSU’s Urban Meyer and MSU’s Mark Dantonio said that is not occurring. Harbaugh was not asked.
“Absolutely not,” Meyer said. “And that's the first time I've heard that. I'll address that with Coach Franklin if that is an issue. That's a pretty strong allegation that I've not heard yet. So that's not been presented to me until this moment. Absolutely not. We've got a great deal of respect for every school in our conference. We do just fine in recruiting and we don't have to worry about that stuff.”
Dantonio said the same.
“I have not said anything negative about Penn State,” he said. “And hopefully our coaches have not as well. So I was surprised to read that. I don't know what happens out there on the road completely. But it's not our MO. And that's not how we do business.”
Moving the CFP: While College Football Playoff executive director Bill Hancock has discussed moving the semifinals off New Year’s Eve after the significant backlash and depressed ratings last year, Delany expects the Rose Bowl to retain its 5 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Pacific time slot on New Year’s Day. The only exception is in years like this when the game would fall on a Sunday and instead be moved to Jan. 2 to avoid the NFL.
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Mark Snyder contributed.
Contact Mick McCabe: 313-223-4744 or mmccabe@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1.
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