Mark Dantonio (
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Gosh, I respect Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio. He seems like a straight shooter, runs a clean program, gave us the play of the year in 2010 when he pulled that fake field goal in overtime to beat Notre Dame — he suffered a minor heart attack that night and was back coaching in about month. He sends me a Christmas card every year, just because I called to check on him.
Got to respect that.
But Dantonio went belly up this week. With the vaunted Buckeyes coming to town, Dantonio made his players, assistant coaches, equipment managers, cheerleaders and Sparty off limits to the media.
“I felt like we needed to do that because we needed to come closer together as a football team,” Dantonio said. “It has nothing to do with the press as much as it does with how we handle ourselves, our team, what we need to be dealing with and thinking about.’’
Dantonio did the same last season before the Ohio State game. The Spartans came up with their best defensive effort of the season in a 10-7 upset win.
“I sometimes think that media talk and pressure sort of gets them thinking in different directions,’’ Dantonio said. “I wanted to close our group and concentrate on us.’’
Couple of problems with Coach Dantonio’s thinking:
He has got a fringe Heisman Trophy candidate in RB Le’Veon Bell, who just happens to be from Columbus. Sure would be good to hear Bell talk about knocking helmets with the hometown Buckeyes.
Dantonio was an assistant under former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel. He has built a physical program in that mode.
It would be nice to hear his thoughts on facing new Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, who has taken recruiting to an artful dodger form since arriving in Columbus. Maybe Dantonio the straight shooter is afraid he would shoot too straight and stir it up?
But most of all, it’s a sorry state when a coach resorts to this. He is sending a signal that this game must be more important than the others, or why not muzzle up for every game?
Bottom line is that Michigan State’s offense isn’t Spartans green, it’s mold green. The Spartans are 102nd in scoring, averaging just 21 points per game.
We’re taking the Buckeyes plus the 3 points and one less Christmas card. Talk is cheap. No talk is cheaper.
WASHINGTON (+6 1/2) over Stanford
Since upsetting USC, Stanford has had 10 days to read its press clips and lose its mojo.
BYU (-27 1/2) over Hawaii
June Jones is gone, and so is Hawaii’s pass attack, and pass defense, and scoring offense …
WEST VA. (-13 1/2) over Baylor
The Bears’ numbers are against bad news opponents. This is a big step up and a long fall down to earth for Baylor.
Penn State (+1 1/2) over ILLINOIS
When the NCAA sanctions landed on Penn State, guess which Big Ten program was the first to land in State College to try to recruit players? You don’t think that’s been lost on the Nittany Lions, do ya?
GEORGIA (-13 1/2) over Tennessee
In the very stadium where Vince Dooley became a legend, his son gets burn marks on those atrocious trousers.
Clemson (-9 1/2) over Boston College
Not sure if Dabo Swinney and Derek Dooley were separated at birth, but certain the Eagles don’t have the athletes to hang with Clemson.
Cincinnati (+7) over Virginia Tech
(in Landover, Md.)
Butch Jones is the straight arrow that has Cincy flying high.
Florida St. (-17) over S. FLORIDA
B.J. Daniels hasn’t taken the next step, the entire FSU program has.
S. Carolina (-20 1/2) over KENTUCKY
OMG! Steve Spurrier finally has a QB. Connor Shaw completed 20 straight passes last week.
Texas (-2 1/2) over OKLA. STATE
The best secondary in college football neutralized OSU’s offense.
NEBRASKA (-12 1/2) over Wisconsin
This is more a lack of faith in the Badgers than an endorsement of the Huskers.
ALABAMA (-31) over Mississippi
Don’t care if the line swells to 52; we’re not betting against Saban.
ARIZONA (-3) over Oregon State
Rich Rodriguez never got a fair chance in Michigan. He’s raising Arizona.
Oregon (-28 1/2) over Washington St. (in Seattle)
The Cougars lost to Colorado, which lost to Fresno State by 55, which lost to Oregon by 17. Get that?
BEST BETS: Washington,
Oregon, Alabama.
LAST WEEK: 9-6 (29-31 season)
BEST BETS: 1-2 (4-8)