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MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 18, 2018

Mark Dantonio

East Lansing, Michigan

HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Good morning. Play for the Brass Spittoon, long-standing trophy game for us, and we've been fortunate on the front end of that, the most part, as we move forward here but we'll play for that.

I've been very impressed with Coach Allen, what he's been able to accomplish at IU since becoming the head football coach. Instills toughness. They play a great defense. Obviously they have always played very good offensively as well.

When you look at them as a football team right now, they are 3-0. They have beaten FIU, Virginia, and then this past weekend Ball State.

We come off a bye week, so we've got things in place in terms of what we've been able to accomplish this last week and I thought we had good practices and got on the road recruiting and did some different things, as well, and stepped away from it a little bit, as well, for our players, as well.

Offensively, when you look at them, Peyton Ramsey, their quarterback, he's done a tremendous job there throwing the ball for I think 72-plus or 74 percent completion rate but high, very high. Been very productive.

Wide receiver-wise, got guys they go to. Westbrook is back after an ACL injury. Been very impressed with their young players, their tailbacks; Scott, No. 21, a guy that can hand the ball to that he's been productive.

And then also No. 2, Reese Taylor, a guy who was Mr. Indiana last year in high school, outstanding quarterback in high school, threw 7,000 yards in high school but they are using him as sort of a dual-threat kind of guy, plays a lot of different positions: Plays tailback, wide receiver, probably could throw it as well. All their offensive line is basically intact so they will be a challenge on offense.

Defensively, a lot of new guys defensively. Lost a lot of all-conference players. So they are playing a lot of different people but No. 9, Crawford at safety and No. 91 at defensive tackle is playing very well for them. They are the older players and returning starters.

He's got them playing hard on defense, as always, it seems. Give you a lot of different looks, a lot of different pressures.

Q. You've played against spread elements, Utah Sate and Arizona State for three quarters that went very well. I wonder about the marked improvements in the defense and you'll see more of that against Indiana, your thoughts on that?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Yeah, I think against all these teams you have to be able to play up-tempo offense and be able to stop the run and be able to play against the controlled passing game, and then be able to play the deep ball down the field because most of the teams right now that you see are vertical attack teams. They attack you vertically I think off the playaction or off the RPO-type things, or intermediate or short.

You've got to be able to tackle in space. And a lot of the things that he talks about, really, that Coach Allen talks about, you have to be able to tackle in space, come up with turnovers and got to play with great effort. The three things he talked about, talks about, are really the three things that we constantly talk about here.

But I think every team is a little bit different in that respect. Some are going to go faster. Some are going to go slower. Some are going to have different things ready for you game-by-game, and I think that's the nature of most offenses.

What you see in a game early is what you tend to see throughout the game. IU will bring at you a number of trick plays; they always have in the past, and they have been successful.

So we've got to go back and look at all of those and practice all of those and be on our toes in every respect for guys that are going to throw the ball, looking at who is the quarterbacks on their roster. They have a backup tight end who has played quarterback; all these different type of things. Hopefully talk them out of that one.

But it's different. Every game is different. Every team is different relative to their players but there's always some kind of common theme, also, with these teams.

Q. For you guys on offense, going into a bye week, the outside game can work with the options and some different things and you're struggling in the middle, is it a situation where you try and reinvent the wheel at this point, or it just has to be man up and play a little better in the middle?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Well, we played, we've been here for a while, so I guess what you would say is a pretty vast background in terms of what we've done.

There's a lot of different things we've done over the years here and so we've got to look back and ask ourselves what's going to be best that we use and what's going to be most productive as you said.

I think you've always got to get the ball in the perimeter but you've also got to be able to get the tough yards up inside, too. There's a lot of different things that are involved in that and you've got to have a great passing game, as well.

There's so many different aspects of football that you have to look at, and you ask why; and I always go back to the guy I met one time and probably one of the smartest football guys I would talk to when he would always say, Hey, run that play where the guy busted up the middle for 20 yards again.

You know, it's just not quite like that, but we're working at it very hard and we need to play better. We need to play better running the football and getting the tough yards and there's a lot of things that are involved in that.

Q. I remember Bo Schembechler used to bark, "We're playing our games at one o'clock. You want to come, bring your pictures, take your pictures, but we're playing at one o'clock." Things have changed, but all these night games, are you okay with it? Do you like it, dislike it? Are you indifferent?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: You know, I think there's a glass half-empty or is it half-full, I guess. I mean, at some points in time, I think it's great to play them because it gives you that feeling as a player that you're back in high school and at night and I think you're faster at night. Everybody likes to run as fast as they can.

But then you don't like to get home at two in the morning, either, 3:00 in the morning, because that takes a toll on you the rest of the week. Last home we got home Sunday at 9:00 in the morning, so that takes a toll on you, not just from a football standpoint but from an academic standpoint, as well. I think you really see that in basketball. I talk to Coach Izzo all the time, as a matter of fact he was there in my driveway at 5:30 this morning. You know I let the dogs out. I was very surprised to see him.

But anyway, he's always talking about their night games and what time he has to get home and how the guys have classes in the morning and things of that nature, so it becomes a little bit difficult. But I've always just said, line them up and play them when they tell us to play them. This is our third straight night game. I believe in repetition makes you better, so we'll see.

Q. What was he doing there at 5:30 in the morning?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: I asked him the same thing. I had my dogs out, I was letting my dogs out and he was on his way -- I think he got back at midnight last night and he was catching a flight this morning at 5:45 to go to some other place.

Q. How has Rocky kind of transitions to backup quarterback so far the past week and how has he developed?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: He's done a good job. We always segment our special teams. We always have special teams, especially stretch-type deal where you stretch or you have special teams.

He's doing that at that time and then we have different periods throughout the practice that are devoted to punting or a special teams emphasis part of practice, as well, where there's a four- or five-minute period in there. He's getting an opportunity to do that and obviously there's after-practice, as well.

Q. Curious what your evaluation of Kevin Jarvis was, he's been consistently in the lineup at the same spot. Wondering how he's played through two games for you.
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Yeah, I think Kevin is an outstanding player. He's a big, strong guy, 320, 6-5, 400 whatever, whatever. When you get over 400 benching, I think they just quit counting the pounds.

There's the consistency aspect. He's still young. We saw a lot of different fronts these last couple weeks, so there's some things, there's been some MA's involved there, but physically he's got talent. I was very impressed last year with him.

Again, when you talk about the offensive line, there's so many -- you know, one guy can play very well and four guys -- well, four guys can play well and one guy can make a mistake and make all of them look bad. He's solid and he has a tremendous future here and he's a foundation guy. We can build our offensive line around that guy.

Q. Can he be a leader in that room even as a sophomore? Is that something you see from him?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: I think he has leadership qualities as he grows, but you know, I think the tendency that Kevin has right now is to watch and learn a little bit and then as a sophomore, he's speaking up more, more confident, and as time goes, he assumes more leadership.

Q. I think we're close to the original timetable on Scott; is he back working at all?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Not yet.

Q. And then I wanted to ask you real quick, last week you mentioned about the difficult transition to center for Tyler, is that a transition you're continuing with or will Matt Allen get more work?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Yeah, we are going to make that decision at game time probably.

Q. With Harris, their punt returner, the touchdown last weekend with Rocky at that punter spot, what's the adjustment -- you slowed down pretty well last year, what's the continuing adjustment there?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Yeah, I didn't mention J-Shun Harris. He's done an outstanding job at their special teams, had a touchdown last week and another one called back and the punter dropped the punt. You know, that's not good. We're getting a new punter out there. You see that, and so they came up with that one, as well.

So they have been very productive the last week on special teams. He's a guy that you have to defend and you have to work special things throughout practice to really get ready for him, and he should be commended just for coming back from I think his third ACL injury. So he's a testament to hard work and dedication, there's no question about that. I don't know if I answered your question -- sort of.

Well, I guess we'll see. Maybe he'll have to move up.

Q. What have you seen out of Brandon Bouyer-Randle? Seems like he's a guy who is in position to make some plays that he doesn't always make. What have you seen as he develops and what do you want from him moving forward?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: He's an outstanding athlete and needs to continue to mature on the football field and makes great effort every single time, because he's talented. But in a no-huddle offense, he played too many plays probably last week of the got to spell him a little bit because he is playing in nickel situations and he played linebacker, as well.

Tyreek will be back. That will take a little load off him in some regards and we'll play Reschke, as well. I think all three of those guys are quality football players that can play for us, and so I really feel like they needed split time.

Brandon can be an outstanding player, but sometimes he gets on the edge of blocks and sometimes he's in the wrong gap. I mean, he's a young player so he makes mistakes.

Playing defensive football is about playing assignment football. So you've got to be able to make plays, athletically, to do that but you also have to be right on top of things assignment wise, and a lot of different things getting thrown at a guy who plays a multitude of positions. He's playing in our nickel package on different things and he's playing our money backer and that's a position that, you know, got a lot of things going on, I guess, is the way I would say it.

Q. Wondering if you can give a sense of the advantage or disadvantage of having a bye coming off of a close loss like that, and how much your team might be chomping at the bit to get back out there and get things turned around.
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Well, I think when you come off a game like that, first of all, you have an opportunity to look at really what happened in the game and step back and deal with it. Then you also have a chance to get over it. But usually the best way to get over a tough loss is to play another game. I don't know, again, you go back, Catch 22 situation on those things.

Nobody likes to lose and when you lose, you want to get back on the other end -- the other side of things.

I think our players have had an opportunity to sit on this and dwell on this a little bit and they have also had time to step away from football for a day or so; we gave them that opportunity, as well.

You know, I'm looking forward to watching our players play on Saturday night. That's all I can tell you.

Q. The Brass Spittoon, they don't carry it around after the game --
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: We've got it. Carry it around.

Q. What do you do with it?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: What do you do with a Brass Spittoon? We spit in it (Laughter) then we clean it out, get it ready for next year, if we're fortunate enough to win.

Q. I don't know how much that means to you but I know being the Big Ten opener, do you expect more energy? This counts a little more.
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Yeah, this counts. When we looked at how our season was going to play out, and phase one, to me, is always August camp.

Phase two is what's happening in the first four games, and we knew that we play our first game, and that's opening day. So that's special.

Then we knew we had a great challenge to go to Arizona State because of just all the intricacies involved in the travel and the heat and all these things, and I think we conquered that. That was not why we lost the football game. We came up short. Four-minute offense, two-minute defense, everyone shorted out, so we came up short a little bit.

But the Big Ten opener we knew was after the bye and the Big Ten opener at IU, playing away, second straight game playing away, we figured it might be at night. We sort of put that on the radar that it would probably be at night and knew this was going to be a big game for us.

So we needed to be ready for this game. We put a lot into this into how we have orchestrated our calendar and what we've tried do and it's important that we play well.

Q. With their tempo offense -- you used three defensive ends at Arizona State; it was a very limited rotation with injuries. But what are the complexities that that tempo presents in trying to get guys in and out at that spot?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: You know, all the no-huddle things present a little bit of dynamics, different dynamics for you. We've been good at it. We've been pretty good. Pretty good at playing it, really, when you look at some of the teams we've played and held them to nine points last year, and you know, even Arizona State, they have got 16 points. Should have been less.

But you've got to get your guys on and off. We've practiced that and how fast we can do it, and we can do it in about six seconds. I don't think they can run a play in six seconds, depending on where it's at on the field and those type of things. But we're coming off the field -- if the play goes clone (ph) dead, we're coming off the field. So we can get them on. Getting them off, same type of thing.

So we work at it. We practice it. We had a couple issues the first game with it, and I think the second game we sort of negated that to some extent.

Q. Getting to the quarterback, too.
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Well, the RPOs creates issues with that because you have to play the run and then reaccelerate to the pass. That's created some issues for everybody across America.

You know, we're continually trying to do things to negate that and I always think that there's always -- somebody always -- if it's zone pressures, then the offense catches up with the zone pressures, how to deal with it. If it's RPO then defense goes to work -- I'm talking about across America, trying to identify what they do and how they do it and then defend those type of things.

I just think it's sort of a cat-and-mouse game, really, in every aspect of football throughout, whether it's special teams or defense or offense. You know, Bare defense, how to attack Bare defense at one point, and I think there's a lot of philosophical things that go back and forth over the years.

Q. You touched on it earlier about Indiana. They played you tough the last couple of times. What sort of things do they do in those games that maybe they weren't doing before?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: I think IU has played us very well. They expect to play us very well again. It's been a close football game, you know, really, throughout time, really, even when there's been a couple of occasions where we've sort of distanced ourselves it's been at the end of the game.

What kind of things have they done? What I said before, they have ran some trick plays where they hit us in the past and jumped out 17-0 I think in 2014 maybe or '13 or something, I don't know, way back. You know, hit a couple plays on us and we had to come back on them. It's always been a great football game and a great football game to watch and they have always been a great challenge for us.

Q. You've lost the second game and been able to go on a run from there. Is there a key to get guys to move on from the early loss and move forward?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Yeah, I think we've always tried to challenge ourselves -- I've said this before: What are you going to do after big moments; what are you going to do after you win a big game? How are you going to respond the next week? Do you go flat or how do you play?

Same thing when we've lost a game; when we've lost a moment. You know, how do you handle yourselves; what's the next step for you as a person.

I think most people in life really genuinely handle adversity. At least their intentions are good. Now, can they handle it or not? But they get ready to go to their next challenge and that's what we're going to do. That's what we've done in the past and that's our intent.

Q. Obviously injuries are not your favorite topic, but do you think with the timing of the bye week that will enable a guy or multiple guys to play this week that wouldn't have if you had played last week, whether it's Jacob or Cole or David or LJ?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Yeah. I will say yes. We'll see how it all shakes out, but I will say yes. It helps; that's what I meant.

Q. On a final note, along those lines, last week you didn't seem overly concerned about LJ's availability for Saturday, but how do you feel about whether he'll be fully operational in either case against Indiana; what you envision the running game doing better or differently against the Hoosiers?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Well, we need to run the ball more effectively.

And the answer to your first question, I don't really talk about those things. So we're going to see how it all shakes out.

Q. But rotationally, with the running backs?
HEAD COACH MARK DANTONIO: Rotationally, yeah.

You guys all good? Thanks. Appreciate it.

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