Dantonio Getting used to Sports Illustrated error

EAST LANSING - Cycling toward the end of what has been one of the most noteworthy seasons in Michigan State football history, Coach Mark Dantonio - during the last edition of his weekly radio show - recapped the Big Ten Championship Game, previewed what Alabama brings to the table and discussed how the program has grown since he was first introduced as head coach in 2006.

During the show, which was broadcast to a statewide audience on Thursday night from Reno's East in East Lansing, Dantonio touched on the following subjects:

On misspelled name in Sports Illustrated cover

"I'm getting used to that," Dantonio said. "I actually have a brother named Mike, so I guess I'll have to get a copy to him."

Coach would later refer to Urban Meyer as Jim Meyer as a joke.

On the Big Ten Championship Game:

"What a great football game," Dantonio said. "It was a great defensive game by both teams.

"Congratulations to Iowa on an outstanding game, but our guys came ready to play and kept chipping at it. That last drive was unbelievable. I thought our football team displayed character, resilience, and we found a way a win at the end."

On going with LJ Scott on the final drive:

"We've won a lot of close games here and we've always had someone step up and it's been a different guy almost every week," Dantonio said. "This time it was LJ Scott and a couple weeks ago it was Gerald Holmes who had a few great games and Madre London has made big plays as well.

"They had a lot of guys at the point of attack and their safeties were playing downhill and I just felt like he (Scott) was the more of a slashing-type runner and he was in the moment at the time. Mandre London played outstanding in the third quarter, but we went with Scott and he hit one big run and I just said, 'Hey, let's stick with him.'"

On the final drive against Iowa:

"Nine minutes is a long time, but if you were watching that game, it was flowing pretty quickly," Dantonio said. "There wasn't a lot of timeouts and it was all runs pretty much. So it was pretty methodical in that regard. We had to get up to the line of scrimmage quickly because we were spending a lot of time substituting and it became a little bit more of an up-tempo game once we broke the huddle.

"Our offensive line and tight ends did a great job blocking and Cook made an outstanding throw to Burbridge on third and eight. And the rest was history after that."

On Connor Cook:

"To me, you're basically judged as a quarterback by whether you win or not," Dantonio said. "Are you able to guide your football team to wins, especially down the stretch? In bowl games, we feel so strongly that the goal is to win the game and it sets you apart and defines your football season. So for him to have been a part of the last three bowl wins tells you a lot about him as a quarterback."

On his introductory press conference after being named the 24th head coach in Michigan State history in December of 2006 and how he has lived up to his promises since then:

"I do believe the things that I said back then," Dantonio said. "I've told those things to my players over and over again. I guess it's ironic, because I pulled out the paper the other day of the headline from the Lansing State Journal after that press conference and it read "Opportunity of a lifetime." I tried to instill that on our players about how much time and work has gone on in the last nine years or so to get to a point like this.

"It's just a gradual rise within a program. There are so many people that have helped out along the way. Whether that's coaches, players, parents, administration and the fans."

On Alabama:

"Alabama has a tremendous running back in Derrik Henry," Dantonio said. "He was the Heisman Trophy winner and won the best offensive player of the year award at the Home Depot awards ceremony. He's got almost 2,000 yards rushing and 23 touchdowns. He's a big, physical guy.

"They have a good offensive line and they also have the Rimington Award winner at center (Ryan Kelly). They have an outstanding wide receiver in (Calvin) Ridley as well. They're a great football team.

"When you're playing against one of the top four teams in the country, they're going to be good football teams with good players. There are a lot of good things happening (for them) when you watch the film."

On whether or not his relationship with Nick Saban is a benefit:

"That's about 15 years ago and a lot has changed in the game since then," Dantonio said. "At the same time, I do think in preparation you understand what they are preparing for and what they're going to look at. From that standpoint, you kind of understand what he does to get ready for a football game. Whether or not that's an advantage, I'm not really sure.

"It's always tough to play against people that you know, because there is that personal relationship there. Again, we're playing against Alabama as a team and we have to get ready for that."

On the state of the Spartans:

"We're getting ready," Dantonio said. "We're focused on the moment and on this challenge. These are opportunities and life moments for all of us, whether that's the guys who play, the guys who coach, everybody who has been working on this from our marketing department, our athletic administration, and to all of you (fans) out there.

"Get yourself ready for the game and enjoy it with friend and family."

Notable:

Connor Cook has 71 career TD passes, surpassing Kirk Cousins' 66 for the most in school history.

Connor Cook has amassed 9,200 yards of total offense in his career, surpassing Cousins' 9,004.

Shilique Calhoun has recorded 43.5 tackles for loss in his career, good for fourth in school history.

With a win over Alabama, Michigan State would become the first Big Ten team to win five straight bowl games.

Michigan State is the only team to ever play in the same bowl game in the same calendar year.