Mark Dantonio
Mark Dantonio
Mark Justin Dantoniois an American football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at Michigan State University, a position he has held since the 2007 season, presiding over one of the most successful eras in the program's history. He's led the Michigan State Spartans to three Big Ten Conference championships, and seven victories over archrival Michigan in eight years. In 2013, he coached Michigan State to its first 13-win season and the program's fifth trip to...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth9 March 1956
CityEl Paso, TX
I firmly believe if we get that ball in there, it's a football game. I don't know if we were going to win, but it's a football game. ... We weren't the same team in the second half.
They remind me of our Ohio State defense in 2002. Teams are not going to score on them. They don't give up big plays. They pressure the ball and force turnovers.
We would not take a guy at this late date if he couldn't help us. When you watch him on film, he looks like (an impact player). He catches the ball very well over the middle. We hope he is that type of player. You never know until they get here, but he was one of the top players in the Pittsburgh area last year.
I think the defense had a little bit to do with that. When the ball got out in space, they got there quick.
We need to protect the passer and run the ball better on offense, but we did make some plays down the field with our tight ends. Defensively, we played pretty well at the point of attack, but gave up some big plays that hurt us.
I'm sure they do. We're working. We know where we're at.
I'm not going to walk out of here with my head down. I'm not looking for moral victories. I'm just looking for guys who will play with toughness and will compete and I think we did that. Maybe (Penn State) thought we were going to go in the bag, but I was going to keep playing.
It's an extremely great class for us. This year's class builds on our previous two and has established a foundation for us to build championships.
They controlled the line of scrimmage up front. Usually when you're able to do that, you're able to win the football game. It was difficult to run the football.
They look like a team that can play with just about anybody.
They'll have that roar. It gets loud. There will be times when you can't hear. We need to be able to play under those conditions. They're going to have to experience it. We'll put music on (during practice) and play it loud so they can't hear each other, but it's still different.
We're going to ask that people reach out to (Ruffin) and make a donation to the University of Cincinnati Hurricane Katrina effort. We also have Mike Brown, whose family is living on the second floor of their home right now. The first floor is flooded. So let's try to do what we can for our own and help them move forward with their life.
We had three or four wide receivers out. And we had some (passes) dropped. That will make a difference. But the defense played well.
Today will give us a good opportunity to continue evaluating where we are and how we need to get better.