Dantonio's new salary another step toward MSU being a destination job

It wasn’t a surprise to see Mark Dantonio get a contract extension and bump in pay following this past football season.

It also probably wasn’t a tough decision for Michigan State to make.

On Tuesday, details of Dantonio’s new deal came out and the Spartans’ head coach is now going to be making $3.64 million annually and his assistants are also seeing pay increases. Most notable of the assistants is defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi, who will now be the highest-paid assistant in the Big Ten at $904,583 per year.

Following MSU’s Big Ten Championship, Dantonio’s name popped up as a potential replacement for Mack Brown at Texas, but he quickly shrugged off those rumors. Now, Spartans fans shouldn’t have to worry about Dantonio leaving.

When Dantonio started in East Lansing, there wasn’t a lot to be excited about in terms of a national outlook. That has completely changed in his seven seasons with the Spartans.

It took some time, but Michigan State is now a Big Ten and Rose Bowl champion and Dantonio has turned East Lansing into a destination job, at least for him. Michigan State and Mark Hollis has also decided to make MSU a destination job, putting Dantonio near the top 10 in the country in terms of pay.

Pat Narduzzi sticking around is also a big key. The defensive coordinator passed up more money and a chance to lead his own program to stay with MSU for at least another season. Who knows what Dantonio and Narduzzi have discussed about future plans, but it is clear that Narduzzi recognizes something within the program. He doesn’t see the momentum train stopping anytime soon, thus damaging his chances to one day lead a program.

The success of the 2013 season was something Michigan State fans had been longing for for quite some time. Now the expectations have been raised and have changed in East Lansing. Time will tell if Dantonio can sustain this type of success, but the university has made it clear that it is going to do what it can to help him do just that.

Thoughts on Michigan State's win over Ohio State in B1G Championship

Well, I thought MSU would win, but I didn’t think the game would play out quite like it did.

The fast start wasn’t all too surprising, but Connor Cook throwing for the two long TD passes was. Ohio State answering wasn’t surprising, but the Buckeyes dominating the battle on the ground was.

MSU showing some heart and fighting back wasn’t surprising, but it still was surprising that the Spartans won and are going to the Rose Bowl. I mean, it has been 25 years. The words Rose Bowl and Michigan State just don’t go together.

But, in the end, the better team won and I truly believe that. I think Ohio State out-thought itself a little bit at times. I think the Buckeyes got away from what was working when they got ahead. Braxton Miller was solid on the ground, not with his arm. Carlos Hyde was a beast, yet the Buckeyes didn’t turn to him when it counted.

Hyde had 18 carries for 118 yards, a 6.6 average. Yet, on a 3rd and 4, he wasn’t on the field. On 4^th and 2 late in the game, he wasn’t given the ball. I know Miller is a playmaker, but Hyde was the sure thing on Saturday. Michigan State couldn’t stop his forward momentum. Was he racking up 20-yard runs? No, but he was as consistent a force as there was in the game. Ohio State shouldn’t have gotten too cute and just run the ball down MSU’s throat.

Aside from that, Michigan State deserves its share of credit. The defense faced some tough moments and still came up with key stops.

Offensively, Connor Cook had a great game. He had some bad throws, but he didn’t lose his cool and made some tremendous throws in the fourth quarter.

Jeremy Langford and the offensive line started off slowly, but really put the exclamation point on the game in the fourth quarter with the game-sealing touchdown drive.

It was a team win for Michigan State and the coaching staff made some great play calls and made some good adjustments along the way.

Mark Dantonio couldn’t get the smile off his face after the win, and for good reason. He really has built Michigan State into something it hasn’t been in a long time. Aside from this season’s Big Ten title, the Spartans have had a very impressive four-year run, winning three Big Ten titles and reaching at least 11 wins three times.

The 2012 season was disappointing for Dantonio and MSU, and many (myself included) thought the Spartans were going to go back to being a mediocre program. Instead, they learned from the 2012 season and all the tough losses and carried into this year, when they played with poise and found ways to win instead of finding ways to lose.

Pat Narduzzi deserves a lot of credit and if he isn’t a head coach next season, then a lot of programs are missing out. It will be interesting to see just how much Narduzzi impacted the defense’s performance, but I think it was a pretty large amount. Dantonio should get some credit for what the defense has become, but certainly Narduzzi makes the right calls at the right time for the unit.

MSU goes on to Pasadena for a meeting with Stanford. It should be a physical football game, but I don’t see any reason that MSU can’t beat the Cardinal. The key will be for MSU not to get lost in the moment of being in the Rose Bowl, and take care of business.

Prediction for Michigan vs. Michigan State

The Michigan-Michigan State game is about 24 hours away and my feelings on the game haven’t changed throughout the week.

It is funny how, after a few weeks into the season, I would have bet everything I had that Michigan was going to beat the Spartans in East Lansing this year. My how times can change.

It may extreme for me to say I don’t see how Michigan can win, but I see it as very unlikely for the Wolverines.

Michigan can win if Connor Cook has an awful day or if Devin Gardner is able to hit on a lot of deep balls, but Wolverine fans can’t feel very assured about that.

Cook doesn’t have to be great for MSU to win, he just needs to avoid big mistakes and convert some key third-down passes. The pressure isn’t on him as much as it is on Gardner to beat the talented MSU defense. Pat Narduzzi will certainly look to test Gardner early and hope to create a turnover on a quarterback that has been prone to giving the ball away.

I think the story of the game will be Michigan State dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. I expect the Spartans to be able to run the ball efficiently and sustain a handful of drives throughout the game. Defensively, Michigan State should keep Michigan from establishing much of a run game and put plenty of pressure on Gardner, forcing him into bad throws.

Michigan will find some points, but Michigan State will find more. The Spartans have looked like the better team in recent weeks and I feel like they will be the better team on Saturday.

Prediction: Michigan State 24, Michigan 13

Reaction to MSU's 26-13 win over Western Michigan

It was the start of the 2013 college football season for Michigan State Friday night, but it looked more like a replay of the 2012 season.

Sure, the Spartans picked up a 26-13 win over Western Michigan at Spartan Stadium, but Michigan State did little to calm the concerns many have had about this team.

First off, of the 26 points MSU had on the night, 17 were from the defense. The Spartans had two defensive touchdowns and the defense handed MSU three points with an interception inside the red zone that the Spartan offense failed to punch into the end zone.

Michigan State’s offense really didn’t look any different than it did a year ago. Jeremy Langford rushed for 94 yards, but still only averaged 4.7 yards per carry against a Western Michigan defense that probably isn’t going to set records this season. When it comes to the passing game, Michigan State didn’t attack downfield, averaging just 3.1 yards per pass. When MSU did try to make some plays through the air, the Spartan receivers (mainly Bennie Fowler) dropped passes.

Both Andrew Maxwell and Connor Cook did little to plant themselves in as the clear starting quarterback of this team. Each struggled with accuracy. Cook made some plays with his legs but was also lucky to not have had a few interceptions to his credit. Maxwell continued to throw short of the sticks on third down and didn’t show much presence in the pocket when the opportunities were there for him to scramble.

The longest play from scrimmage for MSU was a 26-yard pass to Fowler that was 23 yards of running after the catch. Michigan State lacked in explosive plays and if the Spartans can only average 3.9 yards per play against the Broncos, what are they going to do against good defenses?

On the other hand, MSU proved it once again has an elite defense. The Spartans will be in every game this season because of their defense. They can blitz, they can tackle and they can make plays in the secondary. Pat Narduzzi once again has put a great group together and knows what buttons to push.

The problem for the defense is it has this offense to work with. If Michigan State had any ability to consistently score, it could certainly contend for the Big Ten title.

As good as the defense can be, it will still give up the occasional big play or score. It’s very difficult to pitch a shutout in college football.

It is just the first game of the season, but it was the first game against a weak opponent. I don’t think anyone on MSU’s football team or in the Spartan fan base feels very good about this performance.