Interesting quotes in here about dantonio's thoughts about staying the course within the scheme:
Dantonio concerned about bowl streak
Paul Konyndyk | Associate Editor
Michigan State continues to search for answers amidst a shocking four-game losing streak.
Michigan State (2-4, 0-3) travels to Maryland (4-2, 1-3) looking to halt a four-game losing skid, which has put the Spartans nine-year streak of bowl appearances underMark Dantonio in serious jeopardy for the first time since the 2012 season.
“It's something we've done every year,” said Dantonio of his team’s bowl appearance streak. “We've sort of taken it for granted. I don't think you can obviously take things for granted right now. We're a 2-4 football team. Again, we got to find the inches. We've been able to do that.”
Finding those inches has been difficult this season.
“I was walking through obviously the football facility yesterday,” Dantonio said. “Walked down the hallway where all of our bowl jerseys are hanging that have been won that we've been involved with the last nine years, all the NFL players that have gone on. It just sort of hit me a little bit where we are right now relative to where we've been.
“I think the most important thing to recognize is that wherever we're going, is to try to get back to that point, continue to compete, continue to build into the players in terms of what we're trying to do, concentrate on fundamentals, get our younger players ready to go, along with our older players, same thing.”
Dantonio-coached teams have typically played with a deep chip on their collective shoulder. This group hasn’t displayed the same competitive fire.
“We need to assume that that chip is not there and put it there, I guess, if that's the case,” Dantonio said. “Always sort of thought that we challenged each other, challenged ourselves individually to be our very best at game time. That needs to come out again. But it has to be results oriented, too.”
Regaining a competitive edge and playing with a chip is critical to salvaging the season.
“I know that '09 and '12 were difficult seasons,” Dantonio said. “But at some point in time we turned it a little bit, scrapped. At this point in time we're just going to become a team that's going to scrap. That's my intent. Let's get on with that first. So we'll be all in. We will be all in. That's all I can tell you.”
Scheme isn't the problem on offense
Dantonio dismissed the notion that the structure of Michigan State’s offense was to blame for his team’s struggles during a rebuilding year.
“There are always wrinkles, as I said last week,” Dantonio said. “I guess we could say we run the triple option, maybe Maryland will get ready for that, okay? But you just can't change and overhaul something that you've done, especially if you've been good at it. So what we have done is we have put players in positions to make plays. What we've done is taken relative schemes we use offensively and defensively, we've had tremendous success doing these things.
“So I don't think you go away from what you've been successful at and all of a sudden say, Hey, we're going to change that, that's no longer important, we're going to do these things.”
Moving forward, Dantonio stressed the importance of running the football with tailbacks, something his team did very little in a 54-40 loss to Northwestern last weekend. Running backs Gerald Holmes, LJ Scott, and Madre London accounted for just 11 carries against the Wildcats.
“We needed to be able to run the ball more effectively than we did on Saturday,” Dantonio said. “We have good tailbacks. They need to become a little bit more of our production, I would say. We have to be able to maintain that. That's what we've always done. Not wanting to do what we've always done, but it's been a strength of ours. We have to maintain that that has to reoccur.”
Scott played sparingly against Northwestern due to his struggles in pass-protection.
“He has to protect better in pass situations certainly,” Dantonio said. “Again, I'll go back to what I said earlier. We need to get our tailbacks involved in run and pass. They need to be a bigger part of who we are. They will be inevitably.”
Dantonio indicated that Michigan State's starter at quarterback will be determined in practice this week. Redshirt freshman Brian Lewerke started against Northwestern last weekend, before being pulled in the second half for veteran Tyler O'Connor.
Junior Damion Terry did not play last weekend, but has not been ruled out for this weekend.
"Damion is not out of the mix in terms of playing," Dantonio said. "He had a little hand issue last week. We held him. We went with the other two. We'll see how the practices work out this week. We'll make some determinations as we go, sort of go from there.As far as my speaking to our quarterbacks, that's an in-house thing. I spoke to all of our quarterbacks, make sure everybody was in good shape mentally."
Junior Dennis Finley replaces sophomore David Beedle on the depth chart at guard. Beedle suffered an injury against Northwestern and will not play at Maryland.
Confidence issues on defense?
Defensively, Michigan State needs to regain its confidence, coming off a game in which Northwestern scored 54 points.
“I think it comes down to fundamentals, the way you take on a double-team, the way you take on zone, missing tackles, whatever the case,” Dantonio said. “There's some things there. Maybe there's some structural things, as well. That's why I say this is all inclusive. Maybe there's a little confidence issue when things start moving in one direction.
“We had six three-and-outs on Saturday. The goal, a goal, is five. If you get more than five, you're doing pretty well because it doesn't happen all the time. So we did have a lot of three-and-outs. But when we didn't, things sort of snowballed a little bit. “You have to look at everything. That's what we've done. We'll look at our leadership on the field, as well, how we do things structurally, how we do things on the sideline. We'll look at it all and try and get everything in order.”
Maryland looking to bounce back
After starting the season 4-0, Maryland has lost back to back games against Big Ten opponents under first-year head coach and former Michigan defensive coordinator DJ Durkin.
Recent struggles are attributable to injuries at the quarterback position according to Dantonio.
"On the offensive side of the ball, they've had an injury at quarterback," Dantonio said. "They used a freshman quarterback this last game … I think their wide receivers are talented. They've not thrown the ball as effectively as they wanted to due to injuries, freshman quarterback, a little bit. 4-0 start. They have the makings of a good football team.”
Defensively, Michigan State will prepare for a scheme similar to what they faced when Durkin was the defensive coordinator at Michigan last season.
“You see a lot of press coverage, a lot of different pressures with middle-of-the-field safety,” Dantonio said. “They are going to play a variety of different coverages. They have an extensive nickel package. I think he's got his guys playing hard."
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Dantonio concerned about bowl streak
Paul Konyndyk | Associate Editor
Michigan State continues to search for answers amidst a shocking four-game losing streak.
Michigan State (2-4, 0-3) travels to Maryland (4-2, 1-3) looking to halt a four-game losing skid, which has put the Spartans nine-year streak of bowl appearances underMark Dantonio in serious jeopardy for the first time since the 2012 season.
“It's something we've done every year,” said Dantonio of his team’s bowl appearance streak. “We've sort of taken it for granted. I don't think you can obviously take things for granted right now. We're a 2-4 football team. Again, we got to find the inches. We've been able to do that.”
Finding those inches has been difficult this season.
“I was walking through obviously the football facility yesterday,” Dantonio said. “Walked down the hallway where all of our bowl jerseys are hanging that have been won that we've been involved with the last nine years, all the NFL players that have gone on. It just sort of hit me a little bit where we are right now relative to where we've been.
“I think the most important thing to recognize is that wherever we're going, is to try to get back to that point, continue to compete, continue to build into the players in terms of what we're trying to do, concentrate on fundamentals, get our younger players ready to go, along with our older players, same thing.”
Dantonio-coached teams have typically played with a deep chip on their collective shoulder. This group hasn’t displayed the same competitive fire.
“We need to assume that that chip is not there and put it there, I guess, if that's the case,” Dantonio said. “Always sort of thought that we challenged each other, challenged ourselves individually to be our very best at game time. That needs to come out again. But it has to be results oriented, too.”
Regaining a competitive edge and playing with a chip is critical to salvaging the season.
“I know that '09 and '12 were difficult seasons,” Dantonio said. “But at some point in time we turned it a little bit, scrapped. At this point in time we're just going to become a team that's going to scrap. That's my intent. Let's get on with that first. So we'll be all in. We will be all in. That's all I can tell you.”
Scheme isn't the problem on offense
Dantonio dismissed the notion that the structure of Michigan State’s offense was to blame for his team’s struggles during a rebuilding year.
“There are always wrinkles, as I said last week,” Dantonio said. “I guess we could say we run the triple option, maybe Maryland will get ready for that, okay? But you just can't change and overhaul something that you've done, especially if you've been good at it. So what we have done is we have put players in positions to make plays. What we've done is taken relative schemes we use offensively and defensively, we've had tremendous success doing these things.
“So I don't think you go away from what you've been successful at and all of a sudden say, Hey, we're going to change that, that's no longer important, we're going to do these things.”
Moving forward, Dantonio stressed the importance of running the football with tailbacks, something his team did very little in a 54-40 loss to Northwestern last weekend. Running backs Gerald Holmes, LJ Scott, and Madre London accounted for just 11 carries against the Wildcats.
“We needed to be able to run the ball more effectively than we did on Saturday,” Dantonio said. “We have good tailbacks. They need to become a little bit more of our production, I would say. We have to be able to maintain that. That's what we've always done. Not wanting to do what we've always done, but it's been a strength of ours. We have to maintain that that has to reoccur.”
Scott played sparingly against Northwestern due to his struggles in pass-protection.
“He has to protect better in pass situations certainly,” Dantonio said. “Again, I'll go back to what I said earlier. We need to get our tailbacks involved in run and pass. They need to be a bigger part of who we are. They will be inevitably.”
Dantonio indicated that Michigan State's starter at quarterback will be determined in practice this week. Redshirt freshman Brian Lewerke started against Northwestern last weekend, before being pulled in the second half for veteran Tyler O'Connor.
Junior Damion Terry did not play last weekend, but has not been ruled out for this weekend.
"Damion is not out of the mix in terms of playing," Dantonio said. "He had a little hand issue last week. We held him. We went with the other two. We'll see how the practices work out this week. We'll make some determinations as we go, sort of go from there.As far as my speaking to our quarterbacks, that's an in-house thing. I spoke to all of our quarterbacks, make sure everybody was in good shape mentally."
Junior Dennis Finley replaces sophomore David Beedle on the depth chart at guard. Beedle suffered an injury against Northwestern and will not play at Maryland.
Confidence issues on defense?
Defensively, Michigan State needs to regain its confidence, coming off a game in which Northwestern scored 54 points.
“I think it comes down to fundamentals, the way you take on a double-team, the way you take on zone, missing tackles, whatever the case,” Dantonio said. “There's some things there. Maybe there's some structural things, as well. That's why I say this is all inclusive. Maybe there's a little confidence issue when things start moving in one direction.
“We had six three-and-outs on Saturday. The goal, a goal, is five. If you get more than five, you're doing pretty well because it doesn't happen all the time. So we did have a lot of three-and-outs. But when we didn't, things sort of snowballed a little bit. “You have to look at everything. That's what we've done. We'll look at our leadership on the field, as well, how we do things structurally, how we do things on the sideline. We'll look at it all and try and get everything in order.”
Maryland looking to bounce back
After starting the season 4-0, Maryland has lost back to back games against Big Ten opponents under first-year head coach and former Michigan defensive coordinator DJ Durkin.
Recent struggles are attributable to injuries at the quarterback position according to Dantonio.
"On the offensive side of the ball, they've had an injury at quarterback," Dantonio said. "They used a freshman quarterback this last game … I think their wide receivers are talented. They've not thrown the ball as effectively as they wanted to due to injuries, freshman quarterback, a little bit. 4-0 start. They have the makings of a good football team.”
Defensively, Michigan State will prepare for a scheme similar to what they faced when Durkin was the defensive coordinator at Michigan last season.
“You see a lot of press coverage, a lot of different pressures with middle-of-the-field safety,” Dantonio said. “They are going to play a variety of different coverages. They have an extensive nickel package. I think he's got his guys playing hard."
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